Nearly three weeks ago, President Trump announced his intention to declare the national opioid crisis a “national emergency.” And for good reason; as we discussed in our previous blog post, opioid overdose deaths continue to skyrocket across the country. Claiming more lives than guns and car accidents, drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50. Alarmingly, in 2015, nearly 1 in 50 deaths were drug-related—and primarily due to opioids.

Once the opioid epidemic attains national emergency status, FEMA will be able to access Stafford Act funds to fight it. In the meantime, “The President is considering… other potential options as well, to ensure we're doing all that we can to tackle this crisis head on," a White House spokesman said.

One option the President should consider is investing more in physical therapy as a pain management tool. Although as many as 25 million Americans experience daily physical pain and 40 million experience intermittent severe pain, only a small percentage of pain sufferers ever see a physical therapist.

Yet prominent health organizations, including the WHO and CDC, recommend physical therapy as the first line defense against pain. And by and large, doctors prefer to prescribe physical therapy to their patients over painkillers. Says John Furrey, director of the HSHS St. Mary's Hospital Pain Medicine Center of Central Illinois, “There’s hardly a patient who comes through who doesn’t get referred to physical therapy.”

Besides sidestepping the risk of addiction, physical therapy offers additional benefits over opioid medications. Whereas opioids mask pain, physical therapy works to increase patient strength, mobility, flexibility. Athletico physical therapist Brian Freund, based in St. Peters, MO, adds that physical therapy “facilitate[s] a healing environment for whatever tissue is injured.” Furthermore, physical therapy can remove the need for corrective surgery, a more extreme intervention that puts patients at risk of developing opioid addiction during their recovery.

With opioid abuse reaching critical levels across the country, Americans need solutions that work. That's why at DiaMedical USA, we don't just use our blog to raise awareness about the opioid crisis. We also devote part of our business to combat it. Along with our Emergency Opioid Overdose Training Kits, we are proud to announce our new line of Physical Therapy products. From joint supports to exercise equipment, DiaMedical USA is the one-stop shop for gyms, clinics, and individuals experiencing chronic pain.