Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
CBT is a combination of cognitive therapy that helps with thinking processes, such as unwanted thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs (called cognitive processes) and behavioural therapy that focuses on behaviour in response to those thoughts.
CBT is based on the belief that people learn most of their unhealthy ways of thinking and behaving over a long period of time. Using a set of structured techniques, a CBT practitioner aims to identify how you are thinking and how this can cause problematic feelings and behaviour. You will learn to challenge negative ways of thinking, which helps you to react more positively. This can lead to behavioural changes and then to improved self-esteem.
For example, negative thoughts usually lead to upsetting or angry feelings which can affect your mood and your behaviour. If you're unable to balance such thoughts with a more positive view, a negative spiral starts and your perceptions of a situation become distorted. CBT encourages you to challenge the way you react to events, your beliefs about yourself and your abilities, so that you achieve a more realistic view of a situation.
How does CBT work?
You will learn to make sense of problems by breaking them down into smaller areas so that you can see how they are connected and how they can affect you. This includes looking at your thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and actions in reaction to a situation.
You will probably be asked to keep a diary so that you can identify how you react to certain events. This will help you to identify patterns of thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and actions, and see if they are unrealistic or unhelpful.
You and your therapist then work together to make changes. Once you've learnt to identify negative patterns, you'll be asked to practise replacing negative thoughts with positive ones during everyday events. This isn't always easy but using CBT techniques you can try out different behavioural approaches in real situations, which can help to bring about changes. You won't be asked to do anything that you don't feel comfortable with.
CBT aims to provide you with the insight and skills to improve your quality of life. Once therapy has finished, you will be able to practise and develop on your own what you have already learnt.
CBT is based on the belief that people learn most of their unhealthy ways of thinking and behaving over a long period of time. Using a set of structured techniques, a CBT practitioner aims to identify how you are thinking and how this can cause problematic feelings and behaviour. You will learn to challenge negative ways of thinking, which helps you to react more positively. This can lead to behavioural changes and then to improved self-esteem.
For example, negative thoughts usually lead to upsetting or angry feelings which can affect your mood and your behaviour. If you're unable to balance such thoughts with a more positive view, a negative spiral starts and your perceptions of a situation become distorted. CBT encourages you to challenge the way you react to events, your beliefs about yourself and your abilities, so that you achieve a more realistic view of a situation.
How does CBT work?
You will learn to make sense of problems by breaking them down into smaller areas so that you can see how they are connected and how they can affect you. This includes looking at your thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and actions in reaction to a situation.
You will probably be asked to keep a diary so that you can identify how you react to certain events. This will help you to identify patterns of thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and actions, and see if they are unrealistic or unhelpful.
You and your therapist then work together to make changes. Once you've learnt to identify negative patterns, you'll be asked to practise replacing negative thoughts with positive ones during everyday events. This isn't always easy but using CBT techniques you can try out different behavioural approaches in real situations, which can help to bring about changes. You won't be asked to do anything that you don't feel comfortable with.
CBT aims to provide you with the insight and skills to improve your quality of life. Once therapy has finished, you will be able to practise and develop on your own what you have already learnt.
Massage
Massage for chronic pain can break the vicious cycle of pain, where pain leads to muscle tension, reduced circulation, and restricted movement, which in turn lead to more pain. Muscles contract around any painful site to protect the area. If pain is resolved quickly, muscles relax. If pain persists, muscles can become habitually tight.
Sometimes tight muscles press on nerves, causing tingling, numbness, or more pain. Massage therapy helps by stretching tight muscles and by stimulating the nervous system to relax muscle tension. Tight muscles reduce circulation, letting waste products accumulate, which can leave you feeling fatigued and sore. Plus waste products can irritate nerves, causing pain to spread.
Massage therapy releases contracted muscles and increases circulation. As massage relaxes the nervous system, blood vessels dilate to increase blood flow. Waste products are flushed away and replaced with oxygen and nutrients.
Areas with poor circulation often develop trigger points—highly irritable spots that refer pain, tingling, or other sensations to other places in the body. Trigger points respond well to standard massage techniques.
Eventually, the body lays down connective tissue in any contracted area with poor circulation. While helpful for healing injuries, this natural reaction can "glue" muscles and their connective tissue coverings into a shortened state. The stretching and kneading of massage therapy softens and lengthens connective tissue.
Irritating waste products, painful trigger points, and shortened muscles make even simple actions difficult and tiring. As your capacity for movement and exercise decreases, you lose the most important means for maintaining good circulation throughout your body, risking pain in new areas.
Massage for chronic pain helps restore normal movement by releasing trigger points, removing waste products, and stretching shortened muscles. Also, because you feel better after a massage, you may find renewed energy and motivation for physical activity.
Aquamassage
The client remains clothed and dry for privacy and comfort with no post-session clean-up of oils or contaminated water.
• The spray bar travels forward and back, massaging the full length of the body or easily selected to concentrate on a specific area.
• The water jets simulate a fingertip massage from the center of the body to the sides of the body. The force can be adjusted to suit the sensitivity of the client and with a consistency that cannot be duplicated by manual massage or other massage devices.
• The pulsating water jets can be adjusted from a relaxing 2 cycles per second up to an invigorating 10 cycles per second. The pulsation can be varied independent of water pressure for maximum effect and client sensitivity.
