If you’re struggling with chronic pain, your quality of life can be impacted. A holistic care plan may help provide relief. At Thompson Healthcare & Sports Medicine in New Jersey, we take a multidisciplinary, holistic approach to pain relief treatments, helping patients feel better and improve their overall well-being. Here, we explore how a holistic care plan can help you achieve a higher quality of life when dealing with chronic pain.
Key Takeaways
- Chronic pain can affect various areas of a person’s life, including work, home life, mood, mobility, and sleep.
- A holistic care plan uses several treatment methods, such as physical therapy, chiropractic care, joint injections, and lifestyle modifications, to provide improved outcomes and a better quality of life.
- Thompson Healthcare & Sports Medicine provides multidisciplinary care for patients in chronic pain.
How Does Chronic Pain Affect Daily Function and Quality of Life?
Chronic pain, or pain that persists or recurs for longer than three to six months, can greatly affect a person’s functioning and quality of life. It can impact many different areas, including:
- Sleep, which impacts your ability to get a good night’s rest
- Work, which reduces your ability to do daily work tasks or impacts focus and performance
- Mood, which leads to mood swings, anxiety, depression, anger, and more
- Mobility, which can affect a person’s ability to do daily activities such as driving, doing chores, and taking care of children
Acute pain can turn chronic when the nervous system undergoes maladaptive changes, leading to pain signals that persist after the tissue or injury heals.
What Might a Holistic Care Plan Include?
At Thompson Healthcare & Sports Medicine, we use a multidisciplinary, holistic approach to care, which involves combining several different treatments or specialties to help provide the best possible patient outcomes. When a patient comes to us, they get a thorough medical evaluation so the team can understand their pain, its cause, and other treatments that have been tried.
Patients also get a tour of the entire facility and will learn about all the treatments and services we offer. When a holistic care plan is being developed, it may include:
- Physical therapy: Using targeted exercises and functional movement techniques, physical therapy can help strengthen muscles, retrain the nervous system, and facilitate easier movement, all of which help address chronic pain.
- Occupational therapy: This therapy can help patients adjust their daily activities to do them while in pain or alter them to reduce pain. It may include pain management techniques, cognitive and sensory integration therapy, joint mobilization, and more.
- Chiropractic care: Through methodologies like spinal adjustments, manual therapy, and therapeutic exercises, chiropractic care can help patients manage chronic pain, especially pain related to the spine, neck, and joints.
- Medical services: To provide effective chronic pain relief without reliance on opioid medications, we offer management treatments such as joint and trigger point injections, bracing, and non-opioid medications.
Lifestyle modifications, such as maintaining a healthy weight, reducing stress, and doing low-impact exercises, may also be recommended. By combining several of these treatment options, patients often see better results than with one treatment alone. This helps them improve their quality of life and overall well-being.
For example, a patient looking for lower back pain relief or neck pain treatment may get a multidisciplinary plan that includes physical and occupational therapy, chiropractic care, and bracing. These treatments work together to provide reduced pain, improved physical health, and a better quality of life.
Why Does Function-Focused Care Matter?
Function-focused care for chronic pain is a holistic approach that shifts the goal of treatment from simply reducing pain levels to enhancing a patient’s physical, emotional, and social function. By integrating different treatments, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and lifestyle modifications, patients get their root cause of pain addressed instead of masking pain with medications.
Function-focused care can also involve setting practical goals at home, work, and activity, and working to improve in these and other areas. This helps the patient and their medical team measure progress beyond pain scores.
Get a Holistic Treatment Plan for Chronic Pain Near You in New Jersey
If you’re seeking a holistic treatment plan to manage your chronic pain, turn to Thompson Healthcare & Sports Medicine. Our all-encompassing, patient-centered approach is ideal for chronic pain management, helping our patients get the relief and improved quality of life they’re looking for. To schedule an appointment at one of our 10 locations near you throughout Ocean and Monmouth counties in New Jersey, contact us today.
Chronic Pain FAQ
Can chronic pain be treated without surgery or opioids?
Yes, chronic pain can be addressed through non-surgical treatments and non-opioid medications through options like physical therapy, occupational therapy, injections, chiropractic care, and more.
Why is improving function as important as reducing pain?
Improving function is as important as reducing pain because it directly improves a patient’s quality of life, enabling them to participate in everyday activities, work, and social lives while living with chronic pain.
What providers may be involved in chronic pain care?
Providers that may be involved in chronic pain care include primary care physicians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, chiropractors, physiatrists, and more.
What makes a multidisciplinary approach helpful for chronic pain?
A multidisciplinary approach allows different providers to work together instead of treating pain from only one angle. At Thompson Healthcare & Sports Medicine, care may involve medical pain management, chiropractic care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, acupuncture, and other services based on the patient’s needs.
