Chronic pain Treatment
Finally get to the root of the problem
- Comprehensive orthopedic assessment that does not limit conversation to one body part.
- Determine how mechanical issues in one location might be impeding progress in another area.
- Dig deeper into the history of the problem.
- Conservative treatments for lasting results.
Individualized, one-on-one, hands-on care
- Build rapport and trust with a provider and see that provider every visit to fast track you through the twists and turns of recovery.
Sometimes seeing multiple providers makes it hard to recognize patterns or pit falls that don't need to happen if the cycle is recognized and intervened upon. Fast-paced clinics with multitasking therapists diminishes quality of care. Step away from the traditional fast-paced healthcare setting and make sure you are the sole focus of your provider. You deserve to be treated well and comprehensively, with time to discuss your needs.
Prioritize yourself
- Self care allows you to have more to give in every category of your life.
- Stop living in pain because you feel you have to "learn to live with it."
- Stop missing out on the functional things that make life enjoyable--whether it be a workout routine, lifting a grandchild or your own child, or going to work without continuous pain.
- Let's find an answer that works for you!
Typical new clients
Most of our clients have seen a physical therapist in a traditional clinic and unfortunately, if they saw results, they were temporary. They are trying to avoid more invasive treatments or have even tried those, but are still in pain. They are often prescribed pain medication with no end in sight and either hesitant to take them or are wanting to find a healthy way off of them. Many of our clients felt reliant on chiropractors and/or massage therapists to function, and didn't feel very empowered over their situation. While chiropractors and massage therapists might be a wonderful part of the team approach to your care, if you feel like you are spinning your wheels and buying yourself time from visit to visit you might need help to be more in control of your pain. Reach out for help as needed, rather than feel dependent.
Dr. Rivard's Chronic Pain Treatment Background
In Physical Therapy school at the University of Florida, Dr. Sarah Rivard did undergraduate research on back pain. Her research included understanding why some short-term pain resolves and why some continues on to develop into chronic pain conditions. She then wrote an ebook aimed at patient education to share what she found in this research. While the research was insightful it didn't offer solutions, so she proposes her self help solutions to breaking the cycle that can happen in her ebook: "Empowerment to Conquer Your Pain: The Cure Within You." She continued with an interest in chronic pain treatments by seeking out an internship at Brook's Jacksonville's multidisciplinary chronic pain center where she studied under the guidance of an expert physical therapist of chronic pain treatment and worked with healthcare providers of the entire team to include psychology, medical doctors, biofeedback experts, etc. Upon graduating with her doctoral degree in physical therapy, she then worked 9 years in an outpatient orthopedic setting which saw a high volume of chronic pain conditions and treated a wide range of conditions. She found this patient population inspiring: seeing patients who had given up due to pain, transform into people who were living life to the fullest again. As a preventative and conservative-minded physical therapist, she was driven to further specialize in scoliosis and spinal deformities so that she could aim her sights on not only treating chronic pain but finding a way to prevent chronic pain in these conditions by improving treatment options to kids and changing the course of the condition.
Possible types of pain that can be addressed
- Fibromyaliga, chronic back pain, chronic neck pain, chronic headaches/migraines, SI joint dysfunction, etc.
- Call our office for a phone consult to see if we could help you.
- Chronic pain is defined as any pain that has lasted more than 6 months, after this duration often the condition becomes harder to manage and needs a different approach to see results.
Our Approach
Dr. Sarah Rivard is a John Barnes trained manual therapist using myofascial release. She has taken numerous courses and has spent years participating in study groups held across Florida to polish her skills into an art. This approach looks at how the fascia, the connective tissues that envelopes the muscles and organs and is continuous head-to-toe, can affect posture, muscular holding patterns, and pain and function. She is also certified in the Hersh Method for treating SI joint dysfunction along with other methods to address this joint. She has training in the Meek's method for addressing bone density issues such as osteopenia or osteoporosis. She has manual therapy training in orthopedic manual therapy such as joint mobilizations and soft tissue massage techniques to assess and address soft tissue and joint mobility. She prescribes exercises to compliment and maintain the manual work she does to tailor stretches and strengthening that will make the results more lasting. She teaches self remedies for how to manage pain when it does happen, as well as teaching body mechanics to help prevent pain associated from poor movement patterns. She is also trained in the use of kinesiotape for helping to support joints, activate particular muscles, deactivate overactive muscles, etc. She takes the whole person into consideration and each session is about what you need that day, and not a protocol-based therapy approach.