Are You Ready to Leave the Pain Meds Behind? Physical Therapy Can Provide You With the Relief You Need

Did You Know Physical Therapy Has Proven to Be Even More Effective Than Opioids?

It seems like every time you turn on the news there is another story about the opioid epidemic gripping the country.

There is good reason for the panic. In 2016 alone, 116 people died each day from opioid-related drug overdoses. Some 11.5 million Americans misused prescription painkillers in some way, costing an estimated $504 million in economic costs.

Some researchers even feel that many people who would otherwise be able to work are sidelined because they would fail a drug test. As mind-blowing as these numbers are, to a person who uses prescription pain medication for pain relief, opioids may seem like the only option.

Fortunately, there is another way to manage your pain. Contact Rehab Advantage & Sports Medicine today to find out more about how physical therapy can help you ditch the pain meds for good.

The benefits of physical therapy

A physical therapist’s job is not only to manage pain, but also to improve function. Your physical therapy program may include stretches, ultrasound, manual therapies and a combination of ice and heat for pain relief, but it will not stop there.

Your physical therapist will begin to address mobility, flexibility and strength as they apply to the activities of your daily life.

If you are one of the more than 116 million people who struggle with chronic pain, chances are you are also limited in your ability to walk, stand, run, move, work, play and perform daily activities.

Physical therapists address all of these functions and more as they work with you to strengthen your body, improve your balance and stability and enhance your quality of life.

The unintended benefits of physical therapy don’t stop with the body. They reach your brain as well. Chronic pain and prescription pain medication use can lead to anxiety, depression and isolation.

Working with a physical therapist gives you a partner in your pain relief journey. This sense of community can help address the mental toll pain takes on a person in a way that opioids cannot.

Understanding the natural healing methods of physical therapy

Since opioids mask the pain without treating its underlying cause, many people are choosing to forgo pain meds altogether in favor of a more natural treatment.

Fortunately, physical therapy not only helps relieve pain, it addresses what is causing the pain in the first place. A physical therapist is a highly trained medical professional, but he or she also is an expert in the science of movement.

Through advanced diagnostic procedures, your physical therapist can uncover the source of your pain and find ways to address it for long-term health and mobility. Best of all, physical therapy is a drug-free way to manage chronic pain.

Even living with chronic conditions doesn’t mean you need to live with opioids

It is fairly common for people who suffer from arthritis pain to resort to expensive surgery, steroid injections, and prescription medications to cope with their pain. Sometimes, these treatments can actually benefit patients with severe arthritis. More often than not, the better route to go involves physical therapy and natural treatments.

Arthritis does not discriminate either, and although it tends to be found often in elderly patients, it can affect anyone at any age. According to a study on JAMA, “[rheumatoid] arthritis (RA) occurs in about 5 per 1000 people and can lead to severe joint damage and disability.” Arthritis is also one of the top causes of disability in America. If left untreated by a professional, patients suffering from arthritis can experience extremely painful symptoms for long periods of time.

If you want to learn more about how physical therapy can benefit you and decrease your arthritis pain, give our office a call today.

Opioids are never the answer – here’s why

To understand why opioids are so dangerous, you first have to understand how your brain processes pain. Let’s say you bang your knee on the door jamb. Pain receptors in your skin register that something happened to your knee.

Those receptors send signals to your brain and spinal cord. There, your brain processes those signals as pain, and your body produces natural opioids to stop them. These chemicals slow your breathing, create a feeling of well-being, and block pain signals so you can return to a pain-free state.

When you have chronic pain, severe injury, surgery or significant trauma, your brain cannot produce enough opioids to keep up with the demand. Prescription medication mimics the chemicals your body naturally produces, relieving pain, but they do not help your body heal.

Find effective relief today

Don’t join the opioid epidemic. Contact our physical therapist in Dublin, GA today and find out how physical therapy can help you live a full, pain-free, functional life.

Living With Pain? Don’t Turn to Drugs – Treat it Naturally with Physical Therapy

Did You Know Physical Therapy Can Treat Pain Even More Effectively Than Pain-Relieving Drugs?

Pain can be a helpful messenger, an alert that something in your body needs fixing ‒ but it can also be an agonizing annoyance that ruins your quality of life.

To make matters worse, many pain problems are rooted in deep-set underlying conditions, often originating in a different part of the body than the part exhibiting symptoms.

