Four Reasons to Choose Physical Therapy for Pain Relief

Each year, 100 million American adults experience chronic pain (pain that lasts more than three months). But though chronic pain doesn’t have just one cause, many people settle for one solution: prescription pain medicines.

For years, physicians prescribed pain medicines to help their patients, but this practice had unintended consequences; namely, the opioid epidemic.

That’s why medical professionals are taking a new, integrated approach to pain that focuses on treating the cause of pain without drugs. Physical therapists play a huge role in this approach, providing safe, effective treatment to improve health and relieve pain.

If you are experiencing chronic pain, whether it’s from cancer or arthritis, muscle strain or heart problems, you should consider physical therapy before taking prescription medicines. Physical therapy has numerous benefits in relieving chronic pain.

Personalized Care

While drugs are a one-treatment-fits-all approach, physical therapy is tailored to each patient’s pain and abilities. If you have back pain, you may receive massages and perform strengthening exercises. If you have cancer pain, your treatment may focus on light stretching and stress management. If you have arthritis, you may use aquatic therapy or hot/cold therapy to relieve pain.

This personalized approach means that if your treatment isn’t working, your physical therapist can change it up to find the right solution for you.

Safe Therapies

Physical therapy is safe, with no risk of side effects like medicines. Your physical therapist ensures that your treatment plan matches your abilities and monitors you throughout your appointment to ensure you aren’t at risk of falls, muscle strain or other issues that can occur if an exercise plan isn’t created by a professional.

Evidence-Based Treatment

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommend that the majority of patients with chronic pain avoid medicines altogether and use other methods of treatment. In its report, the CDC says that physical therapy is supported by “high-quality evidence” and that physical therapy can be effective at relieving pain.

Treat the Cause, Not the Symptoms

In some instances, physical therapists can treat the root cause of pain, such as muscle strain or inflammation. Some studies suggest that physical therapy is more effective than opioids at treating these conditions.

For instance, when low back pain is treated by a physical therapist, patients return to work more quickly and have improved back function. When they take opioid medications, they don’t return to work as quickly and their back function doesn’t necessarily improve. This may be because the medicine didn’t treat the cause of the back pain, it just blocked the symptoms. Physical therapy treated the real problem, getting rid of both it and the pain.

You can find relief from your chronic pain using safe, effective treatment that pinpoints the cause of your problem. Contact Bon Secours today to learn how we can help.

Learn more about how physical therapists can help solve the opioid epidemic.