{"id":1389,"date":"2016-10-07T10:09:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-07T10:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/assistinghands.com\/chicagoland-naperville\/?p=975"},"modified":"2021-09-29T03:33:46","modified_gmt":"2021-09-29T03:33:46","slug":"4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Reasons Why Physical Therapy is Better than Painkillers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-823\" src=\"\/8\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/pills-384846_640-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"physical therapy\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/>With America is in the midst of a distressing opioid epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified physical therapy as an alternative to these highly-addictive painkillers for managing pain. Unfortunately, when we are in pain, we want relief. Opioid pain relievers like hydrocodone, oxycodone, codeine, and others, when dosed correctly and used for a limited amount of time, can be an appropriate part of a person\u2019s treatment. However, there are a number of risks associated with using these drugs such as depression, overdose and addiction.<\/p>\n<p>Since October is National Physical Therapy Month, we want to share some things you should know about opioids and physical therapy so you can make the right choices for your situation.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Opioids &#8211; Did You Know:<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2014 more than 2 million Americans were addicted to prescription pain relievers<\/li>\n<li>More than 28,000 people die from an opioid overdose each year (including prescription pain relievers and heroin)<\/li>\n<li>People are 40 times more likely to become addicted to heroin if they are first addicted to prescription opioids.<\/li>\n<li>The opioid death rate in 2008 is four times higher than it was in 1999<\/li>\n<li>Opioids don\u2019t fix the root cause of the pain; they mask the pain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Physical Therapy \u2013 Did You Know:<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><u><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-976\" src=\"\/8\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/dependent-441408_640-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"dependent-441408_640\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/>Physical therapy may help reduce or eliminate pain.<\/u><\/strong> Therapeutic exercises and other techniques may not only reduce pain, but may also prevent it from returning.<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>Physical therapy may help you avoid surgery.<\/u><\/strong> If physical therapy reduces or eliminates pain from an injury, surgery may not even be necessary. Not only will you not need drugs to mask the pain from the injury, you also will not need them for pain caused by the surgery itself.<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>Physical therapy may improve mobility and balance, and prevent falls.<\/u><\/strong> If you are off-balance when you walk or just have trouble moving around, physical therapy can provide you with the stretching and strengthening exercises you need to improve coordination and flexibility.<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>Physical therapy may reduce negative effects of chronic diseases.<\/u><\/strong> Whether heart or lung disease, arthritis or diabetes, physical therapy can help improve quality of life through appropriate strengthening and conditioning exercises so the impact of those diseases are less noticeable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you are told that your only option is prescription opioid medication, ask about physical therapy or seek out a second opinion. Masking pain through medication is like putting a bandage on a broken leg; it\u2019s not fixing the problem. Physical therapy is a viable solution to a variety of injuries and other health issues.<\/p>\n<p>At Assisting Hands\u00ae Home Care, many of our skilled caregivers are physical therapists and can help the seniors in our care with appropriate physical therapy exercises if prescribed. Whether you need someone to be with your loved one during the day, in the evening or overnight, our at-home care can accommodate your needs. You will have peace of mind knowing that they aren\u2019t home alone when they need help with medication, fall prevention, personal care, eating or other needs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/assistinghands.com\/chicagoland-naperville\/contact-us\/\">Contact us<\/a>\u00a0today to schedule your free in-home fall prevention assessment at (630) 352-assistinghands.com\/3656\/chicagoland-naperville\/&#8221;>click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With America is in the midst of a distressing opioid epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified physical therapy as an alternative to these highly-addictive painkillers for managing pain. Unfortunately, when we are in pain, we want relief. Opioid pain relievers like hydrocodone, oxycodone, codeine, and others, when dosed correctly and used for a limited amount&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":823,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[113,47,104,105,106,114,115,49,51,17],"class_list":["post-1389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pain-maintenance","tag-chronic-pain","tag-exercise","tag-in-home-senior-care-brookfield-il","tag-in-home-senior-care-elmhurst-il","tag-in-home-senior-care-oak-park-il","tag-pain","tag-pain-awareness","tag-pain-management","tag-physical-therapy","tag-senior-care"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>4 Reasons Why Physical Therapy is Better than Painkillers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With 2 million Americans addicted to prescription pain relievers, many times the better alternative is physical therapy. Here are reasons why.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4 Reasons Why Physical Therapy is Better than Painkillers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With 2 million Americans addicted to prescription pain relievers, many times the better alternative is physical therapy. Here are reasons why.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Chicagoland - Naperville, Illinois\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-07T10:09:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-29T03:33:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/Assistinghandimage.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"341\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard E. Ueberfluss\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard E. Ueberfluss\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Richard E. Ueberfluss\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#\/schema\/person\/976bca814cae69f8178a5f0b7d3e3ee2\"},\"headline\":\"4 Reasons Why Physical Therapy is Better than Painkillers\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-07T10:09:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-29T03:33:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/\"},\"wordCount\":520,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"keywords\":[\"chronic pain\",\"Exercise\",\"In home senior care brookfield il\",\"in home senior care elmhurst il\",\"in home senior care oak park il\",\"pain\",\"pain awareness\",\"pain management\",\"Physical Therapy\",\"Senior Care\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Pain maintenance\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/\",\"name\":\"4 Reasons Why Physical Therapy is Better than Painkillers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-07T10:09:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-29T03:33:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#\/schema\/person\/976bca814cae69f8178a5f0b7d3e3ee2\"},\"description\":\"With 2 million Americans addicted to prescription pain relievers, many times the better alternative is physical therapy. Here are reasons why.