Introduction
This article is for you if:
- You’ve been injured or in pain for 6+ months.
- You’ve tried physical therapy.
- But you’re still stuck.
If that sounds like you, I get how frustrating and uncertain this can feel. You’re trying to find your next step, wondering if there’s anything out there that can finally fix the issue.
You’re not alone.
I’ve been in your position, and so have all my clients.
In this article, I’ll help you cut through the noise, save months of trial and error, and avoid wasting time on ineffective options.
I’m not here to convince you I’m the better choice. Instead, we’ll explore your options and the evidence — so you can decide the best next steps for yourself.
Ps. To keep this article easy to read, I’ll include all links to my sources and studies at the end of this article
#1) Massage Therapy
- Why People Choose It: It feels good, reduces muscle tension, and offers temporary pain relief.
- The Evidence: Massage therapy can provide short-term benefits but does nothing to address the root cause of injuries. It’s great for relaxation but won’t fix structural or biomechanical problems.
- Conclusion: The facts show us that massage is a short-term band-aid, not a long-term solution.
Aggressive or improper massage will aggravate and worsen underlying injuries, causing more pain or delayed healing.
And without addressing the root cause (please… don’t trust a massage therapist’s diagnosis), massage will mask the issue rather than fix it.
#2) Osteopathy
- Why People Choose It: It promises to improve body mechanics and address pain through manual adjustments and soft tissue work.
- The Evidence: Osteopathy has limited evidence supporting its long-term effectiveness, especially for chronic issues. (Source)
- Conclusion: Relief may be temporary, and it often fails to resolve deeper biomechanical issues.
Forceful manipulations or reliance on soft tissue techniques alone can strain tissues or fail to address the actual cause of pain.
The Reality: Osteopathy may offer short-term relief but can fall short in resolving deeper biomechanical issues.
#3) Chiropractic
- Why People Choose It: Claims to realign the spine and improve nerve function, offering relief from pain.
- The Evidence: While chiropractic adjustments can help with acute back or neck pain, they’re less effective for chronic joint issues like shoulders or knees. (Source)
- Conclusion: Results are often inconsistent and often short-lived, because “improvements” are due to managing symptoms, not resolving the root issue.
High-velocity manipulations carry a small but real risk of serious complications, such as nerve damage, and joint instability (even stroke).
So be cautious because for some, a single adjustment has resulted in permanent joint damage, leaving them debilitated for life.
#4) Ultrasound
- Why People Choose It: It’s marketed as a way to promote tissue healing and reduce pain.
- The Evidence: Research shows minimal improvements for chronic conditions, with limited impact on function or long-term pain relief. (Source)
- Conclusion: Largely ineffective for chronic injuries and long term joint issues / complaints.
While generally safe, ultrasound therapy offers minimal improvements for chronic issues and could delay progress by diverting time and resources from more effective treatments.
The Reality: You might be paying for a treatment that does little to address your actual problem.
#5) “TENS”
- Why People Choose It: It reduces pain perception by interfering with pain signals to the brain.
- The Evidence: TENS can provide temporary pain relief, but it doesn’t address the root cause of musculoskeletal problems. (Source)
- Conclusion: Another temporary solution that leaves the deeper issue unresolved.
Over-reliance on TENS can lead to neglecting more comprehensive solutions, leaving the root cause of pain unresolved.
The Reality: While it can reduce pain perception temporarily, it doesn’t provide lasting results and may delay proper rehabilitation.
#6) Acupuncture
- Why People Choose It: Promises pain relief and healing by targeting specific points in the body.
- The Evidence: Mixed results; some studies suggest short-term relief, but long-term effectiveness is questionable. (Source)
- Conclusion: May help by reducing pain symptoms temporarily but isn’t a reliable fix for chronic injuries.
While generally safe, improper technique can cause bruising, infection, or discomfort. Results are highly variable.
The Reality: Acupuncture may help with pain relief for some, but it doesn’t resolve structural or biomechanical problems.
#7) Shockwave
- Why People Choose It: Aims to stimulate healing through targeted high-energy sound waves.
- The Evidence: Some benefits for specific tendinopathies, but overall results are inconsistent and often minimal. (Source)
- Conclusion: Small improvements depending on the issue, but not a game-changer for most people.
Can cause significant bruising, swelling, or tendon weakening if overused or administered incorrectly.
The Reality: Improper treatment can worsen your condition, making recovery even harder.
#8) Cortisone
- Why People Choose It: Quickly reduces inflammation and provides temporary pain relief.
- The Evidence: Offers short-term relief but doesn’t resolve the underlying issue. Repeated use can weaken tendons and cartilage. (Source)
- Conclusion: Useful for acute flare-ups but a poor long-term solution.
Repeated use can weaken tendons and degrade cartilage, increasing the risk of rupture or permanent joint damage.
The Reality: You might feel relief now, but long-term use can leave your joints more fragile than before.
The Problem With Long-term Pain
We’ve covered your various options — and you’ve likely picked up on the fact they all offer short term relief that fails to resolve the underlying issue.
But what IS the issue?
Because if you have a chronic injury or joint issue: your pain is just a symptom, it’s not the root problem.
Most long-term pain is due to one of three things…
- Sensitization: Your nervous system overreacts, treating normal movements as dangerous and triggering pain signals unnecessarily.
