The Pros And Cons Of Physical Therapy

One hundred million American adults suffer from chronic pain 1. What is pain? The answer to that question is not an easy one. Historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and clinicians have been trying for centuries to answer this question 2. If someone is asked to define his or her pain, that individual may struggle to come up with an answer. However, if a person says that he or she is in pain, there is no doubt that that person indeed is experiencing pain 2.

Pain is a common unpleasant symptom of multiple medical problems and usually indicates the occurrence of tissue damage 3. Pain is categorized as acute pain or chronic pain. Any pain associated with tissue damage, inflammation, or a disease process that is of brief duration (days or weeks)

Physical therapy uses a combination of heat packs, exercise, and stretching. A physical therapist is a licensed health care professional who examines and evaluates a patient's condition and plans a specific treatment program to promote the patient’s overall health. Physical therapists try to reduce pain, improve body movement and function, and restore and maintain the disabilities resulting from injury or disease. A review of 61 randomized controlled trials and 33 studies that were evaluated, found physical therapy to be successful for chronic lower back, hip joint and knee pain 8, 10,

The most of the acupuncture studies are about acupuncture techniques, needle penetration of the skin, and metallic needles which are manipulated by hand, and not about how these techniques can eliminate pain and improve quality of life 15. In 2002, approximately 3.5 million adults in the United States underwent acupuncture treatments 15, and since then, that number has been steadily increasing. Female patients are more apt to receive acupuncture than male patients