Medication may mask your pain temporarily, but it isn’t going to solve a chronic underlying functional problem. For a more meaningful pain solution, take advantage of the drug-free options we offer at Rehab Advantage.

Treating pain the natural way with physical therapy

Our physical therapists can succeed where painkilling drugs fail. Once we understand the actual origin point of your pain, we can prescribe a physical therapy regimen aimed at correcting (or at least reducing) that functional abnormality.

Our physical therapists may start by addressing your immediate discomfort with passive physical therapy techniques. These natural treatment techniques can include any combination of:

  • Electrical muscle stimulation, which uses tiny amounts of current to stimulate your body’s natural painkillers (endorphins)
  • Heat or cold applications to reduce swelling and inflammation
  • Ultrasound therapy, in which sound waves enhance blood flow and relax tight muscle fibers
  • Deep tissue massage to break an adhesions grip on your internal tissues

Once you’re responding to passive physical therapy, we can introduce active physical therapy. Our physical therapists can prescribe exercises that address both localized pain and referred pain problems.

For instance, gentle stretching exercises from our physical therapists can loosen tight, painful muscles and increase mobility in arthritic joints, while core training exercises that correct your balance may relieve chronic strain or neurological symptoms in the body.

How effective is physical therapy as a drug-free natural pain solution? The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) states that non-pharmaceutical pain treatment is to be preferred over pharmaceuticals such as opioids ‒ and may actually do a better job of controlling pain conditions.

Treating pain at its source

The cause of acute pain may be clear enough, especially if it accompanies an auto accident injury, work injury, infection, operation or other event. As the affected part of your body heals, the pain generally fades away.

But this is not necessarily the case with some forms of pain. Chronic pain may linger for months or years with no obvious cause in sight. This pain may be due to:

  • Areas of internal scar tissue buildup that restrict neighboring muscles and connective tissues (adhesions)
  • Muscle weakness, knots or spasms related to poor posture or an unbalanced body
  • Degenerative joint conditions such as osteoarthritis, which produce chronic pain and inflammation
  • Chronic overuse injuries such as tendinitis, plantar fasciitis or carpal tunnel syndrome
  • Chronic pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia, which may affect both nerves and muscles
  • Extended disuse after a lengthy recovery period (such as frozen shoulder after many weeks with your arm in a sling)

Modern medicine tends to turn to drugs early and often in an effort to alleviate pain problems. Unfortunately, this approach may turn out to be nothing more than a stopgap.

The drugs may mute the pain for a few hours, but the underlying problem that’s causing the pain remains untreated. As long as that problem persists, so will your long-term pain problems.

This may force you to use more and more medication ‒ a troubling proposition, especially for addictive personalities or individuals who are already on other medications.

So, why choose physical therapy over opioids?

As stated by the APTA website, “The White House has announced that APTA is among the organizations that have joined a public-private partnership to combat opioid usage and prescription drug abuse, and that the association will reach out to the public and its members to deliver the message that pain can be effectively managed through conservative, non drug approaches.

Physical therapists can help individuals manage pain, and greater use of physical therapy could make a real impact on the tragic levels of drug abuse in this country—abuse that often begins with a prescription for pain medication.”

If you are living with pain, you don’t need to turn to the pain-relieving effects of drugs. Physical therapy can help you find that same relief, at a long-term level. Are you ready to find relief from your pain? Our team of physical therapists can help.

Contact us today for safe, natural, and effective pain relief

Our physical therapists are ready to help you stop your pain at its source, with no need for drugs. Call Rehab Advantage today to schedule your appointment!

A Tasty Way to Get Pain and Inflammation Under Control

Who says that getting healthy has to be a chore? You’ll be delighted to learn that simply by modifying your diet, you can get chronic pain and inflammation under better control (or possibly even avoid those symptoms entirely). Better yet, the diet you choose doesn’t have to taste like a punishment for previous bad behavior. We recommend dietary changes alongside exercises and other natural techniques as part of a holistic physical therapy program. Try replacing some of your old, regrettable menu items with this pain-reducing, anti-inflammatory diet.

Lean Protein Choices (Instead of Fatty Fried Meats)

It’s all too easy to settle for hamburgers, fried chicken, deli meats and other convenient protein sources — but they don’t seem so convenient once the pain and inflammation set in. You can easily correct this problem by switching to healthier proteins that include all the nutritional value without the inflammatory properties. Try gracing your table with fish (especially fatty fish such as tuna or salmon, which are high in anti-inflammatory omega-3s), tofu dishes and legumes.

