Whether you’re feeling a new twinge in a muscle where you’ve never had discomfort before, or you’ve learned to live with the flare-ups caused by an old injury, it’s important to seek treatment right away. That sore back muscle or tender knee is more than an inconvenience – it’s your body’s way of letting you know that it requires special attention in a specific area. Physical therapy is the way to fix that injury; it gets to the root of the issue, tackling the source of your pain so that you can build strength and improve mobility long term. Physical therapy helps to prevent opioid dependency, boost mindfulness, and minimize the risk of costly invasive surgeries later on. Today, we’re going over the scientific reasons why physical therapy is the best thing you can do for that old injury. Let’s get started.
What Do Physical Therapists Do?
A doctor of physical therapy is a movement expert who is skilled and highly trained to treat pain, optimize movement, and facilitate return to function. Whether you have experienced a recent injury or are putting off getting treatment on an old, nagging injury, let me tell you a couple of reasons why going to see a physical therapist first would be to your greatest benefit.
Why You Should See a Physical Therapist First
Physical therapy is an excellent first course of action for effective injury treatment. This is because:
It can save you time and money.
In most cases, the first stop after you decide to get that injury checked out is your primary care physician (PCP), who will most likely refer you to an orthopedic specialist, who will then be likely to order you an X-ray or MRI (check out this blog post to find out why that’s not always the best thing for you). Then, it’s likely that you will be prescribed pain medication or a muscle relaxer. Finally, after all of that, you’ll be referred to a physical therapist, anyway.
According to a recent study, patients are likely to spend an average of $4,793 more if they have an MRI prior to receiving physical therapy (for the same results, by the way).
It’s what the experts recommend.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends physical therapy over opioids as a treatment for pain. In most cases, getting physical therapy is just as effective as (and far less invasive or costly than) getting surgery. Physical Therapists, especially those with board certifications, are just as accurate as orthopedic surgeons, if not better, at diagnosis musculoskeletal conditions.
The outcomes speak for themselves.
Studies continue to show that physical therapy has similar, if not better, outcomes as knee meniscus arthroscopic surgery, lumbar spinal stenosis, and other musculoskeletal conditions. This means that invasive procedures are not the only solution available to you in order to significantly improve your mobility and reduce pain long-term.
Physical therapy is the way to fix that injury you’ve been worrying about without having to undergo an invasive procedure or rely on opioids for pain management. Working with a great physical therapist means that you:
- Save time and money
- Adhere to the CDC’s recommendation for pain management over opioids
- Get similar (or better) outcomes for common musculoskeletal conditions than you would get with surgical intervention
Physical therapy doesn’t have to disrupt your schedule; in fact, a concierge physical therapy plan is entirely customizable to your unique needs and schedule. To learn more about your physical therapy options, schedule a free consultation with us.