Chronic pain affects 50 million adults in America—that’s about 20 percent of us! You may be one of them if pain and dysfunction have been a part of your daily life for at least three months or more.
At our physical therapy clinic, our experienced and friendly physical therapist staff is dedicated to helping you move with greater confidence, comfort, and ease. From our very first session with you, we’ll implement an individualized treatment plan that can help you find relief from your daily aches and pains AND help you understand why you’re having them in the first place so you can prevent them from recurring. Our mission is so much more than just alleviating your pain…callConnecticut Family Physical Therapy or read more to see why!
4 Ways a Physical Therapist Can Help You Ditch the Opioids
1. A physical therapist is trained in natural techniques that alleviate pain (and address the root causes, too).
As far as our physical therapy staff is concerned, effective pain relief isn’t just about “fixing” your pain. We’re naturally curious—we want to know why you’re having pain in the first place.
After providing a thorough diagnosis, we can help you understand the cause and contributing factors to your pain and implement a comprehensive and customized plan of care to address them. Your physical therapist’s approach may include pain-relieving and tissue healing interventions such as massage, joint mobilizations, electrical stimulation, dry needling, cold laser therapy, and more. These are opioid-free, non-invasive, and safe.
2. Physical therapy helps you improve strength and mobility.
Human bodies were meant to move, and we need strong yet flexible connective tissues to help us do so. By teaching you exercises and stretches that increase your strength and range of motion, a physical therapist can help you feel better and more secure in your daily function—whether you’re a competitive athlete, an active grandparent, or someone else altogether.
3. A physical therapist can teach you how to avoid or minimize pain in your daily activities.
A physical therapist doesn’t just care about your time here in the office—our staff wants to make sure you’re succeeding outside the office, too! We can teach you ways to move (at work, at the gym, and at home) that are biomechanically safer and more efficient so you can avoid recurring issues and perform daily functions with greater ease and energy.
4. Working with a physical therapist can help you get more active.
The Arthritis Foundation states that exercise is one of the best ways to manage chronic pain caused by osteoarthritis. Exercise has also been shown to relieve other chronic pain conditions, in part by stimulating the release of hormones and neurotransmitters that naturally alleviate pain.
If you’re not sure which exercises are safe for you, a physical therapist can provide valuable guidance, movement instructions, activity recommendations, and so on. He or she can teach you how to be more in tune with your body during exercise, and help you manage your underlying health conditions that could otherwise make exercise seem nearly impossible.
Do You Want Your Next Opioid Prescription to Be Your Last?
Opioid pain medications are highly addictive and cause a number of unpleasant side effects. If you’re currently taking prescription opioids or another type of pain medication, talk to your doctor about physical therapy or call Connecticut Family Physical Therapy to find out how a physical therapist may be able to help you reduce or eliminate your medications…and your pain!
Sources:
- https://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/NewsNow/2013/10/11/DDD/
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24047821
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/284869.php
- https://www.who.int/medicines/areas/priority_medicines/Ch6_24LBP.pdf
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4534717/
Tags: physical therapy