Colorful Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables come in an eye-popping array of colors, from deep purple and brilliant green to neon orange and brilliant yellow. But these colors aren’t just for show; they’re a sign that you really need to be eating more of these foods. The amazing colors are provided by antioxidants, nutrients that posses powerful anti-inflammatory powers. Broccoli and cabbage are loaded with Vitamin K, a notable inflammation fighter. Make fruits and vegetables a cornerstone of your diet, and you’ll be well on your way to feeling better.

Gut-Friendly Yogurt and Fermented Foods

There’s a constant battle going on in your gut between “bad” bacteria (which promote inflammation, chronic pain and digestive discomfort) and “good” bacteria (which support digestive health by crowding out the “bad” bacteria). You can give the good guys an edge by adding plenty of probiotic foods to your diet. Options include low-fat yogurt and fermented products such as kimchi, sauerkraut, miso and pickles.

Health-Enhancing Spices

As delicious as these foods are, you’ll most likely want to add a little spice here and there. Fortunately, mother Nature has provided a whole catalog of herbs and spices that actually help to reduce pain and inflammation. If you enjoy Indian food, for instance, you’ll love the fact that turmeric contains curcumin, a powerful inflammation reducer. Garlic offers high levels of diallyl disulfide, another natural anti-inflammatory. Cayenne pepper is rich in a natural pain reliever called capsaicin. Don’t forget the oregano for a healthy dose of antioxidants.

Naturally Nice Desserts (Instead of Refined Sugar)

Refined sugar is notorious for feeding painful inflammatory disorders and symptoms. In fact, just one sugary soda per day has been shown to increase rheumatoid arthritis symptoms in women by 68 percent. The good news is that you can have a pretty sweet diet without the sugar. Try serving fresh or frozen fruit at the end of a meal for a refreshing change that won’t set off your pain sensors. If you must use a packaged sweetener, a natural option called stevia is probably the next-healthiest choice.

A Tasty Complement to Physical Therapy

As you start to feel the pain-relieving, anti-inflammatory benefits of your new dietary habits, you can get even more benefit from physical therapy and other pain management options. Our physical therapist can help you construct an entire lifestyle plan that incorporates diet, exercises, healthy ergonomics, and other strategies for helping you feel great. Contact us today!

The Best Treatment Method for Solving All of Your Aches and Pains

Whether you have recently started waking up with generalized aches and pains, or suffering from chronic pain for a long time, physical therapy has been proven to be the best possible treatment method for you. A sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise, poor nutrition or an injury can all contribute to aches and pains. The bad news is that the pain is probably not going to go away on its own. The good news is that a physical therapist can put you back on the right track and help get rid of those aches and pains.

Sources of Aches and Pains

If you suffer from generalized aches and pains when you wake up in the morning, here is what your physical therapist will tell you. Our bodies build up inflammation in the tissues throughout the day. This can be extremely subtle and you may not notice it, even by the end of the day. But when we lie down and go to sleep, the inflammation can thicken and settle into your muscles. This in turn immobilizes your joints and can lead to aches and pains when you wake up. That same process repeats, day after day.

Eventually, chronic pain can set in if you do not make any lifestyle changes to correct the problem. This is why it is a great idea to contact our office for a consultation, before the pain leads to more serious health problems.

Diagnosing Aches & Pains with a Physical Therapist

Your first visit with a physical therapist will involve a conversation about your symptoms and medical history, as well as some simple tests. Be prepared to answer questions about past injuries that may be contributing to your current aches and pains. Your diet, exercise routine and daily activities will also be discussed. This is to give your therapist an idea of the possible cause or causes of your aches and pains.

You will then be given a series of tests, based on your description of your symptoms. These will involve posture and range of motion exercises, and possibly some strength and resistance tests. When your therapist knows where you are experiencing aches and pains and has determined the likely causes, your personalized physical therapy treatment plan will be drawn up.

Physical Therapy for Aches and Pains

Physical therapy has a wide range of tactics and techniques that can be deployed to help with pain management. Here are just a few:

  • Tissue massage
  • Joint and bone manipulation
  • Movement therapy and exercise
  • Cold laser therapy to release endorphins
  • Microcurrent stimulation to release serotonin
  • Manual therapy

Within each of those categories, your physical therapist has a lot of tools and techniques at their disposal. For example, movement therapy and exercise might mean running on a treadmill, or working in a swimming pool. It all depends on your physical condition, the source of your aches and pains, and the treatment methods that are most likely to meet with results.

