Traditional Physiotherapy Interventions for Pain Conditions

Welcome to PPA Pain Project. This page is being developed by participants of a project to populate the Pain section of Physiopedia.  The project is supervised and co-ordinated by the The Physiotherapy Pain Association.

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Tips for writing this page:

• What is the current evidence base for the use of the following traditional therapy modalities with patients in pain? :electrotherapy/acupuncture/manipulation/massage/relaxation
• What are the proported theraputic effects?
• Should they, and how can they,  be integrated with pharmacological, sociological and psychological interventions and approaches to managing pain experiences and re-integartion with function?
  
  

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Traditional physiotherapy pain modalities

Electrotherapy

The term electrotherapy and electrophyical agents have been used interchangebly to describe the modalities used in physiotherapy.Some suggest that the term electrotherapy implies modalities that use electric current only in treatment.

The following table categories the modalities into three i.e electrical stimulation agents,thermal agents and non thermal agents

Purpoted therapeutic effects

The exact mechanism of electrical stimulation’s beneficial effect remains controversial. Electrical stimulation is said directly block pain signals from reaching the brain so that the patient never experiences them. In addition, electrical stimulation has been shown to promote the release of endorphins which are natural painkillers produced by the body.Pain reduction occurs because the applied electrical fields act to close the body's "pain gate mechanism".

References

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