- Weakness or Instability: Muscles or joints aren’t strong or stable enough, leading to pain signals when they can’t handle the demands placed on them.
- Poor Movement Mechanics: The way you’re moving doesn’t match your body’s structure, putting unnecessary stress on your joints.
And know what’s interesting?
None of the treatments we’ve covered in this article address any of the 3 problems I just mentioned above.
And relying on these “quick-fix treaments”, in my opinion, ends up costs you more than you realise.
The Cost Of Temporary Fixes
The great thing about the options we’ve covered is they feel good. Whether for a few hours or a couple of days.
But they come at a cost:
You spend time and money on treatments that don’t last. Once the effect wears off, you end up back in pain.
By masking symptoms instead of fixing the root cause, you become dependent on a cycle of constant appointments… chasing relief without real progress.
And worse, they distract you from addressing the root issue. Over time, you get weaker, less capable, compensations develop, and you risk new injuries.
Doesn’t look promising, does it?
So instead of using quick fixes to temporarily manage symptoms, I have a better suggestion…
BLUEPRINT FOR LASTING RESULTS
I think this is common sense:
But I’ll say it anyway…
Resolving long-term pain requires more than temporary relief. It requires addressing the root cause.
What works:
- Desensitize Your Nervous System: Calm your pain response by rebuilding confidence in movement through gradual, controlled progressions.
- Build Strength and Stability: Strengthen the muscles and joints around the injury so they can handle stress without breaking down.
- Optimize Your Biomechanics: Tailor exercises to your body’s unique structure, avoiding unnecessary strain on vulnerable joints.
This is what I specialize in.
Why?
Because it’s what I found to be most effective when I got injured years ago, and it’s what I’ve found to be most effective with my clients ever since.
To summarise:
- We address the root cause, so you stay out of pain for months and years, not days.
- We rebuild your confidence in movement, so you can move and train without fear.
- We create long-term resilience, so you can push yourself and perform at your best.
So… What now?
I hope you’ve found this useful.
If you’d like to keep trying the options we’ve covered at the start of this article, be my guest.
But if what I’ve laid out here makes sense, and you like the sound of an approach that addresses the root cause…
Why not book a call here?
We’ll chat, figure out if it’s the right fit, and if it is, great. If not, no sweat. You can always go back to the other options.
The choice is yours.
#1) Massage Therapy
- Evidence: Massage therapy can provide short-term benefits but does not address the root cause of injuries.
- Source: A cohort study published in Pain Medicine found that while massage therapy led to significant improvements in pain, disability, and quality of life at 12 and 24 weeks for patients with chronic low back pain, it primarily offered short-term relief and did not address underlying structural issues. Oxford Academic
#2) Osteopathy
- Evidence: Osteopathy has limited evidence supporting its long-term effectiveness, especially for chronic issues.
- Source: An overview of systematic reviews published in BMJ Open concluded that while osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) may provide some benefit for certain conditions, the evidence is limited and varies in quality, particularly concerning long-term effectiveness for chronic pain. BMJ Open
#3) Chiropractic
- Evidence: While chiropractic adjustments can help with acute back or neck pain, they are less effective for chronic joint issues like shoulders or knees.
- Source: A systematic review and meta-analysis in The BMJ assessed the benefits and harms of spinal manipulative therapy for chronic low back pain, finding modest benefits with a risk of adverse effects, indicating limited effectiveness for chronic conditions. BMJ
#4) Ultrasound
- Evidence: Research shows minimal improvements for chronic conditions, with limited impact on function or long-term pain relief.
- Source: A review in Pain Medicine evaluated therapeutic ultrasound for chronic pain management in joints, indicating that while some studies showed improvement in knee pain, the overall evidence for long-term efficacy is inconclusive. Oxford Academic
#5) Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)
- Evidence: TENS can provide temporary pain relief but does not address the root cause of musculoskeletal problems.
- Source: A systematic review and meta-analysis in BMJ Open investigated the efficacy and safety of TENS for pain relief in adults, concluding that while TENS may offer short-term relief, it lacks substantial evidence for long-term effectiveness in chronic pain management. BMJ Open
#6) Acupuncture
- Evidence: Mixed results; some studies suggest short-term relief, but long-term effectiveness is questionable.
- Source: An updated meta-analysis in The Journal of Pain examined acupuncture for chronic pain, finding that while acupuncture is superior to sham treatments for certain chronic pain conditions, the clinical significance and long-term benefits remain subjects of debate. Jpain
#7) Shockwave Therapy
- Evidence: Some benefits for specific tendinopathies, but overall results are inconsistent and often minimal.
- Source: A meta-analysis in the Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research assessed extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) for chronic low back pain, indicating that while ESWT may provide pain relief, the evidence is not robust, and further research is needed to establish its efficacy. Journal of Systematic Robotics
#8) Cortisone Injections
- Evidence: Offers short-term relief but does not resolve the underlying issue. Repeated use can weaken tendons and cartilage.
- Source: A practice guideline published in Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine discusses the use of corticosteroids for chronic pain interventions, highlighting potential adverse events such as decreased bone mineral density and suppression of the hypothalamic–pituitary axis, especially with repeated use. BMJ Rapm