Tips for Ongoing Pain Relief

Your physical therapist will also work to educate you on ways to keep aches and pains at bay, by living a healthier lifestyle. This can range from advice on staying hydrated and enjoying better nutrition, to exercises and stretches you can do at home. The goal is to get you to the point where you are motivated to stay healthy without the need for regular physical therapy sessions. All of this will contribute to solving your aches and pains.

If aches and pains are starting to lower your quality of life, it’s time to take that first positive step by calling our office. Contact us today to schedule your first appointment with a trained and licensed physical therapist.

3 Natural Ways To Relieve Stiff and Achy Joints

Pain Relief Is Closer Than You Might Realize!

Sometimes we wake up in the morning feeling stiff and achy. We wonder, “Did I sleep on my neck wrong? Do I need to replace my mattress?” It’s only normal that from time to time we feel a little off upon getting our day started! However, if you find that you’re consistently waking up in pain, it could be time for a trip to a physical therapist.

Aching, stiff joints could be an easily fixed issue, but in some cases, your physician might diagnose you with a condition that requires a referral to a physical therapist for further treatment. Rehab Advantage has worked with tons of patients dealing with aches and pains in their joints, so contact us today to learn more. We’re 100% committed to helping you enjoy a better quality of life!

Stiff and Achy In The Morning? There Could Be A Reason!

Throughout the day, your joint tissues become irritated. By the time you’re tired and ready to go to bed, there’s a good chance you won’t even notice it. For the most part, when you fall asleep, you remain immobile overnight. This allows the inflammation to grow thicker joints become even more irritated.

The result? You wake up in the morning and find that your joints are stiff and achy. How uncomfortable! After you start moving around though, usually the inflammation becomes more fluid-like and the pain will lessen or subside altogether.

Your physical therapist is likely to recommend a pretty common remedy for this, which is that you stay properly hydrated throughout the day. Drinking enough fluids and staying hydrated allows your body’s tissues to function at their normal rate, whereas dehydration slows down your chemical processes and has the opposite effect!

But What If I Have A More Serious Medical Condition?

Sometimes it’s not as simple as consuming enough fluids throughout the day to ease your aching joints. If your doctor has diagnosed you with a more serious medical condition that impacts your joints and tissues, physical therapy can be a great option for ultimate pain relief or elimination. Here are some of the most common ailments that can be relieved with the guidance of a physical therapist:

  • Lupus.
  • Bursitis.
  • Gout.
  • Rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Osteoarthritis.

Unfortunately, all of these conditions can cause aching, stiffness, and joint pain. A physical therapist will work with you to help you gain your strength back, achieve a greater range of motion with the affected joints or limbs, and relieve the pain so you can enjoy a better quality of life.

3 Natural Ways To Relieve Stiff, Achy Joints

Your physical therapy treatment plan will largely depend on the specific symptoms or diagnosis you have received. There are several recommendations that work hand-in-hand with physical therapy.

Here are some tips that your physical therapist may share with you on your recovery journey!

  • Eat Healthy. According to Healthline, “A plant-based diet provides antioxidants, which can help reduce inflammation by eliminating free radicals from the body.” Having a well-rounded diet is key to relieving joint pain. Be sure to consume lots of brightly colored fruits and vegetables. These healthy foods contain many antioxidants and vitamins, which help to fight the swelling and inflammation that can lead to joint pain. A better diet also helps your body reap more benefits from exercise, and helps you to get better sleep!
  • Get Restful Sleep. Sleep can help you stay fit — pretty cool, huh? Getting enough sleep at night creates a circular benefit with physical therapy exercises, because when you get enough sleep, it increases your ability to exercise effectively. When you exercise regularly, it helps you to get better sleep. Better sleep habits and physical exercise are a powerful duo for keeping aches and stiffness away.
  • Work On Your Posture. It’s important to get up every half hour for stretches if you work at a job that requires you to stay pretty sedentary all day. Moving around keeps your circulations going, and can help relieve joint pain. Having good posture during the day also helps your joints to function properly. When we slouch or don’t practice good posture, it causes unnecessary strain on parts of the body that shouldn’t be stressed.

