A very dear friend of mine recently developed a cyst like growth on her leg. Initially she dealt with it as most of us would, by conducting personal research on what it could possibly be and praying it would just go away! She did not have health insurance and was avoiding a visit to the doctor like the plague. After about a week, it had only worsened. She bit the bullet and went to see a doctor and was diagnosed with cellulitis. Because she was in severe pain and only had the option of waiting until the antibiotics did their magic to help her condition, the doctor prescribed her with pain medication. As someone who did not frequent the doctors’ office, pain medication is not something she has or would usually take, but in this case the pain was unbearable.

In hindsight, she wishes she had never taken the pain medication. It made her paranoid, have crazy dreams both while sleeping and awake, become temporarily depressed all while living in a fog while the meds were in her system. She took the pain medication over a 2 day period and felt it took a solid three days of not taking the medication before she somewhat felt like herself again.

For her condition, physical therapy was not an option to aide in her healing process. But for many others who take pain medication on a consistent basis to deal with chronic low back pain, neck pain, headaches or whatever the ailment may be, physical therapy is a treatment alternative.

According to the American Physical Therapy Association, physical therapists teach patients self-management skills and how to deal with pain in day-to-day life. They show people how to build up strength and improve range of motion, and how to make sensible decisions on how to avoid pain flare-ups. They teach the skills necessary to eliminate the pain and its triggers all together, rather than providing a mask for the pain (such as pain medication).

“Bodies are meant to move. Healthy joints and muscles need to go through their complete range of motion to prevent stiffness and soreness we often experience when being inactive,” says Patrice M. Winter, PT, MS, FAAOMPT.  It’s a simple concept, but totally makes sense. For more information on how physical therapy can help your chronic pain, give us a call to see how we can help.

The next time you find yourself reaching for pain medication to alleviate your chronic low-back pain, take a moment to ask yourself: “Do I want to ease the pain through medication? Or take control of the problem through physical therapy?”