Stay active to eliminate pain with physical therapy first

By Dr. Adam Cramer, PT, DPT; MyoFit Clinic

When pain is present, your body will naturally want to limit movement and then compensate and create new injuries. You hurt your foot, ankle, shoulder, hand, or knee, and everyone wants to immobilize it. They want to put you in a boot, a splint or a brace and tell you to go on with your day and the follow up in two weeks to see how it’s going. Odds are your pain is worse. Well, in all actuality, that is old thinking and current evidence supports a movement-based approach to correct injuries and manage pain.

If you are moving, you are progressing. You cannot heal without oxygen. Blood carries oxygen, so you want to promote blood flow in order to promote the healing process. By doing so, you will recover faster with reduced injury risk moving forward. By going to an independently owned physical therapy clinic, one not affiliated with a large hospital system or orthopedic surgeon’s office, you can receive this type of treatment and improve your odds of recovering 100%.

This is a cultural shift on how to properly manage and treat all neuromusculoskeletal injuries, including joint, nerve and muscle pain. Healthcare providers that have been in the field for a long time, including orthopedic surgeons, tend to perform the same types of treatments and have the same old mentality of managing injuries as they did decades ago.

There are better ways to manage pain and injuries conservatively. This is by having a “physical therapy-first” mentality for all injuries, and by seeing the right physical therapist, such as the Doctors of Physical Therapy at MyoFit Clinic, who support evidenced-based practices while taking a common-sense approach to care.

Dr. Adam M. Cramer is a licensed physical therapist, pain specialist and founder of MyoFit Clinic in Chardon, Middlefield and Ashtabula. Call MyoFit at 440-286-1007 if you would like to avoid orthopedic surgery for your pain. You can also visit MyoFitClinic.com.