The goal of pain management is to use an interdisciplinary approach to pain relief and improve quality of life. Many people face pain because of chronic conditions or after surgery and need to find long-term options to help relieve pain. Physical therapy combines with other types of therapy such as massage and medication can help to relive pain in many people. Pain after orthopedic surgery responds very well to physical therapy. Your doctor will come up with a physical therapy treatment plan which will benefit you depending on the cause of your pain and the level of relief that you need.

An Alternative to Pain Killers

While you may need pain medication from time to time, many people do not want to take pain killers on a long term basis. The danger of addiction and the long term effects of many pain pills on your body make physical therapy an attractive alternative. When combined with hot and cold packs, massage, ultrasound, and TENS therapy, physical therapy can be an effective alternative to pain killers.

Why It Works

You may think exercise is counterproductive to pain relief. But physical therapy retrains the muscles around your injury or surgery site to support the area more effectively. The stretching and strength building activities involved in physical therapy actually improve your mobility and range of motion giving you more freedom and reduce your amount of pain. At first you may experience more pain as your muscles and tendons strengthen and are able to support your body, but if you stick with the treatment plan laid out by your doctor you will see improvement.

A Plan Just for You

Your doctor will examine you and discuss your pain levels. He or she will formulate a treatment plan that is tailored especially to your case. Not all plans work for every person. If your pain is due to an injury, that injury will need to be addressed first before you can start physical therapy. If your pain is due to surgery, such as knee replacement, your doctor may want to wait until some of the inflammation from surgery has subsided before you start physical therapy. Your doctor will work with a team of specialists to come up with the right treatment plan for you.

You don’t have to suffer with chronic pain. Your doctor has many treatment options, and physical therapy has been proven to be part of an effective pain management treatment plan. If you are recovering from orthopedic surgery talk to your doctor about adding physical therapy to your treatment.

Image from Flickr shared by Roger Mommaerts under Creative Commons License.