While there’s no end all be all way that works for everyone when it comes to the management and treatment of pain, at Elite PT we generally focus on four stages of rehabilitation—relief, recovery, return, and performance.
Take the pain away.
When we work with a new client, our first priority is to reduce—or ideally eliminate—their pain. To do that, we determine its cause and develop an initial treatment plan to mitigate the pain as quickly as possible in a safe and healthy way.
Work through pain-causing movements.
Recover is about slowly getting the body moving as the pain intensity starts to decrease. We focus on helping our clients be able to move in the ways that previously aggravated them and caused pain. This may include things like stretching, core exercises, low impact exercise, or something more specific to the client’s condition.
Get back to baseline.
We want to get our clients back to their baseline level of function—where it was prior to their injury and/or the onset of their pain. The timeline for this process will vary depending on the client’s condition and its severity.
Better than before.
This step is often the missing link in a lot of treatment plans, but it can make all the difference in long-term relief. Beyond just eliminating pain and getting back to baseline, we work to help our clients become even stronger than they were prior to their injury/pain. We address the factors that may have led to their pain and work to make their body more resilient, so they can avoid injury in the future.