Physiotherapists (often referred to as Physical Therapists) are highly skilled and autonomous health professionals who provide safe ¹ and evidence –based evaluation and treatment for the population living with chronic pain. Physiotherapists use a bio-psycho-social model of care. Their evaluation consist of a detailed bio-mechanical evaluation and screening of psychosocial factors contributing to pain and functional limitations. Physiotherapists provide a diagnosis in physiotherapy and a treatment plan to optimize the conservative management of pain.
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Physiotherapy treatments of patients living with chronic pain include the following goals: |
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The role of the physiotherapist is to guide patients through activity progression and to assist patients achieve their desired goals within a limited time frame in an environment sufficiently secure to reduce fear and promote self-confidence. These aspects of physical treatment are central to the management of chronic pain:
- Education (e.g. neurophysiology of pain, posture, activity progression)
- Functional goal setting
- Instruction in self-management of pain
- Behaviour modification techniques
- Active modalities (e.g. therapeutic exercises)
- Passive modalities
Treatments may also involve the following physiotherapy approaches when indicated:
- Orthopaedic manual therapy
- Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy-Mc Kenzie approach
- Temporo-mandibular joint rehabilitation
- Pelvic floor rehabilitation
- Graded motor imagery for chronic regional pain syndrome-CRPS
1https://physiotherapy.ca/sites/default/files/site_documents/dopen-en.pdf
