Chronic pain is a condition we specialize in helping patients overcome. Many patients mention they have been in chronic pain for months or years with no resolve, even though they have tried everything including seeing other doctors and practitioners.
Many elements like movement, lifestyle, and your body can contribute to chronic pain, and because of our interconnective approach looking at the whole body as a system, we are able to solve these issues. For many patients, we identify one or many potential causes of pain and are able to address multiple areas simultaneously to speed up the recovery process.
Chronic pain is defined as ongoing or continuous pain in a given area or areas which inhibits or impairs everyday activities. Chronic pain can last from weeks to years. Generally, the more persistent the pain, the more involved the underlying factors are and the more elements need to be addressed.
While injury or illness are common causes of chronic pain, oftentimes these are not the only reason someone may be hurting. Chronic pain can be attributed to various underlying factors including:
Conditions such as arthritis, fibromyalgia (link to page), and migraines often contribute to prolonged discomfort. Injuries that haven’t fully healed or underlying health issues can also manifest as persistent pain.
Here at Active Edge, we recognize that chronic pain is more than just a physical sensation, it’s a complex, often systematic problem. Our approach to chronic pain management goes beyond alleviating immediate symptoms, aiming to thoroughly assess the root causes and address the multifaceted nature of chronic pain. Our chronic pain doctors will incorporate functional medicine and chiropractic care to provide holistic support, focusing on the underlying issues and providing a comprehensive, personalized solution for lasting relief.
Traditional methods of chronic pain treatment often include medication or surgery. However, these methods have long-term consequences that ultimately do not completely resolve your problems.
Medications to manage chronic pain can have detrimental, “seemingly unrelated” side effects on your internal systems if taken for extended periods of time.
With surgery, even if the surgery goes well, the body has to heal and learn how to function with whatever changed. The body will find ways to compensate to make functioning easier, directly or indirectly affecting other systems. Over time, these compensations cause their own problems and imbalances.
Ultimately, medication and surgery mask acute issues of chronic pain. They may relieve chronic pain in the short term but cause long side effects since the root cause of the issue was not addressed.
When you come to us, we use an integrative approach based on a complete review of your life situation. Our focus is patient-specific – we want to hear about all the factors that might contribute to your chronic pain. This starts with the completion of an extremely comprehensive history, urinalysis and saliva testing. We want to know you front to back, top to bottom, and inside-out. Your journey is unique, and we need to understand why you are moving and adapting in the ways you are. From there, we work with you to determine what will reduce and eliminate your chronic pain.
Our investigation may turn us to chiropractic, diet, supplementation, and other processes that will have one single objective – find the best ways to get rid of your issues. We work WITH you, not on you, to help your body heal and ultimately change your life.
Since pain is the result of your body reaching a breaking point after compensating for an issue, if we heal the root cause, your body can stop compensating and can start healing so you feel better!
At Active Edge, we believe in the body’s natural ability to heal itself. With the right perspective and tools, we can assist the nature of your body to restore balance. Oftentimes, the root of cause of your pain is not obvious, but with patience and consistency with your individualized healing protocol, our team can help you heal. This approach allows your body to balance naturally, reducing your need for drugs, surgery, or other interventions. Most of our patients tell us that their experience here is “just different” than anything else they have tried, and they are shocked by how great they feel.
As Doctors of Chiropractic, our curriculum includes some of the most in-depth training in spinal anatomy, musculoskeletal conditions and diagnosis, vertebral subluxations, kinesiology, and more. We’ve refined our knowledge over the years with continuous study about whole body health, soft tissue injuries, and the reaching affects it may have on your body as well as how other dysfunction can affect spine function, health, and neurological communication.
Our doctors are trained in a variety of techniques and utilize this diversified approach to make each patient’s experience as effective and comfortable as possible. Some of the techniques in our office include:
Beyond physical modalities and techniques, our doctors are also versed in Functional medicine and techniques to help release emotions stored in the body and causing dysfunction. Neither, either, or both could be relevant in combination with your physical care, especially in cases of chronic or recurring problems.
Our doctors have studied with some of the Functional Medicine greats including Bob Rakowski, Jeffery Bland, Mark Hyman, and Jeff Bryst. Applying the knowledge and sharing it with patients has successfully helped people understand their bodies better. Patient’s often feel positive improvements in pain reduction, increased range of motion, enhanced energy, and more, as they implement the tools they need for healing naturally and holistically.
Acute pain is something that happens suddenly last for a time period shorter than 6 months. These are the common pains that you think of like cuts, scrapes, broken bones, and more.
Chronic pain is recurring pain that lasts for more than 6 months. You may feel chronic pain even after an injury is healed or there’s no visible evidence of an injury.
Something called the pain-fatigue cycle. The cycle consists of:
Breaking the cycle requires you to reduce chronic pain, get better sleep, and reduce fatigue. Exercising, eating healthy, and taking care of your mental health can help you manage and avoid falling into this cycle.
We saw this question on another website and immediately felt sad. While it’s an understandable question to ask, the reality is that you should not have to cope with chronic pain! Instead, you should seek lifestyle or diet changes to get rid of your chronic pain.
At this point, you are feeling better than you ever thought you could as you are feeling energized and thriving. You have learned a lot about your body, you are moving more efficiently, you understand your body’s cues, and you have a good idea of what to do with these cues. This means you get to try new things, achieve new goals, and conquer new challenges! As you do, we will be here as your resource, as needed, to help you nourish, boost, and refresh your health.
Pain is generally the last symptom to show up and the first to go away. This means that by the time you realize there is a problem, there has been a problem for a long time. Especially for chronic or recurring issues, understanding how you got to where you are is so important for getting to where you want to go. In this stage of your journey, you will resolve underlying dysfunction, remove cheats, and retrain habits. As we aid you in activating your body’s natural healing potential, we will help you regain movement, energy, and body function both inside and outside. Throughout this process, you will start to feel greater ease and inspiration as you restore communication and efficiency in your body. Together, we will constantly assess, observe, and reassess your body’s responses to boost your results.
You are your own person, with your own collection of life events which brought you to where you are today. You deserve to be heard, seen, and treated as the individual you are. Your journey begins with your Discovery Evaluation. This first visit includes your exam which works to uncover the root of your issue(s), new patient diagnostics, and, of course, your first treatment. This is how we will help you begin connecting the dots and feeling better. After your first treatment, we will ask you to observe your body’s responses– good, bad, or indifferent. There is no wrong answer as this is just starting point information and direction for moving forward. In your second visit, we will review this feedback and your diagnostics to further identify potential underlying causes and compensations. We will combine everything we have learned about you, consider your goals, and together create a plan to resolve your concerns from the roots up.
