Pain can put some extreme limits on your life. While medication can provide temporary relief, it doesn’t actually solve the problem of your pain; rather, it merely masks the symptoms. If you have been living with acute or chronic pain and you’re looking for a natural way to successfully treat your symptoms, contact our office today for physical therapy!
A natural alternative to medication: Physical therapy
For many people, even the thought of exercising can make them cringe due to the pain they are feeling. However, physical therapy exercises are one of the absolute best treatments for chronic pain. By participating in a physical therapy routine, you will see just how effective exercise can be for all types of chronic musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain. Just a few of the many conditions that can be treated through physical therapy include:
- Chronic headaches.
- Neuropathic pain.
- Fibromyalgia.
- Osteoarthritis.
- Disc degeneration disease.
- Disc herniation.
A physical therapist has a wide variety of treatment options to offer for pain. Just a few of the common methods and modalities that physical therapists use include manipulation of the joints and bones, movement therapy, massage therapy, microcurrent stimulation, and cold laser therapy. All of these treatments help in relieving pain, reducing inflammation, accelerating healing, and improving daily function.
The risks of pain medication:
Taking pain-management drugs as a way to rid yourself of pain may seem like a good solution in the short-term, but it has many disadvantages in the long-term. Over-the-counter medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen can lead to undesirable side effects. For example, taking excessive amounts of aspirin can cause your stomach to bleed and can lead to kidney damage. Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen can also both cause both kidney and stomach problems.
However, prescription opioids like codeine, oxycodone, and morphine are perhaps the worst. These are habit-forming drugs that can lead to addiction. They are also responsible for an additional number of side effects, include respiratory depression, constipation, anxiety, and nausea. Several people also overdose on opioids each year, either due to addiction or a gradually increased intake in order to relieve pain. Not only does taking meds for pain just mask the problem, it just may cause you another one.
What will your physical therapy treatment plan look like?
Physical therapy is the ideal way to alleviate your pain and decrease your recovery time. A physical therapist can identify where your pain is originating and treat it accordingly, in order to correct the condition. At your initial appointment, you will undergo a comprehensive physical assessment to determine the best course of action for your specific needs. From there, an individualized treatment plan will be designed for you.
Physical therapy treatments are both passive and active. With passive treatments, the main focus will be on relieving your pain through specifically selected methods and modalities. This may include ice and heat therapies, massage therapy, electrical stimulation, ultrasound, or any additional technique that your physical therapist deems fit. With active treatments, the main focus will be on improving your strength, range of motion, and flexibility, in order to help you regain your optimum levels of function. This will include targeted exercises and stretches, as well as any other accommodations forms of exercise (such as aquatic therapy or balance boards) that your physical therapist deems fit.
Don’t struggle with pain and harmful medications any longer. Instead of settling for masked symptoms, contact our office to treat them the right way. Our licensed physical therapists are seasoned in the field of movement and mobilization, and they would be more than happy to help you achieve a full recovery. Live your life to the fullest by scheduling a consultation today!
Sources:
http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/2018/10/Feature/Opioid/
https://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2016/3/16/CDCFinalOpioidGuidelines/
