Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience in the body. Acute or chronic pain can affect one's ability to perform day to day activities. Acute pain usually occurs suddenly and is caused by a specific condition or injury. For example, pain at the wrist after wrist ligament sprain. Acute pain usually lasts for a short duration of time and goes away after the underlying cause has resolved. In contrast, chronic pain is the ongoing pain that outlasts the time of healing and normally lasts more than 6 months.
Pain management aims to reduce the pain experience, optimise occupational performance, and improve one's quality of life. At Hand Therapy Associates, we offer treatment/therapy for strain injury, sprains, and other conditions.
It is crucial to seek professional guidance to manage these hand and wrist injuries/conditions to ensure a personalised and targeted treatment plan that is effective for rehabilitation. At Hand Therapy Associates, our therapists will work with you to address current symptoms and develop strategies for preventing the recurrence of a strain injury or other conditions.
Pain is challenging and there is no simple solution for it. Comprehensive assessment by our hand therapist is needed to tailor a personalised treatment plan. Here’s some examples of treatment that may be provided:
Pain education: Pain science education helps one understand the pain pathway and the factors contribute to it. Understanding the nature of pain and its mechanism can reduce fear and anxiety associated with pain, encourage engagement in rehabilitation programs, improve coping strategies and empower self-management.
Physical modalities: Modalities like heat pack/cold compress/ Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)/ultrasound helps to alleviate the pain and enhance functional performance. Your hand therapist will select the appropriate modalities depending on the type of pain you are feeling.
Splinting or orthoses: Splinting can be a treatment option prescribed to aid in hand or wrist function, protect healing structure, and restrict painful motion.
Mobilisation and Strengthening exercises: Strengthening and stretching exercises improve muscle strength and joint flexibility in the hands and wrists. Stronger muscles provide better stability to the joint. Regular stretching maintains and improves flexibility. Manual therapy like joint mobilisation could be useful to target the musculoskeletal related pain.
Ergonomic advice: Musculoskeletal pain is commonly associated with poor ergonomics. Good posture when performing daily activities and work is important to prevent and manage pain.
Myofascial release: Myofascial release and soft tissue massage are effective in alleviating pain, particularly musculoskeletal pain. Myofascial release targets fascial restriction developed due to injury/overuse/chronic tension, helping you to manage and reduce the pain.
Graded motor imagery: It is a set of treatments designed to reduce pain that is commonly used among patients with CRPS, phantom limb pain etc. It consists of 3 steps which are left right discrimination, explicit motor imagery and mirror therapy.
For other enquiries on Pain Management or to book an appointment to assess your condition with our Hand Therapists, fill in the form below!