Misconceptions about PT

Started by aczerniak
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aczerniak

Full Member
10+ Year Member
What are some misconceptions you find people have about Physical therapy and those who practice it?
 
As others have said, we walk people, massage people, give them cold packs and hot packs, make them do exercises like personal trainers. That's really it.
 
aczerniak said:
What are some misconceptions you find people have about Physical therapy and those who practice it?
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Well, unfortunately, many patients (and far too many therapists) think that PT needs to be painful to be succesful, and they define us as personal trainers with a higher degree.

Here are some misconceptions that many licensed PTs have about the profession:
 

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jesspt said:
Well, unfortunately, many patients (and far too many therapists) think that PT needs to be painful to be succesful, and they define us as personal trainers with a higher degree.

Here are some misconceptions that many licensed PTs have about the profession:
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I can't believe that PT students stretch before running. They should know better! Many of them are exercise science majors too.

Also, PTs need to quit talking about "treatment" and more about "intervention."

I know I'm only a student but I think intervention is a more accurate term to describe what PTs do. Otherwise, all we do is apply ice packs and do ultrasound.

Kevin
 
You can't believe PT students stretch before running? Stretching can alter the length tension relationship and affect performance negatively if your goal is maximal power output, and research is somewhat inconclusive on stretching however many studies do not show a lower incidence of injury with stretching, but it depends on how far you are running, what you are running on, how fast you are running...That is a really general statement and I think PTs need to avoid making those general statements as it can corner us into stereotypes rather easily. A dynamic warm-up has been shown to increase performance and more effective then static stretching, but there are manyyyy times of stretching. Static, PNF, Dynamic, ballistic, etc. I would be careful about making blanket statements as those especially during clinicals and practicals. My professors would always call us out on those types of things. Just a heads up and thought it was important to point that out.
 
While you are correct to point out that there are many different types of stretching, I think it's fair to say that when a person says "stretching," what s/he intends to connote is static stretching.
 
Nailey13 said:
While you are correct to point out that there are many different types of stretching, I think it's fair to say that when a person says "stretching," what s/he intends to connote is static stretching.
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I would agree, and would add that static stretching doesn't seem to have much use, unless their are large differences in side-to-side ROM post injury.
 
Yes it was a blanket statement, but I did mean static stretching. How many times have you seen a gym-goer get onto a treadmill and then "stretch" for five minutes? As myr11 said, dynamic stretching is far more beneficial as far as I know. Unfortunately, I rarely see it in a gym or fitness center.

Kevin
 
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