NorthernPTVT_How Physical Therapy Can Help You Avoid Opiods…

Newsletter

Northern Physical Therapy Clinical Update

• Choose Physical Therapy Instead

• Minted Couscous Salad

• Exercise Essential

• Benefits of Using the Stairs

Newsletter

How Physical Therapy Can Help You Avoid Opioids After An Automobile Accident

If you have recently been in a car accident, you know how frightening it can be. Automobile accidents can result in injuries ranging frommild cuts and abrasions to broken bones and severe whiplash. This, undoubtedly, results in pain and discomfort following the accident. In many cases, your primary physician may prescribe opioids as a way to ease your pain during your recovery process. However, this can pose some dangerous risks. Opioids are highly addictive and contain undesirable side effects. In fact, just within the year of 2016, opioid overdoses claimed the lives of 116 people each day. It is also estimated that about 11.5 million Americans misuse the pain-management drugs they’re prescribed when recovering from an injury – such as those sustained during car accidents. Fortunately, physical therapy is a much safer and more effective pain- management solution. Physical therapy can help in your recovery from an automobile accident by reducing pain and inflammation, in addition to restoring your range of motion. To learn more about how we can help you recover from the injuries you sustained in your car accident, contact Northern Physical Therapy, P.C. today. The many dangers of opioids: It is important to note that opioids and over-the-counter drugs are very different. When people turn to over-the-counter medications to help ease pain, there aren’t many significant health risks. For the most part, Advil, Tylenol, and Ibuprofen are safe to use in moderation if you are trying to find immediate relief when recovering from your car accident.

However, with severe pain comes severe medication, as well. Opioids are the most commonly used medication for pain management across the United States. Even though they are commonplace, they contain some shockingly harmful facts: • Opioids are a highly addictive substance and are the most commonly abused prescription medication. • Opioids are a highly dangerous class of substances. Heroin is among the opioid category, as well as prescription pain relievers like oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, and more. • More than 2 million people in the United States become addicted to pain medication every year, many of the medications being opioids. • About a quarter of heroin addicts began their addiction through prescription opioid dependency.

These facts, while disturbing, cannot be ignored.

They paint a bleak picture regarding prescription pain medication use across the United States, to the point where experts believe it has become an epidemic. You don’t need to have a history of addiction to become dependent on opioids - in fact, many people who become addicted have never had any issues with drug dependency in the past. Fortunately, physical therapy can help provide the same pain relief in a much safer, healthier, and natural way.

Contact our office today to schedule a consultation, and figure out how physical therapy can help you!

But with severe pain from a more serious injury you may have sustained during the accident, prescription-strength medications may be issued.

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CHOOSE PHYSICAL THERAPY INSTEAD Think about

If you were injured in a car accident, don’t turn to opioids. Physical therapy is an alternative form of treatment that will help in both easing your pain and helping your body heal. Physical therapy goes beyond pain relief and works to improve the overall function of your body by getting to the root of the problem. Unlike opioids, physical therapy aims to provide long-term relief, as opposed to short-term. When sustaining a crash-related injury, your ability to stand, walk, run, work, and move altogether may be hindered. These areas of function will be addressed at your initial appointment and throughout the entirety of your treatment plan. The main goal of any physical therapy program is to relieve pain and get you back to your optimum levels of physical function, which your physical therapist will work hard to help you achieve. Lie on your side. Place a pillow between your knees for support. Relax. elying

Treatment plans will incorporate a series of treatments based on the nature of your condition, aimed at providing relief and recovery. This may include any combination of targeted exercises and stretches, manual therapy, ice and heat therapies, ultrasound, or electrical stimulation. Your treatment plan will also address strength, flexibility, and overall mobility, in order to get you back to your normal physical abilities. If you’ve been in a car accident, Northern Physical Therapy, P.C. is here for you. Our advanced holistic methods will help you recover the right way – without harmful risks. We’ll be your support system during every step of your treatment plan. Contact us today.

Healthy Recipe MINTED COUSCOUS SALAD

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tomato, seeded and diced • 1 English cucumber, diced • 1/2 cup mint (or flat-leaf parsley) • Salt and pepper

• 1 cup dry couscous • 1 cup jarred roasted red peppers • 2 tbsp olive oil • Juice from 1/2 lemon

INSTRUCTIONS

Cook the couscous according to package directions. Fluff with fork. Meanwhile, dice roasted red peppers and add diced tomato and cucumber to a bowl. Add lemon juice and olive oil and stir to combine. Finely chop mint (or parsley) and add to bowl, along with the cooked couscous, and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

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Exercise Essential

Patient Success Spotlight

moving joint by joint

SIDELYING

Lie on your side. Place a pillow between your knees for support. Relax. Hold this position as needed.

Exercises copyright of

RELAXES BACK

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“All Of Our Expectations Were Exceeded!”

“I took my daughter to see Ben for the first time today to help her with some sports injuries. Having grown up here and knowing Ben’s reputation for excellence, we entered with high expectations. From diagnostics to treatment plan to bedside manor, all of our expectations were exceeded! Northern Physical Therapy is the only place my family will go for treatment. I recommend the same for yours.”

CALL TODAY! (802) 626-4224 Lie on side. Use pillows for support.

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Come Back In For An Evaluation Whether you want to come in for a check-up, suffered a recent injury or you want to improve your health, you can choose the physical therapy practice you want! Come back to Northern Physical Therapy for a consultation today!

Benefits of Using the Stairs

The complex network of bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles in the knee joint are vulnerable. Knee pain can result from many problems, from sports injuries to arthritis to gout. And when knee arthritis or a torn knee ligament strikes, climbing stairs, walking, and even standing can be painful. Strengthening the knee is one way to prevent knee trouble and deal with a knee condition you already have. One exercise that’s simple to do is stair climbing. Stair climbing benefits Strengthening the muscles around the knee will decrease the stress on the joint itself. These muscles include the quadriceps at the front of the thigh and the hamstrings at the back of the thigh. Both of these large muscle groups get a workout when you climb stairs. Your own weight is enough to make stair climbing a challenge. Stair climbing also benefits the knees indirectly by helping to manage your weight. By walking up steps for just five minutes, you can burn about 45 calories. If you do that five times per week, that’s 225 calories. Doing it 50 weeks a year can burn 11,250 calories. A pound is about 3,500 calories, so with a little stair climbing most days of the year you can lose more than three pounds. Ready for a little more math? If you’re 10 pounds overweight, you’re adding 30 to 60 pounds of additional pressure on your knees with every step. Climbing stairs can help you take pressure off the joints by burning calories and dropping pounds.

Good For A FREE Injury Consultation Beat Aches & Pains! Mention or bring in this coupon for a FREE Consultation with one of our physical therapy specialists!

• Recent injury • Nagging aches and pains at work • Back and neck pain

• Joint pain and movement problems • Walking or balance difficulties while working

CALL TODAY! (802) 626-4224