Will Humphreys breaks down why people say physical therapy doesn't work. The real culprits: picking the wrong therapist, skipping sessions or home exercises, not following activity restrictions, poor communication between therapist and patient, and misunderstanding that PT requires active participation from both sides.
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Physical therapy just doesn't work. How is it possible that an entire industry is incapable of creating value for the general public, many of which are people who have doctorate level education? In this video, I'm going to debunk that phrase and teach both patients and physical therapists what they're doing to perpetuate the saying of that phrase. Coming right up.
Hey, guys, welcome back to the channel. My name is Will Humphries, and here at the Profitable Provider, I make videos like this every day to help people increase their income, impact and their freedom. So if you're visiting the channel for the first time, please consider hitting that subscribe button below. So I continue to make videos like these for you. So the phrase physical therapy doesn't work is an indication of how the public views the commoditization of physical therapy. Another way of saying that is that you don't hear people say, oh, I tried dentistry and it doesn't work. Course not. You, you HEAR People say, Dr. Smith is a bozo. I'm never going to let him near my mouth again. In physical therapy, we're going to talk about the top five reasons why people say that and what you're doing to perpetuate it. Starting with number five. If you're a patient, you don't have the right physical therapist. I said it. Not all pts are the same. Who you go to matters. So if you have a negative experience with the physical therapist, go to a better one. Someone who has higher recommendations or maybe a specialization in the condition that you have. If you are a PT and your patients are walking away saying that physical therapy isn't working, what they're really saying is you're not working. Number four, you don't understand how the PT patient relationship works. And if your patient don't feel bad about that, that's 100% on your physical therapist. It's up to him or her to educate you that unlike every other medical service, this is a true partnership that requires equal participation, dedication and commitment in order for you to overcome your condition. We can't do it for you. You have to be there, and that's on us to educate you to get you to come. Number three, you're not compliant with your restrictions. So if you're a patient and your therapist has told you not to do certain activities even though they seem really benign, if you do them, you'll run the risk of outdoing all the work you've done in physical therapy. Physical therapists, you know it's essential for you to educate and reinforce these actions and restrictions to make sure your patients aren't accidentally doing things that they think are benign, that ultimately are causing pain. But if you do those things as a patient that cause your symptoms to flare up, you absolutely outdo everything in pt. Number two, you have poor communication with your physical therapist. Now, that could come from either one of you. But like we've talked about in the first three examples, if you or your therapist aren't expressing what's going on in your part of the agreement, you won't find the results you need. So as a patient, you need to be mindful of telling people when you're feeling like, man, this isn't going in the direction I think it needs to go in. Patients oftentimes just discharge themselves and tell people it didn't work, when in actuality they weren't giving their therapist the right information. Because information leads to inspiration. In your case, that's going to lead to the results that you're looking for. And the number one reason why physical therapy doesn't work is that you don't go to physical therapy. That's right. Patients, because of all the other four reasons, if they're not coming to their physical therapy visits and they're not doing their home exercise program will not 100% improve. They have to have commitment to that program. And therapists. This is more of a reflection of you. Again, because we're afraid of words like selling, we do not have the right discussions with our patients to educate them on why it's essential for them to commit. We use phrases like, yeah, Mrs. Smith, I'll have you come two to three times a week for about four to six weeks. And then if you still need therapy, we'll call your doctor. You need to tell your patient, look, Mrs. Smith, you have to come two times a week for four weeks. And if you don't do your home program and do therapy, I can't help you. Without that type of firm dialogue, we're not gonna be able to get our patients to come to their appointments and make the progress that they need. So what did I miss? What is another reason why you think people say physical therapy doesn't work? Please put that in the comments below. I'll respond to every comment. Guys, if you like this video, hit like, until next time.
