Chronic Pain
Manual Therapy for Chronic Pain in Calgary
Living with chronic pain can impact every aspect of your life, from work to sleep to the activities you love. Our physiotherapists take a holistic, individualized approach to managing persistent pain, combining manual therapy, movement retraining, and education to help you regain control and confidence in your body.
We focus on uncovering the underlying causes of your discomfort rather than just treating symptoms. By improving mobility, strength, and awareness, we help you move toward lasting relief and a better quality of life.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can physiotherapy help manage chronic pain effectively over the long term?
Physiotherapy can help chronic pain by restoring movement and strength. Pain often leads people to avoid movement, which can weaken muscles and stiffen. Physiotherapy will help you build strength, mobility and endurance in a way that is safe for your body. Physiotherapy also works to change how your body moves. This means creating optimal movement patterns to remove stress from the affected areas. With chronic pain, the nervous system can become overprotective and amplify pain signals even after tissues have healed. Physiotherapy can reduce nervous system sensitivity with graded exercise and paced movement exposure.
What types of chronic pain conditions can be treated with physiotherapy?
Spine and back conditions
- Chronic low back pain
- Neck pain and stiffness
- Sciatica
- Herniated disc-related pain
- Spinal stenosis
- Whiplash-associated disorders
Joint and arthritis conditions
- Osteoarthritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis (alongside medical treatment)
- Hip pain
- Knee pain
- Shoulder pain
- Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders
Muscle and tendon problems
- Tendinitis/tendinopathy
- Rotator cuff pain
- Tennis elbow
- Achilles tendinopathy
- Plantar fasciitis
- Chronic muscle strain and overuse injuries
Nerve-related pain
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Post-surgical nerve pain
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Chronic radiculopathy
- Some cases of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
Widespread or persistent pain syndromes
- Fibromyalgia
- Chronic fatigue syndrome-related pain
- Myofascial pain syndrome
Headache and jaw pain
- Tension headaches
- Cervicogenic headaches
- Some migraine-related neck dysfunction
- TMJ pain
Pelvic and abdominal pain can be treated by our Pelvic Floor Physiotherapists
- Chronic pelvic pain
- Pelvic floor dysfunction
- Pain after childbirth
- Endometriosis-related musculoskeletal pain components
Pain after injury or surgery
- Persistent pain after fractures
- Post-operative pain and stiffness
- Pain after sports injuries
- Scar-related movement problems
Are physiotherapy treatments for chronic pain personalized based on individual needs and lifestyle?
Yes. Chronic pain effects different people differently even when they have the same diagnosis. Treatment is based on your specific condition and symptoms, your current physical ability, your pain sensitivity and flare patterns, daily activities and goals and psychological and lifestyle factors. With all of these considerations, no two people can be effectively treated with the same plan. Our treatments plans are highly individualized and will be modified throughout the process as needed to best serve each individual client.
What techniques are commonly used in physiotherapy to reduce chronic pain and improve mobility?
Our therapists will use a combination of exercise therapy, manual therapy, pain neuroscience education, pacing strategies, postural and movement retraining, mobility work and relaxation techniques to reduce chronic pain.
How often should I attend physiotherapy sessions to manage chronic pain successfully?
This depends on the type and severity of the pain, your goals and how much home exercise you can do independently. Typically the initial phase of treatment involves sessions 1-2x/week. As you progress, these visits can become less frequent, for example, 1x every 2-3 weeks. Successful long term maintenance can occur with check in visits every 1-2 months. More than session frequency, outcomes are often greatly influenced by consistency with home exercises, gradual activity progression, sleep and stress management, and staying physically active overall.
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