Pain Management by Physical Therapy: Alternative Methods to Opioids

By Bijal Shah

A few months ago, I wrote about why we should try to avoid pain management with medicines like “opioids”. I briefly described a few alternative pain management in that article. Physical therapy is well known for pain management. Depending on the diagnosis and therapists, physical therapy can do miracles with pain in as short as one session. How do we physical therapy work on pain? Here, I want to discuss a few pain management methods that physical therapy use. Some of these treatment options are very easy to utilize at home with no extra supervision.  On the other hand, other options need close supervision of licensed health care professionals or may even need a physician’s order to initiate one. Continue reading “Pain Management by Physical Therapy: Alternative Methods to Opioids”

Managing chronic pain without addiction – A guide to Pain Management without Opioids

By Bijal Shah

Pain is defined as a feeling or sensation that is not pleasant or comfortable. Pain can be mild, moderate or severe.  It can bearable or unbearable. It may or may not disrupt one’s daily life or functional level. But the truth is, no one wants to live in pain. In addition, no one should put their health at risk in an effort to be pain-free.   I will focus on some very effective and non-pharmacological pain management techniques in this post.

Pain Management

Since 1999, Americans have increasingly been prescribed opioids. This includes painkillers (like Vicodin, OxyContin, Opana, and methadone), and combination drugs (like Percocet). In some situations, prescription opioids are an appropriate part of medical treatment. However, opioid risks include depression, overdose, and addiction, plus withdrawal symptoms when stopping use. As a result, people addicted to prescription opioids are 40 times more likely to become addicted to heroin. Continue reading “Managing chronic pain without addiction – A guide to Pain Management without Opioids”