Chronic Pain

Symptoms:

Any type of musculoskeletal pain or symptom that has been present for longer than 6 months (time frame definition varies based on source).

Causes:

A multitude of causes exist for chronic pain, including gradual degenerative processes such as arthritis or degenerative disc disease, musculoskeletal sprains/strains or overuse injuries that were resistant to other forms of medical intervention, secondary mechanical pain from prolonged immobilization of an injury or sedentary activity due to illness, neurological pain secondary to engrained pain pathways or abnormal processing of sensory stimuli by central nervous system (e.g., phantom pain, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome)

Related Conditions:

Musculoskeletal Sprains/Strains; Fractures; Spinal Injuries; Motor Vehicle Accident-Related Injuries; Work-Related injuries; Radiculopathy; Neuropathy; Myopathy; Myofascial Pain Syndrome; Fibromyalgia; Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; Complex Regional Pain Syndrome; Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy; Osteoarthritis; Rheumatoid Arthritis; Phantom Limb Syndrome

How Renew Physical Therapy Can Help:

Our job is to detect any biomechanical and lifestyle contributing factors to persistent pain conditions with a thorough subjective interview and physical examination.  We continually re-assess each patient during his/her episode of care to ensure that the individualized treatment program is appropriately progressing toward a less painful and better quality of life.  In treating patients who are dealing with chronic pain, we are frequently involved in a multidisciplinary approach with a number of pain management clinics in Portland who concurrently use other forms of conservative interventions such as oral medication, injection procedures of medication or prolotherapy, counseling, radiofrequency ablation, spinal electrical stimulator devices, acupuncture, etc.  We realize that physical therapy is not always the answer in completely eliminating one’s physical pain, especially in cases of chronic pain that has been present for many years, but we believe we can assist most individuals in achieving a more manageable level of pain and thus, a better quality of life.