Contact Our Physical Therapy Office Today

Some people believe that you have to be a professional athlete or a bodybuilder to work with a physical therapist regularly, but this is far from the truth. Many of the exercises and stretches a physical therapist will teach and recommend are very easy and simple to perform on your own, and they don’t require special tools or equipment. Not to mention, most of our patients are regular people — not Olympic athletes!

If you’re experiencing joint pain, it’s time to put your discomfort to rest. Contact Rehab Advantage today to learn more about how physical therapy can benefit you and relieve your pain. We can schedule a comprehensive exam for you to meet with one of our movement specialists. He or she will be able to assess your condition and create a customized treatment plan suited for your exact needs. So what are you waiting for? Pain relief is a phone call away!

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Finding Effective Pain Relief – Without the Risks of Harmful Drugs

Are you in constant or recurring pain that won’t let you enjoy your everyday life? Do you suffer from the effects of an old injury, a degenerative condition, or some other situation that calls for ongoing pain management? If so, then your first instinct might be to reach for medication — but hold that thought, because drugs can pose their own threats to your health. Physical therapy can provide safer, more satisfying pain relief, which is why you should contact the Rehab Advantage & Sports Medicine physical therapists to explore this form of care.

What Is Pain?

Pain is your body’s natural warning system — which makes it a very important and useful asset under the right circumstances. These nerve signals alert you to a problem that requires attention, from an infected area or traumatic injury to joint or overuse of a particular muscle group. This is especially true of acute pain. Sensations of pain and stiffness discourage you from using an injured body part while it’s healing; once the condition resolves, the pain goes away.

But sometimes pain out lives its usefulness, lingering on for months or even years after your body has done all it can to address the underlying problem. This is chronic pain, and it afflicts some 116 million people in the U.S. alone. The pain may plague you constantly, or it may come and go in bouts that last for weeks at a time.

Common Causes of Chronic Pain

Chronic pain can develop for a variety of reasons. The most common causes and types of chronic pain include:

  • Post-injury/surgery pain – Internal scar tissue formation can interfere painfully with normal muscle and connective tissue motion.
  • Neuropathy – Nerve damage, disease, or impingement can cause pain as well as numbness, tingling, and other unpleasant symptoms.
  • Joint disorders – Arthritis and other degenerative conditions can cause chronic pain.
  • Chronic strain – Overuse can damage your tissues faster than they can repair themselves, causing chronic strain and inflammation.
  • Muscle knots and spasms – Chronic tension due to a physical imbalance or systemic disorder can leave you with painful muscle knots known as trigger points.
  • Stress – Chronic emotional stress can lead to unremitting physical tension and pain.

How Physical Therapy Eases Pain

Drugs promise quick (if only temporary) relief from many kinds of pain. Unfortunately, they can harm as well as help. The most glaring example is the addictive potential of opioid drugs. Opioid dependence and abuse has become a national nightmare in recent years, especially since overdosing on these drugs can cause death. Even over-the-counter pain relievers can pose dangers. Aspirin can promote internal bleeding, while other popular drugs such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen can cause severe organ damage.

Physical therapy can provide the pain relief you’re looking for without forcing you to risk drug dependence or side effects. One of the great advantages of physical therapy is its ability to address, not just your pain, but the underlying cause of the pain. Our physical therapist can perform a careful evaluation to understand your current condition in detail. We can then provide a mix of therapeutic techniques such as:

  • Physical therapy exercises to loosen tight muscles, strengthen weakened areas, and increase your range of motion
  • Manual therapies such as massage to release internal scar tissue or painful muscle knots
  • Postural corrections and exercises to reduce nerve impingement problems and symptoms
  • Stress management recommendations to help you avoid unnecessary physical tension

Are you ready for a pain management solution that doesn’t come from a pill bottle? Contact our Dublin, GA physical therapists today!

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The Best Treatment Method for Solving all of Your Aches and Pains

The older you get, the more aches and pains are bound to become an issue in your life. A rough day at work, a long day outside with the family, an unexpected injury—anyone of these factors could contribute to aches and pains throughout the body that may seem to never really give you a break. The body has an increasingly difficult time coping with injuries as you age. Something that you may have easily bounced back from in the course of a day or two as a child or teenager may take weeks or even longer to overcome once you pass the age of 40.

