National Physical Therapy Month promotes physical therapy as

therapy month– and this year, the american physical therapy association, known as a-p-t-a, is focusing on the message– that in some cases physical therapy is a safe and effective alternative to opioids for long-term pain management. in 20-12 the c-d-c reported that health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid pain medication — enough for every american adult to have their own bottle of pills. 47 abc’s justina coronel has more. track 1 when it comes to easing pain — physical therapist jen hamilton says physical therapy can be a good alternative to pain meds — as much for the mental upsides — as the bodily benefits. so coming in for therapy you’re going to come in and see other patients that are also going through pain, it may not be the same reason you have pain but they all have pain. and then they can talk about it to each other. they can relate to one another and they make themselves they aren’t the only ones going through something like this. track 3 hamilton says medicine has its place — and patients who manage pain with prescription pills — were prescribed them for a reason — but ultimately a patient must listen to their own body. we try to encourage them to use it as they need so if they don’t need to every 4 to 6 hours, which may be prescribed then they don’t need to take it. and try to use their own body and how they feelas their guide. butt sot once they start to do that and realize they can start weening away from that medication, then they realize, they didn’t need it as much as they thought. track 4 cdc guidelines suggest non-opioid therapy first but if needed — they suggest pairing opioids with non-opioid therapy. karen horner has been coming to tidewater physical therapy for 10 years — and manages her pain with this combination approach. because they know me so well, i’m fighting them to get the good bend they think, so we’re trying out to see if pain medication in hour before my physical therapy will help me get more stretch from it. track 5 hamilton says medication can help — the benefits of therapy are often more long term. while it may hurtin some aspect to do some of the things when we first ask, they find later that they actually feel better and then they realize that they can overcome this without having to use those heavy narcotics that are just blocking the pain anyways, they’re not really getting rid of it so what we do is we help get rid of the cause of the pain. track 6 justina coronel 47 abc. hamilton tells us that many are skeptical about coming in to get therapy — but typically feel more comfortable after coming to talk about treatment plants. in delaware — the d-e turf sports complex — appears to be