Thinking About Our Family PT Like Our Family Medicine Doctor

Family Medicine doctors are seen as an integral part of the healthcare delivery model because they are on the front lines treating patients, and whole families in some instances. They are seen as necessary to keep healthcare costs down because they help prevent problems from becoming severe and keep people from flooding the ER for every small event that takes place. The job of the family medicine practitioner is difficult because they seemingly need to know a little bit about everything. It is their job to manage some of the chronic ailments and refer out when people need more specialized care. This model seems to work well and I think it should be expanded.

The family practitioner model should be exported to the physical therapy world as well. The only difference would be that physical therapists would manage the numerous musculoskeletal pains that happen over a lifespan and the doctors would continue to handle everything else. I often hear from patients that they have a problem, but they will wait to bring it up with their doctor at their yearly or 6-month checkup. If PTs did checkups on people on a yearly or every 6-month basis, they could address many of the musculoskeletal issues that go untreated but cause dysfunction and limitation of activities.

When there is sickness in a family what do most people think to do first? Call their doctor to see if they can get in quickly to get medicine or treatment to find out what is going on. PTs could easily serve the same purpose for families. If you have a non-emergent issue such as acute back pain, a twisted ankle, or knee pain your family PT should be able to get you in within 24 hours to figure out how it should be managed. Management of these types of conditions rarely require a doctor and should ultimately be managed by a PT anyway. If we can adopt this model of healthcare with physical therapists for the musculoskeletal system, we could have a positive effect on reducing medical costs.

My message is clear! If you are an outpatient PT you should be offering your services to families and friends as a way to help manage aches and pains while decreasing unnecessary medical costs. If you are a potential patient you should make an effort to build a relationship with a local PT that will be there when needed to help you or your family members get out of pain quickly, efficiently and with a minimum spent on unnecessary visits, procedures, and tests.

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John Oxley PT, ​DPT, OCS, CSCS, Cert. MDT​

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