Author: Eric Robertson

I’m sitting out on my deck this morning enjoying my day off from work, as probably many others are this Memorial Day.  But, we all know that Memorial Day is not about days at the lake and cookouts, but using days at the lake and cookouts to celebrate and remember those noble Americans who have perished in service to our country.

I thought it appropriate to mention our physical therapist brethren in the context of the military.  The short time I spent working as a contractor in a military setting was enough to leave me extremely impressed with the quality of care and high level of training these physical therapists receive.  In fact, the profession of physical therapy owes its existence and quite a bit of the current knowledge base to military physical therapy, as this historical piece points out. 

A recent news article highlights the role physical therapists play today, often embedded with the troops in Iraq.  I enjoyed the comparison of soldiers to professional athletes, as well as the mention of the high incidence of back pain among soldiers by Capt. Christine Iverson.

I’m not specifically aware of any physical therapists who have lost their lives in service, but I would be surprised if there wasn’t any.  If you happen to know, it might be nice to leave a comment telling us so!

Enjoy your lake and burgers, but spend a moment thinking of those who came before us, and those in harms way today.

ERIC

Physical Therapists are renowned for helping those with injuries or disabilities overcome obstacles in the name of higher function.  Amputees, patients with spinal cord injuries, and even those with broken bone rely on the physical prowess of their therapist to help them regain movement and maximize function. 

Lost in this picture, however, are the physical attributes required to be a physical therapist.  Once in college, my advisor tried to encourage me to "find a new career" because I needed an excuse note from phys. ed class as I recovered from multiple knee surgeries.  She told me that I wouldn’t be able to handle the demands of the job of physical therapist if I couldn’t even handle gym class.

I was astounded and thought surely this must be a "bad apple" and ignored her comments.  I thought to myself, "How could a profession based on helping people overcome functional limitations require those who actually do the work to have no room for their own limitations?" 

Well, after practicing for a number of years I discovered two things. 

1. My advisor was wrong and I was correct to ignore her comments.  Perhaps she had a bad day.
2. My advisor was correct, and being a physical therapist required a certain degree of physical skills: strength, flexibility, well-stabilized spine, good body mechanics, and so on.

This was a long story to get to my point.  I came across this article about newly minted, Dr. Jennifer Berg, DPT.  Jennifer has a bit of a short arm which ends just above her elbow. 

She likewise ignored her professor’s concerns about the profession’s physical requirements and is graduating today as a new physical therapist.  I admire her courage, because I know how I felt when my physical ability was questions…and I only had a sore knee!  She must be made of some real moral fiber and I’m happy to welcome her to the profession!

ERIC

So I’m in class today instructing the MCG DPT students of the class of 2010 in the care and treatment of patients with low back pain.  This morning we reviewed how low back pain is often without a specific diagnosis and of the shortcomings of the medical model (pathology-based) in the care of low back pain for this "non-specific" group.  It was almost fitting therefore, when I opened up my Reader during lunch and found this New York Times article about the failings of current treatments for low back pain.

"Great!" I said to myself, "I can bring this up in class."  But, as I read the article, I was disappointed in lack of mention of physical therapy as an intervention.  I guess if the article was about treatment failures, we should be glad to be off the list, but there were some suggestions of more helpful therapies, and we should be on that list.

The article concludes with the nebulous recommendation to "reactivate yourself" from the editor of the journal Spine.  Yes, no mention of physical therapy treatment and the classification of that non-specific group, just a researcher concluding reactivation must be the best thing.

We have a long way to go to get this right!  I recommend letters to the editor of the NYTimes for now.

ERIC