Don’t Let Chronic Pain Hold You Back From Enjoying Warmer Weather

Spring is officially upon us. Here in the Washington DC area and Northern Virginia region, this is a time of year in which people want to be more active and spend more time outdoors. It is also a time in which people gravitate toward a little spring cleaning – internally and externally.

Earlier this year I wrote an article about the importance of getting routine maintenance for your body similar to how you schedule maintenance to be performed on your vehicle.

Life situations happen throughout the course of a year, and how you handle your response to these situations can have an impact on your health.

For instance, how you handle stress can have an impact on not only your mood but also on whether or not you develop a serious life-threatening disease or disorder.

Two-thirds of all physician visits in the U.S. are stress related and stress can be brought on at any moment. Routine stress such as pressure from work is a big one. Stress can also be brought on by a sudden change such as a divorce, illness, or losing a job. Traumatic stress from a major accident, loss of a loved one or a natural disaster can also result in stress.

While you can’t control what happens to you in life, you can control how you respond to life situations. For instance, if you find yourself trying to cope with stress with drugs, alcohol or emotional binge eating then over time this can lead to long-term health consequences including chronic pain disorders.

Unfortunately, here in the U.S., when chronic pain disorders develop it can be easy to manage the pain through prescription or over-the-counter drugs. But as you probably have seen in the news relying on these drugs can create severe problems down the road. And they tend to be good at doing just one thing – managing pain.

A better approach is to determine what the root cause of your pain is and seek the assistance of alternative therapies in conjunction with traditional treatment from your doctor.

For instance, if you suffered from a sports injury then maybe surgery is not your only option.

Also, if you are suffering from pain post-surgery, then certain alternative healing therapies can help you jump back on your feet quicker to overcome your pain. Hands-on manual therapy for health and wellness options, such as soft tissue mobilization, joint manipulation and mobilization, and therapeutic exercise can be used to help you get back on your feet functioning the way you were before quicker.

While the start of the New Year can be a time for you to set your goals, spring is also a time of rejuvenation. If you are suffering from a chronic pain condition and reside in the Washington, DC area or Northern Virginia region then do yourself a favor and schedule a session with me to help you overcome your pain.

Don’t let the warmer months hold you back from enjoying the great outdoors!

Marge Kalfon, MSPT is the founder of PT by Marge and is a licensed physical therapist in Virginia. She graduated with her Masters of Science in Physical Therapy from Thomas Jefferson University in 1996. Since then, she has practiced in a wide variety of settings ranging from large hospitals to small private practices. She has extensive training and experience with a wide variety of manual therapy techniques as well as orthopedic and neurological rehabilitation.