October is National Physical Therapy Month!
The American Physical Therapy Association is focusing this year’s awareness month on highlighting how physical therapy is a safe and effective alternative to opioids for the treatment of chronic pain conditions.
The ongoing opioid crisis in the United States reflects the unintended consequences of a nationwide effort to help individuals control their pain. The health care system has, since the mid-1990s, employed an approach to pain management that focuses on the pharmacological masking of pain, rather than treating the actual cause(s) of the pain when its source can be identified.
Chronic pain can be considered a disease state and can persist for months or years. When PTs work with patients in pain, they use tests and measures to determine the causes of that pain and to assess its intensity, quality, and temporal and physical characteristics.
PTs also evaluate individuals for risk factors for pain to help prevent future pain issues. Some of these risk factors might include: disease history, cognitive and psychological factors, beliefs, and sedentary lifestyle. To help address the pain causes, PTs can implement exercise programs, manual therapy, sleep hygiene and stress management.
Join us in celebrating National Physical Therapy month and help raise awareness about physical therapy as a first step in pain management. #ChoosePT
Learn more: http://www.apta.org/NPTM/
Learn more: http://www.apta.org/uploadedFiles/APTAorg/Advocacy/Federal/Legislative_Issues/Opioid/APTAOpioidWhitePaper.pdf