Im currently in PTA school and i was a chronic pain suffer for 6 years. A physical therapist suggested a book about neuroplasticity to read. I did and at first I thought it was kind of silly but once i ran out of options for pain solutions i returned to it and went down the rabbit hole of mind body pain. Today I have reduced my pain by about 85% just by researching pain neuroscience education and reading some books about how to treat this kind of pain. It has truly saved my life. My question is how frequently do you see patients that could have pain without a structural root cause? And does physical therapy still have a place in treating these patients like me? I think a lot of chronic pain sufferers experience what i did and will never know it. I want to know what can be done about these patients in physical therapy
Thanks for your message. Yes these patients are more common than we think. Can’t put a specific number on it but generally it depends on the patients history. Yes physical therapy’s role is to build up resilience, strength and to reassure that pain does not equal to damage.
@@PhilipHsu thank you! I have been having some inner conflict about my career path as i didnt truly understand the role PTs played in treating chronic pain thats not caused by structural damage. For me when i do mobility training i switched my mindset from “i have to fix this structural problem” to teaching myself that im not fragile and that movement is safe. For me fear was the fuel for my pain and taking an empowerment approach has really helped. So i will try to incorporate that into my work. I just know a lot of people dont believe in this concept and will try literally everything else before giving this a chance (myself included). Also working for someone that doesnt believe in this kind of chronic pain doesnt sound fun. Im glad it is becoming more accepted amongst physical therapists these days. Thank you so much for answering my question it really helped me with my internal conflict that was driving me nuts.
