Did you know you can be free of your pain, without using harmful opioids?
It might sound shocking, but an estimated one out of every five Americans suffers from some degree of chronic pain. Eight percent of those individuals find the pain so intense that they can’t pursue their normal activities. Pain, and pain management, are serious problems in today’s world. It’s no surprise that painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs have grown into such a mammoth industry. Unfortunately, these drugs offer their own share of troubles, from addiction to dangerous effects on internal organs. Many people have become fed up, and begun seeking effective pain relief that doesn’t come from a pill bottle. If you fall into this community of people, then you need to know about the amazing potential of our in-home physical therapy services. Instead of turning to opioids, consider physical therapy first, all from the comfort and convenience of your home! Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of physical therapy for your pain, and why you can kiss opioids goodbye.
Physical therapy versus opioids
The APTA website states that “The White House has announced that APTA is among the organizations that have joined a public-private partnership to combat opioid usage and prescription drug abuse, and that the association will reach out to the public and its members to deliver the message that pain can be effectively managed through conservative, non-drug approaches.
Physical therapists can help individuals manage pain, and greater use of physical therapy could make a real impact on the tragic levels of drug abuse in this country—abuse that often begins with a prescription for pain medication.”
Physical therapy offers numerous health benefits and advantages. It’s 100% a safe, effective, all-natural pain management tool. Our skilled in-home physical therapists will take each individual’s symptoms (and those symptoms’ underlying causes) into account when determining the best plan of action for pain management. Your specific treatment plan might include various therapy modalities such as:
- Massage therapy to boost circulation, relax tissues, and reduce inflammation
- Resistance training exercises to strengthen muscles, making physical actions less of a strain
- A soothing combination of heat therapy and cryotherapy
- Chiropractic adjustment to help joints move more freely and correct painful musculoskeletal imbalances
- Aerobic exercises to get the blood flowing and encourage joint lubrication
Physical therapy also appears to have one more major contribution to make toward helping those in pain become free of their worrisome symptoms. Some physical therapists have adopted “brain-rewiring” techniques such as graded motor imagery to help patients develop a new perception of their pain – one that allows them to master and minimize their responses to it. How cool is that?
This is a form of physical therapy that our in-home physical therapists also employ, as it seeks to give individuals more control over their pain so that they can tolerate more exercise. Being able to do more exercises reduces an individual’s pain even more. It’s truly a win-win situation all around!
Physical therapy can do more than just help you feel better. By providing you with non-pharmaceutical pain control measures, this form of care can help you avoid the harmful side effects of prescription and non-prescription drugs.
Better yet, when you participate in a physical therapy program, you’re doing more than just numbing your symptoms. You’re actually treating the underlying causes of those symptoms! Why settle for the illusion of relief when you can have the real thing – and improve your health and functionality in the process?
What’s the big deal about pain medication?
Think about the last time you experienced pain. Maybe it was a headache, maybe you fell on your knee and experienced bruising and pain later in the day. You might have headed straight for the cabinet to grab an over-the-counter pain medication.
A variety of over-the-counter and prescription medications promise to ease pain and inflammation temporarily. Steroids also do this by suppressing the immune system for people suffering from painful auto-immune disorders (such as rheumatoid arthritis).
However, that same immune-suppressing power, also makes the body more vulnerable to infection. Long-term steroid use has also been associated with cataracts, glaucoma, hypertension, water retention, acne, high blood sugar, and osteoporosis. NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) block the production of inflammatory chemicals in the body, and they aren’t really much safer! NSAIDs can cause stomach bleeding and kidney damage and have also been associated with elevated heart attack and stroke risks.
Opioid drugs pose the highest health threat and can end more than just pain. These powerful drugs caused over 70,000 fatal overdoses in 2017 alone. Some of these deaths may have been related to recreational drug use, but over 60 percent of the deceased were chronic pain sufferers.
Opioid facts
Did you know that opioids are the most commonly used medication for pain management across the United States? You would think that people would be more educated about something that is so commonly used, but this isn’t the case. Here are some shockingly harmful facts you may not know about opioid use.
- Opioids are highly addictive and dangerous, and they are the most commonly abused prescription medication.
- Heroin is among the opioid category, as well as prescription pain relievers like oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, and more.
- More than 2 million people in the United States become addicted to pain medication every year, many of the medications fall into the category of opiate.
- About a quarter of heroin addicts began their addiction through prescription opioid dependency.
Opioid usage might seem like a quick fix to a pain problem, but in reality, they’re just a temporary solution that can cause a whole world of other health threats for you. Physical therapy is a much better, safer option, that is likely to reduce your need to depend on these harmful substances.
Stop the dependency and contact our clinic today
If you’re experiencing chronic pain from an injury or underlying condition, don’t turn towards the medicine cabinet for relief. Contact Edge Physical Therapy today; one of our in-home physical therapists will be happy to create a pain management program just for you, that you can complete at home, at your own convenience.
