If you suffer from acute chronic pain, it can be disheartening when your pain medication is no longer taking care of the pain. And what do you do if your primary care doctor only increases your dosage of painkillers? You may need to tackle this problem through different means.
One option is physical therapy. Instead of dulling the pain, physical therapy can help your muscles, bones, and nerves reactivate their movement and fully heal. According to The Examiner, a subsidiary of Greater Media Newspapers, the healthcare costs associated with low back pain are skyrocketing, and patients often meet with multiple providers to undergo radiological diagnostic services, obtain painkillers, steroid injections, and even surgery. However, with the help of a physical therapist, these costs and the patient’s associated problems decline significantly.
“When a back pain patient’s first visit is with a physical therapist… whose clinical decision-making is aligned with current clinical evidence, the severity-adjusted total episode cost, including all treatment provided by any type of provider in any setting, is approximately 30 percent lower than the overall average total episode cost for treatment of back pain,” David Elton, an expert in physical therapy, told the news source. “Today, only 11 percent of back pain patients’ initial visit for treatment is with a physical therapist… evidence-based conservative providers will not only result in better clinical outcomes, but will also save millions of dollars in direct medical expenses.”
Research stemming from the University of Utah shows that patients who are referred to a physical therapist two weeks after meeting with their primary care doctor reduce their need for further hospital or clinic visits and healthcare services, such as major surgery, lumbar spine injections, advanced imaging, and opioid medications.
This study suggests that meeting with a physical therapist can help the patient more directly and could lower the costs of subsequent visits. Immediate consultation with a physical therapist is advised over delaying the healthcare service. If you’re having back pain or any other chronic pain, ask your primary care doctor about consulting with a physical therapist.