One of the most common things that I see in family medicine is patients with various aches and pains: low back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, just to name a few that I’ve seen this week already! Most patients who walk through my doors with such an issue will end up hearing my spiel on physical therapy, so I thought I would just write it down!
I have a number of tools that I can use to address those aches and pains in my office (handouts, dry needling, gua sha, cupping, taping, x-rays, trigger point injections, steroid injections, prescription medications), but one of the most powerful tools we have to deal with such issues is physical therapy!
Some patients are hesitant when I tell them I am referring them to physical therapy, saying things like, “But you’re a doctor, can’t you just tell me what I should do? Give me some exercises or something?” I can definitely get people started in the right direction, but physical therapists are absolutely critical specialists in the “team based” approach that we take in healthcare nowadays. Physical therapists are healthcare providers (like me), who have obtained a doctorate in their specific field (like me), but they differ from me in their focus on the way the body moves or should move and the specific exercises, stretches, and focused work required to help people recover from a variety of injuries. This is very different from my education. While I was busy learning about nearly everything that can ail a human body, they were honing in on the science of movement. When you see a physical therapist, they will utilize their unique expertise to do their own evaluation of what is going on for you and will tailor their treatment course just for your specific issues. They have a tremendous amount of expertise in this area that most medical doctors like myself do not. Having a physical therapist on your team can really maximize your chances of recovery.
Patients sometimes tell me, “No, doc. I’ve done physical therapy. It didn’t help at all.” Usually as I dig into this more, I find that these patients didn’t really commit to therapy, or do the recommended at home work, or follow up long enough. The more you put into physical therapy, the more you get out of it. I understand that life is hard and overwhelming, and physical therapy (like mental health therapy) takes a lot of work. There is no shame in being overwhelmed by that or calling it quits. But if this is the reason that “physical therapy didn’t work” in the past, I always encourage people to give it another shot, and to prioritize it.
Working with a physical therapist really is a fabulous way to focus on your body and to heal.
Movement is medicine, love that you help your community stay active!