Physical Therapy Is More Beneficial Than Opioid Drugs for Pain Management

American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) has issued a statement with its nation-wide #ChoosePT Campaign: “Opioids don’t cure the root cause of the pain, they only mask it. Physical therapists focus on treating pain completely using movements and exercises. In collaboration with APTA, members of the Private Practice Section of APTA are also speeding up their efforts to help educate the public about how physical therapy is safe, entirely risk free and a highly recommended non-drug alternative for pain management.  The campaign will focus on raising awareness against using drugs for pain treatment and will educate the masses through online advertising, radio and television public service messages and a number of targeted advertisements along with media outreach.

The drugs often prescribed to treat pain often have destructive effects. For starters they affect the stomach acid directly and cause acidity in majority of the patients. But these are just the less risky side effects of consuming opioid drugs to combat pain. As compared to the drugs, physical therapists work on treating the root cause of the pain by improving range of motion, physical functions and also decreasing the pain overall.

Nobody likes to stay in pain but that doesn’t mean that you put your health and your life at a risk to get rid of the pain. America has seen a dramatic increase in the prescription of opioid drugs for pain relief. Over the years medication like Vicodin, Opana, OxyContin and methadone amongst others have become increasingly popular for treating pain. Even though opioids do provide substantial pain relief but in actual they just mask the pain and pose significant health risks. Depression and addiction to pain relief meds has become a common problem with people using opioids for pain relief.

The CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been urging health care providers to reduce prescribing opioids and suggest safer alternatives such as physical therapy to patients suffering from chronic pain, no matter which body area it might be.

Choosing physical therapy as a pain management system can help patients heal and get maximum pain relief without risking the side effects that opioids pose. It is important that pain not only be masked but treated completely. Physical therapists have experience in treating bodily conditions with enhanced body mechanics, strengthening, flexibility, posture and complete education about how pain should be managed. Physical therapists actually focus on treating pain more effectively rather than passively masking the pain.

Physical therapists can best teach patients how they can combat pain and get relief from chronic conditions with alternate activities rather than resorting to medications. It is best if patients learn to control their pain without medication and with physical activities because the result of treatment with physical activities is long lasting and battles pain from its root cause.

Go ahead and check out physical therapy options available online and otherwise to get a better treatment for pain rather than over the counter drugs. You can also visit RetroGenics.com online too, as they offer alternative medicine products (Retrogen Pain Creme & Retrogen Oral Spray) which are specifically designed to help combat and fight chronic pain.

By: Dr. Tom Macek