Discomfort and pain are part of the healing process when it comes to physical therapy. It is normal to feel some pain or discomfort after a physical therapy session, but it should not be high levels of pain. The expression “without pain there is no gain” may be familiar, but it can contribute to a harmful mindset and cause people to hesitate or stop physical health changes because they are afraid of the discomfort they may feel. Interestingly, while it means that physical therapy can lead to a traumatic experience, the opposite is true.
It's much more likely to worsen injuries and prolong the discomfort and pain you're already feeling if you avoid care at a physical therapy center. Should I feel pain after physical therapy? Yes. This is a controlled injury, similar to surgery, it is controlled damage to the body in order to heal. The normal and natural result of strengthening is pain or a low level of pain in the general muscle area within the next day or two, and pain is experienced mainly when using the muscle (see microtrauma above).
However, the muscle heals in the next 24 to 48 hours and is better able to work, and therefore, during the eight weeks, the muscle becomes stronger. You can do more work for longer periods. Injured muscle fibers are completely healed, so there is no more pain, unless the muscle is overused in a single macrotrauma or in a repetitive microtrauma. At Pace Physical Therapy, individualized post-surgical recovery not only minimizes pain and accelerates healing time, but it can also reduce the chances of postoperative complications, such as infections, bleeding, blood clots, muscle fatigue, scar tissue, decreased function, and other factors that may adversely affect your long-term health. One of the most common fears of physical therapy patients is that the therapy will worsen the pain they are already experiencing.
Physical therapists will examine you and evaluate your condition before designing an individualized treatment plan specific to your diagnosis. If you experience very high and prolonged levels of this discomfort after treatment, it may be worth contacting your physical therapist for further instructions. The acceptable time frame for high levels of discomfort after a physical therapy treatment session may depend on many factors, such as the specific condition or injury being treated, the extent of the injury, and the recovery phase in which the tissues or body part are currently in. The best course of action in that case is to call your doctor or physical therapist and schedule an appointment. Another reason why people think physical therapy is so difficult is that they don't know what physical therapists are doing. I hate to stop it completely, but sometimes I feel like I just have to listen to what the pain is telling me. Physical therapy is a common and legitimate treatment option for many different conditions and injuries, as well as for surgical recovery.
Don't feel like it's going to be a nuisance or that you're afraid that you're overreacting to post-treatment discomfort. Understanding why you may feel pain or discomfort after a physical therapy session can help ease anxiety and help you take appropriate steps to feel better later on. The same goes for pain after a physical therapy session: feeling mild (and sometimes moderate) pain the day after the session is probably beneficial and, in general, is a good sign that the body can respond appropriately. If you feel pain after physical therapy in your shoulder, there is a possibility that muscle overwork is the cause. The muscle pain you may experience after a workout is actually a sign that your body is improving its overall strength and physical capacity. At Pace Physical Therapy in San Jose, California, we specialize in nonsurgical neck pain relief and recovery therapies.
We understand that discomfort and pain are part of the healing process when it comes to physical therapy. It's not uncommon to feel a lot of discomfort after a physical therapy session but you shouldn't have high levels of pain. So if you're feeling worse after physical therapy sessions don't worry! It's normal for some level of discomfort or pain during recovery from an injury or surgery. But if you experience very high levels of this discomfort after treatment it may be worth contacting your physical therapist for further instructions.
