We all know how important our physical health is, but how does it relate to our mental well being? How important is it to address how pain makes us feel emotionally? It is more important than you think, and it is a large part of why physical therapy is so important.
Pain Is Not Just Physical
When a person is injured the body responds with inflammation and pain. That’s why our skin turns reddish and swells. Take a swollen ankle as an example. It is easy to treat this with the proper procedures as guided by your primary care physician, but it will still hurt and if you start walking on it too soon you risk further injury. But a second and often overlooked problem occurs: pain signals throughout your body cause emotional stress that can have a serious toll on your well being.
The Real Price Of Pain
The “cost” of pain is much more than the medicines you may want to take or the lost work hours for rehabilitation. The deeper cost is the mental and emotional stress your body endures from constant pain signals coursing through your nervous system. When your body is faced with pain signaling for hours and days at a time it causes a form of mental exhaustion that many people are not aware of. This leads to higher levels of irritability, stress, and arguments with your loved ones, further causing stress. The process can snowball out of control, and before you know it your relationships can suffer.
How To Approach Pain Management
Pain can be managed, but it should be managed with the help of a professional who is trained to do so. Athletes are in a specific category of risk because they associate their ability to perform with their personal identity. It can be tempting for an athlete to simply take more ibuprofen or aspirin to “deal with” the pain, but it is only masking the pain and the pain signals are still firing throughout the body. True pain management begins with physical therapy and consultations with a medical doctor who can prescribe the appropriate medication if absolutely necessary.
How Natural Health Sports Therapy Can Help
Physical therapy is the most important part of pain management because it addresses the cause of the pain. Most injuries are caused by poor form and poor preparation. Natural Health Sports Therapy can not only help you heal from your injuries but also analyze how you are exercising to make sure you are not slowly damaging your body. Our services are most likely covered by your insurance and/or Medicare. Contact us today to see how you can begin breaking the cycle of injury and pain medicine and exercise safer and more efficiently.