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"4 Reasons Why Physical Therapy is Better than Painkillers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/\",\"name\":\"Chicagoland - Naperville, Illinois\",\"description\":\"Quality Home Care You Can Trust\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#\/schema\/person\/976bca814cae69f8178a5f0b7d3e3ee2\",\"name\":\"Richard E. Ueberfluss\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/franchise-opportunity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2026\/05\/richard-e.-ueberfluss_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/franchise-opportunity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2026\/05\/richard-e.-ueberfluss_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Richard E. Ueberfluss\"},\"description\":\"Richard E. Ueberfluss, PT, MBA, FACHE is the Owner of A Place At Home and a licensed Physical Therapist with more than 20 years of experience in acute hospital care, outpatient orthopedics, sports rehabilitation, home health care, and healthcare leadership. He is a Board-Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, Certified Manual Physical Therapist, Senior Home Safety Specialist\u2122, and Certified Dementia Practitioner. Richard also spent seven years as a hospital administrator, bringing extensive experience in healthcare operations, patient care, and community outreach. Richard earned his Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Marquette University and his Master of Business Administration from Loyola University Chicago. He completed his Certified Manual Physical Therapist training through the University of St. Augustine and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE). His professional background and commitment to helping older adults age safely at home guide the educational content shared on this website.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/author\/rueberfluss\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"4 Reasons Why Physical Therapy is Better than Painkillers","description":"With 2 million Americans addicted to prescription pain relievers, many times the better alternative is physical therapy. Here are reasons why.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"4 Reasons Why Physical Therapy is Better than Painkillers","og_description":"With 2 million Americans addicted to prescription pain relievers, many times the better alternative is physical therapy. Here are reasons why.","og_url":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/","og_site_name":"Chicagoland - Naperville, Illinois","article_published_time":"2016-10-07T10:09:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-09-29T03:33:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":512,"height":341,"url":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/Assistinghandimage.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Richard E. Ueberfluss","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Richard E. Ueberfluss","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/"},"author":{"name":"Richard E. Ueberfluss","@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#\/schema\/person\/976bca814cae69f8178a5f0b7d3e3ee2"},"headline":"4 Reasons Why Physical Therapy is Better than Painkillers","datePublished":"2016-10-07T10:09:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-29T03:33:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/"},"wordCount":520,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","keywords":["chronic pain","Exercise","In home senior care brookfield il","in home senior care elmhurst il","in home senior care oak park il","pain","pain awareness","pain management","Physical Therapy","Senior Care"],"articleSection":["Pain maintenance"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/","url":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/","name":"4 Reasons Why Physical Therapy is Better than Painkillers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2016-10-07T10:09:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-29T03:33:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#\/schema\/person\/976bca814cae69f8178a5f0b7d3e3ee2"},"description":"With 2 million Americans addicted to prescription pain relievers, many times the better alternative is physical therapy. Here are reasons why.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/4-reasons-physical-therapy-better-painkillers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"4 Reasons Why Physical Therapy is Better than Painkillers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#website","url":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/","name":"Chicagoland - Naperville, Illinois","description":"Quality Home Care You Can Trust","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#\/schema\/person\/976bca814cae69f8178a5f0b7d3e3ee2","name":"Richard E. Ueberfluss","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/franchise-opportunity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2026\/05\/richard-e.-ueberfluss_avatar-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/franchise-opportunity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2026\/05\/richard-e.-ueberfluss_avatar-96x96.jpg","caption":"Richard E. Ueberfluss"},"description":"Richard E. Ueberfluss, PT, MBA, FACHE is the Owner of A Place At Home and a licensed Physical Therapist with more than 20 years of experience in acute hospital care, outpatient orthopedics, sports rehabilitation, home health care, and healthcare leadership. He is a Board-Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, Certified Manual Physical Therapist, Senior Home Safety Specialist\u2122, and Certified Dementia Practitioner. Richard also spent seven years as a hospital administrator, bringing extensive experience in healthcare operations, patient care, and community outreach. Richard earned his Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Marquette University and his Master of Business Administration from Loyola University Chicago. He completed his Certified Manual Physical Therapist training through the University of St. Augustine and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE). His professional background and commitment to helping older adults age safely at home guide the educational content shared on this website.","url":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/illinois\/chicagoland-naperville\/blog\/author\/rueberfluss\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1389"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1764,"href":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions\/1764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}