• The water temperature can be adjusted from approximately 90°F to 104°F using the electronic thermostat.
• The spray bar travels forward and back, massaging the full length of the body or easily selected to concentrate on a specific area.
• The water jets simulate a fingertip massage from the center of the body to the sides of the body. The force can be adjusted to suit the sensitivity of the client and with a consistency that cannot be duplicated by manual massage or other massage devices.
• The pulsating water jets can be adjusted from a relaxing 2 cycles per second up to an invigorating 10 cycles per second. The pulsation can be varied independent of water pressure for maximum effect and client sensitivity.
• The water temperature can be adjusted from approximately 90°F to 104°F using the electronic thermostat.
Exercise Therapy
Exercise plays a very beneficial role in chronic pain. Repetition is the key to increasing flexibility, building endurance, and strengthening the specific muscles needed to support and neutralize the area. Exercise should be considered as part of a broader program to return to normal home, work, and social activities. In this way, the positive benefits of exercise not only affect strength and flexibility but they also alter and improve patients' attitudes toward their disability and pain. Exercise may also be effective when combined with a psychological and motivational program, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Reiki
Reiki is a form of energy work based on unblocking and balancing the flow of universal life energy in order to bring about physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing.
Reiki is based on the concept that every living thing has an energy field that must be balanced in order to maintain proper mental, physical, and spiritual health. Illness, including chronic pain, occurs when this energy field is either blocked or weakened. Reiki practitioners through special training can unblock universal energy or transfer it from themselves to someone whose energy field is weak, thus promoting healing. Normally, unblocking and energy transfer are done through touch. Advanced practitioners can perform reiki healing without touch, either by holding their hands close to the body or, if the patient is far away, through visualization.
By opening up a channel between healer and patient to transfer energy, a reiki healer restores the body both physically and mentally. Muscles are relaxed and energy flow is unblocked. This helps reduce physical tension and pain. Anxiety and stress also are reduced, helping to unblock and release emotional pain. Although the patient may not be completely pain free, he or she feels relaxed, refreshed, and is better able to cope with his or her condition.
Reiki is based on the concept that every living thing has an energy field that must be balanced in order to maintain proper mental, physical, and spiritual health. Illness, including chronic pain, occurs when this energy field is either blocked or weakened. Reiki practitioners through special training can unblock universal energy or transfer it from themselves to someone whose energy field is weak, thus promoting healing. Normally, unblocking and energy transfer are done through touch. Advanced practitioners can perform reiki healing without touch, either by holding their hands close to the body or, if the patient is far away, through visualization.
By opening up a channel between healer and patient to transfer energy, a reiki healer restores the body both physically and mentally. Muscles are relaxed and energy flow is unblocked. This helps reduce physical tension and pain. Anxiety and stress also are reduced, helping to unblock and release emotional pain. Although the patient may not be completely pain free, he or she feels relaxed, refreshed, and is better able to cope with his or her condition.
Reflexology
Reflexology is based on the principle that vital energy or bioenergy circulates between the organs of the body and penetrates every living cell. When this energy is blocked, the zone of blockage as well as its corresponding organs will be blocked. Pain in certain organs is associated with blockages or the buildup of crystals in corresponding or reflex zones. With massage these crystals or blockages can be broken down. This relieves pain in the corresponding area and promotes the healing process.
During treatment patients can experience feelings of relaxation and comfort, nausea and discomfort due to emotional reactions, mood swings, drowsiness, changes in body temperature, tingling and prickling sensations in the feet over the congested areas. Because symptoms of detoxification can accompany healing, after treatment patients may exhibit symptoms of cold or flu, cough, frequent bowel movements and urination, headaches, increased sweating, yawning and fatigue.
Long-term effects include relaxation, stress reduction, relief of chronic pain, invigoration, increased energy, improved disposition, increased creativity and productivity.
During treatment patients can experience feelings of relaxation and comfort, nausea and discomfort due to emotional reactions, mood swings, drowsiness, changes in body temperature, tingling and prickling sensations in the feet over the congested areas. Because symptoms of detoxification can accompany healing, after treatment patients may exhibit symptoms of cold or flu, cough, frequent bowel movements and urination, headaches, increased sweating, yawning and fatigue.
Long-term effects include relaxation, stress reduction, relief of chronic pain, invigoration, increased energy, improved disposition, increased creativity and productivity.
Electrotherapy
There are 4 main clinical applications for which electrotherapy appears to be used:
· Pain relief
· Muscle stimulation
· Increased local blood flow
· Reduction of oedema
In addition, claims are made for its role in stimulating healing and repair and for various specialised application – e.g. stress incontinence, though for the former examples (healing and repair) there is a dearth of quality research information available.
As electrotherapy acts primarily on the excitable (nerve) tissues, the strongest effects are likely to be those which are a direct result of such stimulation (i.e. pain relief and muscle stimulation). The other effects are more likely to be secondary consequences of these.
· Pain relief
· Muscle stimulation
· Increased local blood flow
· Reduction of oedema
In addition, claims are made for its role in stimulating healing and repair and for various specialised application – e.g. stress incontinence, though for the former examples (healing and repair) there is a dearth of quality research information available.
As electrotherapy acts primarily on the excitable (nerve) tissues, the strongest effects are likely to be those which are a direct result of such stimulation (i.e. pain relief and muscle stimulation). The other effects are more likely to be secondary consequences of these.