So many people are tempted to turn to pain medication as a means of coping with the discomfort, but there are a lot of drawbacks to relying solely on medication to address your pain. To begin, medication does not actually provide a solution to the pain, it merely lessens the pain for a brief period of time. Furthermore, many forms of pain medication are highly addictive and have painful health consequences. This is why the best treatment for solving all of your aches and pains is physical therapy.

Physical Therapy for all the Aches and Pains

Physical therapy is a comprehensive treatment method that is specialized to address pain wherever it develops within the body. Working with a licensed and trained physical therapist means working with someone who can diagnose the cause of the pain, rather than merely address the symptomology. Physical therapists use a combination of stretching, massage, and chiropractic adjustment to target the source of the pain and ultimately reduce both the severity and frequency of the discomfort.

As you are working with your Rehab Advantage & Sports Medicine physical therapist to overcome chronic pain, there are also tactics that you can use at home for added relief.

These top pain-relief tips include:

  • Hot & Cold Therapy: Using a hot compress or an ice pack, interchangeably, can help to alleviate pain as a result of fatigue and overuse. Taking warm or cold baths can also be helpful for this purpose. Different types of pain will benefit from different ratios of hot versus cold therapeutic support, and you should always consult with your physical therapist for specific guidelines.
  • Acupuncture & Acupressure: While acupuncture is a type of therapy that you would need to see a professional in order to undergo treatment, acupressure can be done at home with simple supplies. Foam rollers with pressure points are a great example of at-home acupressure care.
  • Yoga & Regular Stretching: As part of your physical therapy treatment you are going to be guided through basic stretches and exercises that can help to alleviate pain, and your physical therapist will provide you with guidelines regarding practicing those activities at home. Engaging in a regular yoga routine or spending time everyday stretching can help to alleviate tension and pain.

In addition to these helpful home-therapies, it cannot be understated how essential it is to provide your body with much-needed rest when you have experienced an injury. The best way to overcome pain is to provide your body with the time it needs to heal, and all therapies should be accompanied with plenty of rest and hydration. For support in overcoming your aches and pains, contact our Dublin, GA physical therapy office to set up a consultation.

Decrease Your Pain and Inflammation With This Nutritious Diet

Do you feel like the pain is unbearable? Pain and inflammation are two health issues that affect large swaths of the population. Considering a single source of pain alone, such as arthritis, reveals prevalence rates of approximately 40 million, says the Arthritis Foundation. According to the National Institutes of Health, one in four Americans suffer with pain that lasts more than 24 hours, and that statistic derives from research conducted in the early 2000s. But, physical therapy can help. Instead of suffering, see a Rehab Advantage & Sports Medicine physical therapist, and switch to a nutritious diet, says EatingWell, following these steps.

Reduce Intake of Unhealthy Carbs.

Unhealthy carbohydrates include all excessively processed starches. However, items with a higher starch content, such as wheat flour and whole-grain foods, are associated with improved health.

Get Plenty of Omega-3s.

Omega-3s are most commonly found in seafoods and nuts. The body uses these essential acids to form the building blocks of proteins and stimulate the immune system.

Have a Cup of Coffee or Tea.

The caffeine within a cup of coffee or tea also possesses antioxidant properties, reducing pain and inflammation. Yet, too much caffeine may have an adverse effect on the body. Avoid drinking caffeinated beverages in excess as well.

Use Sage and Spices Known for Antioxidant Properties.

Sage, cinnamon, cardamom and garlic possess antioxidant properties as well. Antioxidants function by eliminating unbound hydrogen atoms, also known as free radicals, within tissues. When free radicals come into contact with healthy tissue, they produce an inflammatory response.

Try Sour Cherries.

Sour cherries, while tart, make an excellent addition to a diet that seeks to reduce pain and inflammation as well. Furthermore, they can be used in dishes for any meal, including dessert.

Increase Consumption of Leafy, Green Vegetables.

Leafy, green vegetables are sources of vitamin A, and adequate vitamin consumption is key to maintaining homeostasis. Also, the National Institutes of Health explains, leafy vegetables provide a protective effect against diabetes and cardiovascular health problems.

Have a Cup of Yogurt.

Yogurt possesses a two-fold benefit for those in need of pain relief. Probiotics within yogurt restore the natural flora of the digestive tract, reducing pain from eating certain foods. Furthermore, frozen yogurts can be a healthy alternative to ice cream and other sweet treats.

