What Might Be Missing From Your Treatments
“I’ve tried physical therapy before. They just gave me a bunch of exercises and sent me on my way. It didn’t help.”
Unfortunately, we hear this story all too often and it doesn’t just happen when you see your physical therapist. Many individuals also head to their primary doctor due to pain to later say “They didn’t even touch _______(insert injured area)”.
Do physical therapists love their exercises? Yes, of course. However, that should just be one piece of the puzzle. ALSO, it should not be a pre-made set of exercises to hand out to the patient - exercises should be selected for each person based on their specific symptoms, their presentation of current strength, and their goals of what they want to accomplish in physical therapy!
Another huge piece of the puzzle that is missing from the story we just mentioned, is the importance of hands on care - or manual therapy. Manual therapy is more than a massage. Physical therapists use their hands to assess how a muscle feels (is it tight and painful, or is there very little muscle activation happening when we ask you to contract the muscle). When a physical therapist finds a muscle that is tight and painful, they could use several different techniques to release that muscle tightness which often helps alleviate pain as well. But that is not where the story ends….why is the muscle tight to start with? Is it being overworked due to weakness somewhere else in the body? Putting our hands on a patient can often help us figure out what interventions will help prevent this muscle tightness and pain from returning.
Even while a patient is performing exercises, often the therapist will place a few fingers on a muscle and give it a gentle tap to help the patient’s brain re-connect with a specific muscle. The physical touch sensation can help the brain to increase awareness to that area of the body.
Physical therapists can also asses joint movement and mobility and assist in normalizing that mobility, or helping with appropriate joint alignment with manual therapy. Having your hands on a patient during a movement can help the patient to feel when something is moving too much, or not moving enough.
Hands on care matters. Physical therapists who simply give a few exercises to do and walk away are not providing the best care possible. Imagine that you go see your primary care doctor and they spend the entire visit staring at their computer, never even once taking a few minutes to make eye contact with you or actually look at the part of your body you are there to visit about. Would you go back? Probably not. You would not feel like you’ve been heard. If you have seen a physical therapist who never even asked to place their hands on to assess the part of your body you are seeing them for, you haven’t had the best possible care. Hands on care from a physical therapist can provide invaluable information about how to solve your symptom puzzle. Give a call to SHIFT Physical Therapy and Wellness for us to work together through hands on care to help you!
Written by: Renee Hancock, Physical Therapist
