It's Not Rocket Science!

Another example came across my desk of the need and common sense behind direct access to physical therapy services.  A story of workers at an Intel plant showed that may workers who spend their majority of their days on their feet had back pain.  The majority of these people suffered with this pain because they knew that it would take several weeks to get to their doctors appointment and get a referral to physical therapy.  By the time this happened pain was so bad that they needed less conservative care or their pain disappeared.  It is not a good outcome to have a patient tell you that their pain just disappeared when you hear the flip side that they were in pain at work for more than a month at a time. 

Times have changed at Intel and now rather than waiting to see a doctor may employees with routine back pain see a physical therapist within 2 days.  This is in comparison to the 19 days on average that they took to get in to see a medical doctor.  Overall these patients were completing their program and out of pain within 21 days rather than the average of 52 days with the old system. 

Another issue, not apparent to the public, was that the cost per patient dropped on average 20% secondarily to fewer unnecessary doctor visits and diagnostic tests.  Every patient was more satisfied with this trial system and returned to work faster.

Why can't we adopt this simple and effective model in our health care system. "Early access to low cost effective care seems so simple yet in our current health care system it remains exception and not the rule."¹  Whenever you see anything regarding direct access to physical therapy we at Hayashida and Associates urge you  to support it...for your own good.

Click here to TAKE ACTION on the CPTA Legislative Action Center

Written By: Andrew Bisaccia, PT, DPT

Reference: http://blog.myphysicaltherapyspace.com/2012/01/it-is-not-rocket-science.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EvidenceInMotion+%28Evidence+In+Motion%29

Img: http://blog.evidenceinmotion.com/.a/6a00d8341c6c5d53ef0168e50caaa5970c-pi

Hayashida's Commitment to the Community

Hayashida is committed to providing the Bishop Garcia Diego High School community with a high level of physical therapy care and screening for potential orthopedic injuries. We recently had one of our Doctors of Physical Therapy and Athletic Trainers present at spring physicals assisting team physicians in screening for orthopedic injuries. The turnout was very successful and we were able to help screen over 125 students for orthopedic injuries and movement dysfunctions. Screening is an integral part of preventing serious season ending injuries. It allows medical personnel to identify movement dysfunctions before injuries occur. This provides the opportunity to communicate with parents and athletes regarding appropriate stretching and strengthening programs to help them perform at their highest level. Hayashida and Associates Physical Therapy is honored to be the exclusive provider of physical therapy and athletic training services to the coaches, parents and athletes of the Bishop community. We look forward to being more involved with school athletic events in the near future.

Written By: Ted Carter, PT, DPT

A Time for Change: Final Stage – Maintenance

This may be the most important stage of them all.  You have now made the change in your life and your healthy behavior is starting to become normal rather than something that you HAVE to do.  At this point you have been doing your new activity or have changed your behavior for at least six months.  Your focus now is to stick with this activity indefinitely, at least in some form.  You need to be very vigilant at this time as you may fall back to old habits as you start to take advantage of the great change you notice in your life.  The more you are tempted by how good you look, how great your feel, or how others may comment on your attitude the easier it will be to think it will always be this way.

This being said, it is normal to have setbacks at anytime, even years after your initial change.  “But the longer you let them continue, the more likely it is that little setbacks will grow into big ones.”¹ As time passes you will feel more confident in your change and it will become routine, something you may not even need to think about. 

Enjoy the benefits you have gained over this time frame.  If you continue to focus on the positive change in your life you will succeed in your new behavior.  Along with this, you are ready to be successful the next time your lifestyle needs some change.

If you need any help with this process of change, especially if it is regarding pain that you have or your current fitness level make sure to visit Hayashida and Associates for a jump start.

Reference: http://www.arthritisselfmanagement.com/newsletter/12-15-2011/time-for-a-change/?page=all

Img: http://www.oscodacountymi.com/Addimages/maintman.jpg