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The Center for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) posted guidelines on March 18, 2016. They note that the” sales of prescription opioids have quadrupled in the U.S. even though there has not been an overall change in the amount of pain that Americans report”.  The CDC released these prescription guidelines in response to what they call the “growing opioid epidemic”. Click here to view these guidelines.

In that report the CDC recommended nonopioid approaches including physical therapy when….

• Patients are concerned about the risk of opioid use
• Pain or functional problems are related to low back pain. The CDC cited “high-quality evidence supporting exercise as a part of a physical therapy treatment plan”
• Pain has been present greater than 90 days

The report also notes that opioid use for more than 30 days could increase the risk of depression.

In her book, “A Nation in Pain- Healing our Biggest Health Problem”, Judy Foreman relays how her personal experience sent her on a journey to study pain, how it is created, how it is sustained by our body’s alarm system and how the medical community, in general, is poorly equipped and educated to properly treat pain.

She states that, “one hundred million American adults live in chronic pain (2011 report from the Institute of Medicine)”.  It is estimated that one in three people in the United States suffers from chronic pain (Portion). “The risk of suicide for people living in chronic pain is roughly twice as high as for other people and the risk is highest for people with severe chronic headaches”. (Foreman).

There is much research now addressing how pain is produced, perceived and can be altered with various interventions, in which physical movement is imperative. New studies are now able, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the brains of people who have chronic pain and better understand the “physical, emotional and cognitive suffering” of people with chronic pain. This is leading to better medical education and hopefully, also better pain treatment strategies.

The CDC states that, “physical therapists can play a valuable role in the patient education process, including setting realistic expectations for the recovery with or without opioids”.

If you start your day with the words, “I hurt”, ask your doctor about Physical Therapy, or consult with a Physical Therapist directly about how their treatment tools might be able to help you.

The Therapists at P.R.O. Physical Therapy have had advanced training on the “therapeutic neuroscience of pain” and have tools to help you better understand chronic pain management.

If you are having something that is “nagging” you and limiting what you would like to be doing, let the PRO’s at P.R.O. Physical Therapy help you.

This post was brought to your by our fearless leader, Annetta Haddox.