According to a Rhode Island-based physical therapist, physical therapy can effectively manage pain before it becomes a chronic problem.
“Physical therapy offers effective treatments for both acute and chronic pain, and therapists should be an important part of the care team for patients dealing with pain,” says David Pavao, DPT, OCS, chief clinical officer of Rhode Island-based Performance Physical Therapy, in a media release.
In addition, the release notes that recent research from the journal Pain Medicine suggests that patients perform better in a physical therapy program and regain function faster when they are not prescribed opioids.
“It’s important for patients to understand there are safe alternatives like physical therapy to deal with their pain,” Pavao adds in the release.
As a way to deal with the reported epidemic of opioid abuse and to help educate the public about alternative ways to deal with pain, the American Physical Therapy Association has joined others in the federal, state, local, and private sectors to address the prescription drug epidemic, the release explains.
A multidisciplinary clinical approach that includes physical therapists as well as physicians and other healthcare providers can help improve quality of life for patients experiencing acute and chronic pain, per the release.
[Source(s): Performance Physical Therapy, PR Newswire]
