(ProActive Sports Rehab offers a weekly column promoting health, fitness and physical therapy. Please be sure to check back each week for a new topic!)
Despite the nation’s alarming opioid epidemic, a new survey has found that Americans prefer a nondrug approach to pain treatment.
The research brief (Americans Prefer Drug-Free Pain Management Over Opioids), released in early September 2017, is based on data collected from February through March 2017. Of the 6,300 adults surveyed, 78 percent said they preferred nondrug alternatives to treating their “physical” pain, and 41 percent found physical therapy as the most effective nondrug option.
Furthermore, two-thirds reported having neck or back pain great enough to seek care from a health care provider, and 54 percent reported having neck and back pain for at least five years.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released opioid prescribing guidelines in March 2016, urging prescribers to reduce the use of opioids in favor of safer alternatives, like physical therapy. In these guidelines, the CDC cites “high-quality evidence” supporting exercise as part of a physical therapy treatment plan for conditions such as low back pain.
Physical therapists treat pain through movement and exercise and partner with patients to improve or maintain their mobility and quality of life.
The American Physical Therapy Association launched a national campaign to raise awareness about the risks of long-term use of prescription opioids for pain and physical therapy as a safe nondrug alternative to manage pain.
— American Physical Therapy Association
ProActive Sports Rehab, with offices in Hamburg and West Seneca, offers one-on-one physical therapy and rehabilitation services. For more information, please visit http://proactivesportsrehab.com or call 674-9600 (West Seneca office) or 648-8700 (Hamburg office). You can also follow ProActive Sports Rehab on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProActiveSportsRehab for frequent updates.