Enjoy the Benefits of Dark Chocolate.

Dark chocolate also appears to reduce risk for heart disease, mental decline, diabetes and blood pressure, notes MoveForwardPT. These health conditions affect risk for chronic inflammation and pain, so increasing dark chocolate in the diet may lead to better management of pain as well.

Enjoy Bananas, Strawberries, Oranges and Other Fruit.

Fruits provide an excellent source of inflammation-fighting nutrients, reports the Harvard Health Publishing. Without getting the discussion of whether a tomato is a fruit or vegetable, just think of it as an anti-inflammatory food as well. Natural sugars also help curb cravings for sweet treats, made with granulated sugar, that have an association with inflammation.

Fight Pain and Inflammation With Both the Right Diet and Physical Therapy.

No one wants to live the discomfort and life-changing impact of pain and inflammation. Unfortunately, pain and inflammation continue to affect millions, but the right approach to managing these conditions can make all the difference. Discover how the right combination of diet and physical therapy can reduce inflammation by contacting our Dublin, GA office online now.

Nutrition: The Quick and Easy Way to Reduce Your Pain and Inflammation

If you are dealing with chronic pain or inflammation in your life, proper nutrition can play a key role in helping you find relief. Diet is an important part of any physical therapy regimen because eating the right foods can help your body recover from many different conditions. Eating right, paired with reduced stress and proper exercise can help in correcting inflammation and chronic pain. To find out more about how our nutritional services can benefit you, contact Rehab Advantage & Sports Medicine today and schedule a consultation with one of our physical therapists.

How does inflammation occur?

Inflammation is part of the body’s healing process, as it is an immune response to harm or sickness. If you’re feeling pain, there is probably inflammation at that location, as the two often go hand-in-hand. If you have an infection, a wound, tissue damage, or a buildup of toxins in your body, the immune response is triggered in order to initiate the healing process.

Without inflammation, injuries would not be able to heal completely; however, if the inflammatory response goes on too long, it can cause chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is a cause for worry, and your physical therapist will want to help you get it under control. Without treatment, chronic inflammation can lead to much worse outcomes, such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and even some cancers.

The traditional methods of dealing with chronic inflammation include rest and medication. Traditionally, primary physicians would even recommend limiting your amounts of exercise. However, a lack of exercise can leave you worse off in the long run than doing the simple stretches and exercises that a physical therapist can teach you. Additionally, medications can often carry a host of nasty side effects and could potentially be habit-forming. The good news about treating pain and inflammation with diet is that it’s all natural!

How to maintain an anti-inflammatory diet:

Many patients who adopt an anti-inflammatory diet report lessened symptoms of pain and inflammation. You can help speed up the healing process as the body purifies itself during the inflammation process by switching to a diet that complements the removal of toxins. There are three basic components to an anti-inflammatory diet:

  • More vegetables. One of the best ways to reduce inflammation is to increase your veggie intake. This diet is most successful if you eat up to nine servings a day, with the vegetables preferably served raw. Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli are some the best options. It is okay to substitute fruits for a couple of your servings, in order to break it up, but vegetables should be your main ingredient for the most part.
  • Less red meat. It is best to avoid red meat altogether in an anti-inflammatory diet, but if you must add some in there, it should be very scarce. One small piece of steak, one time per week, should be your maximum limit. The proteins in red meat require extra work from your kidneys to process; therefore, eating a lot of it will slow down your healing process. The good news is that chicken and fish are just fine for an anti-inflammatory diet. Enjoy them with all of those servings of vegetables!
  • Less dairy and grains. In order to strengthen your body’s immune response as much as possible, you’ll want to try and avoid simple carbs and sugars completely. That means no pastries, no donuts, and no white breads. Dairy products should also be extremely limited, so be mindful of serving very little cheese or milk with anything. Whole grains such as barley, oats, brown rice, and wheat are best when practicing an anti-inflammatory diet.

Additional support:

If you stick to the diet listed above, you should see your pain and inflammation symptoms start to significantly reduce. You can also combat chronic inflammation by maintaining a healthy body weight, getting daily exercise, and learning how to manage your stress.

To learn more about how we can help you abide by a strict nutrition plan to decrease inflammation and boost overall wellness, contact our Dublin, GA office today. One of our physical therapists would be happy to set up a consultation and speak with you!