Welcome to Innerstrength Healthcare.
You may have been suggested to see us if you have experienced or are still experiencing significant pain.
This introduction is for you to discover if we seem the right fit for you.
We aim to make you feel safe, informed, in control and supported in taking steps to improve your health and wellbeing.
We offer a range of services - psychology, clinical pilates, exercise rehab, dietetics and pelvic floor and general physiotherapy.
Click here to read more about us.
Here are a few things we understand.
We know that your experience is unique and the first step is listening and understanding and this takes time.
Experiencing pain is stressful, no matter whether your pain began recently or long ago, is constant or occasional, explained or unexplained.
Abdominal and pelvic area pain is often more distressing than ankle pain for instance as our human survival instinct to protect our core area is strong.
Significant pain is rarely helped by one therapist or treatment but instead requires a multifaceted approach.
Psychology is an excellent support to help navigate the treatment journey for those who experience significant pain.
This is because living with pain is often stressful and research shows that recovery is best supported by both physical and psychological approaches.
The Central Sensitisation Inventory
The central sensitisation inventory CSI is a form we would love you to fill in to smooth over your journey.
It was developed in 2011 to assess the extent of a person's pain and sensitisation.
Here is a link to the CSI.
We will receive your results, you will be able to find your result on "My Health Journey."
A higher score on the CSI will indicate that a team approach, especially access to a Pain Psychologist (Jo Sheedy) is vital to help you cope with the stress of this journey.
So what is sensitisation?
Sensitisation is a term that describes how the brain and spinal cord can become overly reactive and sensitive.
The human nervous system is quick to learn and flexible, we use the term neuroplastic.
It is able to become sensitive or wind up.
Even a small event can turn into persistent pain.
Surprisingly the degree of wind up often does not mean a more severe injury, infection or pathology.
After 12 weeks more pain means more sensitivity, not more damage. Pain does not equal damage.
What makes one small injury become devastating and a big injury settle down is complex.
So far science has told us what to look out for and what to do.
The questionnaires linked here help us understand as does a big chat and a physical assessment.
What comes up can come down might be a mantra you can live by.
Car alarm analogy - Central Sensitisation
To understand this better the analogy of the overly sensitive car alarm is used.
A car alarm is installed to protect from theft.
However if the car alarm is set too sensitive, it can be set off too easily, such as a visit from the neighbour's cat or a gust of wind.
Similarly it is understood that in the setting of persistent ongoing problems, the nervous system becomes sensitive to
- light touch,
- gentle movement,
- prolonged postures and
- normal body functions.
The Garage Analogy - Spinal Sensitisation
To understand what can happen at the spine with chronic pain is the Garage Analogy.
There is only so much you can store in a garage before it is bursting out of the door and windows.
Information can come from organs, skin, muscle, tissues and all end up in the spine.
When there is lots of information it can overload to nearby areas giving rise to more heightened sensations there.
Getting to Know You More
When you have completed the CSI you will then be directed to other forms called the Pain Self Efficacy Questionnaire, PCS and TSK.
Please feel free to continue or stop at any time.
These forms are great tools to improve communication.
They will help us understand and guide you towards a more useful and acceptable journey.
Questionnaires can be done before or after as they can get in the way of a good conversation.
In the initial face to face appointments we really want to understand your story.
We wish you all the best.
Below is a snapshot of the approach we use - You are the best person to make you better. We support, inform and empower.
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Financial Assistance
What is next?
Setting up your toolbox
When you have persistant pain each day can be slightly different and pretty unpredictable.
Finding a long list of self-care strategies to build your resilience is vital.
According to reasearch some strategies are better than others.
In summary the most effective strategies keep you
- moving
- feeling safe
- feeling believed
- feeling empowered
- feeling useful with purpose and
- connecting with others
Your can start with more passive, short term strategies.
- Intermittent, short term rest used wisely can reinvigorate to keep you active and connected.
- Heat and Ice are also short term strategies that make you rest more so use wisely.
- Dry needling used sparingly, as a circuit breaker and to provide direction for exercise rehabilitation.
- You use a hand held device to massage the important spots initially to help you cope with the muscle fatigue.
- TENS for a few months can be good as a distraction to keep you moving.
Set goals with your physiotherapist that build you one step at a time.
Celebrate the small stuff
Print out the poster "What Success Looks Like"
Bring your soul to your healing, make a list of things that you associate with happy times or make you feel calm.
- Grounding, Breathing, Nature Based Mindfullness, Progressive muscular relaxation can help you manage your stress.
- Medication can be brilliant if it keeps you moving and it is not addictive.
- Become a neuroscience nerd. Knowledge is power.
- Download these posters to remin you MOTION IS LOTION PAIN = PROTECTION PAIN ≠ DAMAGE SAFE BUT SORE.
- Connecting with helpful loved-ones and trained health professionals who support and encourage you to keep moving.
- Position of comfort - a postion you get into for 2-3 minutes at regular times to support you to keep active.
- Comfort exercises - exercises you do at regular intervals that support you.
- Exercise rehabilitation - Walking and general exercise is vital as it offers, happy hormones, distraction, movement and keeps you connected in the world. MOTION IS LOTION