Lessons I Learned in my First Year Working as a Physical Therapist
How well people take care of themselves in their early years shows in their older age
I have seen too many people in their 50s and 60s who require an assistive device to walk due to the poor habits they’ve had in their lives. It is saddening because many of their ailments and diseases could have been prevented with exercise and nutritional modifications.
Think about your habits now, and how they will compound when you are in your 60s and 70s. Muscle mass, cardiovascular endurance, and strength all decrease with age, but with exercise and proper nutrition, the decline can be mitigated.
Don’t think that because you can walk and run just fine right now that you will be able to when you’re older, you need to prepare for a gradual decline in function as you age. And the higher your baseline is now, the better off you’ll be when you’re older.
Your psychological framework can positively or negatively impact recovery
It is incredible what our brains can do. I never realized how powerful thoughts can be.
Thinking positive thoughts like “I will get better” or “I’m on the right track” can make a huge impact on the rate of your recovery.
Just from an anecdotal perspective, I’ve noticed that people with anxiety and depression typically recover much more slowly and cope more poorly with pain. Negative thoughts like “my body is damaged” or “I will never be the same” can be detrimental to the recovery process and slow down healing.
Most people don’t learn how to move properly until they have an injury
Our medical system is terrific at identifying and treating disease and pain when they arise; however, it is terrible for preventing disease and injury.
There is little incentive for insurance companies and healthcare providers to prevent disease. If we did annual movement screenings like a dentist, I imagine we could save people thousands of dollars and lower the rates of injury.
We should at least have a class in school that teaches kids how to move properly. This could set them up for the best chance of avoiding chronic injuries. Just think, you likely never had someone teach you how to actually run or walk, and that can become problematic later in life.
Quick fixes are almost nonexistent
Injuries typically result from months to years of improper movement and take time to heal and move properly.
Our society has become more and more impatient and many underestimate the amount of time it takes to heal. Anyone who says that they can fix your pain quickly is either a wizard or likely lying to you.
Collagen is a tissue that is found in muscles, bones, skin, fascia, and ligaments, and its turnover rate is about 300 days. This means that injuries that affect a tissue that is dense in collagen can take almost a year to heal. Patience, persistence, and positivity are keys to recovery.
There are very few textbook patient presentations
It takes a lot of trial and error to determine what is truly going on with a patient. I’m grateful to the many experienced physical therapists that I work with who have helped me treat patients with a complicated history or complex presentation.
Progress is almost always nonlinear
There will be setbacks along the way. We try to avoid flare-ups, but if they happen, it’s important not to catastrophic them. Progress is often slow and sometimes consists of 2 steps forward and 1 step back, but I continually remind my patients that as long as they are getting better, even if it’s incremental, they are on the right track.
I can’t help everyone
For some, PT is like a bandaid. The ultimate goal of physical therapy is to address the cause of the pain or dysfunction, but sometimes that is not always possible depending on the patient’s mindset, history, or condition. It is difficult not to take a lack of patient progress personally, and it will be something that I continue to work on.
