You Need To Read This If You’re Depending On Opioids For Pain Relief
If you’re like the millions of other Americans dealing with the misery of chronic pain day in and day out, you may feel like taking opioid medication is the only way to feel like a functional person. It’s hard to get your work done or enjoy your hobbies when you’re constantly plagued by pain. Trust us, we know.
However, there’s actually a better way to get the pain relief you’re seeking: physical therapy! This is a safe and effective way you can relieve your pain and recover without relying on opioid medications.
To learn more about the benefits of physical therapy, contact Agility Physical Therapy today and set up an appointment to see one of our skilled therapists, and start feeling your best.
What’s the big deal about opioids?
So you’ve probably heard that opioids pose a huge health threat, but when you’re in agonizing pain, this can be a truth that you let slip to the back burner of your mind. You might find yourself thinking, “Who cares? I want to feel better, I have stuff to do!” The truth is that opioids are just temporary band-aids for long-term pain problems.
To understand why physical therapy is a better choice for recovering from chronic pain, it’s important to first understand why opioids are an issue. If we’re being frank, actually, there are several serious problems with opioid medications!
First, they’re only a short-term solution. Opioid medications last for only a matter of hours, and then they wear off so you’re left in a never-ending cycle of taking more.
To add insult to injury (no pun intended, we swear!), the body also develops tolerance to opioid medications pretty quickly. While one pill might be enough to stop the pain in the beginning, soon it won’t work quite as well and thus your dosage tends to go up with time. This is how dependence happens.
Opioid medications are also quite addictive, which is one of the main reasons that they’re so highly regulated today. Improper opioid use, including taking extra pills for pain, can cause serious whole-body health problems including overdose.
Medline Plus’ site explains this nasty cycle, stating “ Dependence means feeling withdrawal symptoms when not taking the drug. Addiction is a chronic brain disease that causes a person to compulsively seek out drugs, even though they cause harm. The risks of dependence and addiction are higher if you misuse the medicines. Misuse can include taking too much medicine, taking someone else’s medicine, taking it in a different way than you are supposed to, or taking the medicine to get high.”
All of these reasons combine to tell you why opioid medications are the wrong choice for chronic pain. But, you have a better option in physical therapy.
Choosing physical therapy for your chronic pain problems
The CDC and the American College of Physicians both strongly recommend early non-drug treatments like physical therapy in lieu of opioid medication. By starting physical therapy early (preferably within 90 days of an injury) you may be able to avoid dealing with chronic pain for the rest of your life.
Through physical therapy, you can rebuild strength and recover full function. Physical therapy is the best choice for chronic pain for a few reasons, the main one being that it helps you recover and heal, rather than simply using a quick fix, like a pill, to feel better.
When you see a physical therapist, you’ll do customized exercises that help you heal from within, so you might be worried about discomfort or pain from the exercise. But, that’s not a problem with physical therapy because your physical therapist has pain relief solutions, as well.
Your physical therapist can use a variety of advanced pain-relieving modalities to speed along your recovery and enhance your comfort, including:
- Ultrasound to boost blood flow and heal your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and other tissues
- Ultrasound to deliver topical medication, which reduces inflammation
- Electrical stimulation to alleviate pain and improve your function
- Moist heat packs to reduce pain
- Cold packs to reduce pain and swelling
Get back to living a healthy lifestyle once again
The benefits are never-ending when it comes to choosing physical therapy over opioid medications. All of the pain relief modalities used in physical therapy are completely non-invasive, which means you’re not having to suffer to get the pain relief you need. It also allows you to get back to your life without taking opioid medication.
Your physical therapist will be 100% dedicated to helping you heal using all-natural modalities so you don’t have to constantly worry about obtaining and taking pain pills forever. So what are you waiting for? Contact Agility Physical Therapy today to learn how our physical therapists can help you feel better and ditch your medication.