Physical Therapists—Your Movement Experts

Physical Therapists—Your Movement Experts

Did you know that physical therapists (PTs) are the experts of human movement?  If you are a PT—you know it!  If you are a client in our practice you know it because we are constantly videotaping and watching how you move.   But, perhaps not everyone is aware of our area of expertise.    In fact, when the California Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association surveyed the public—the word movement never once came up!

I just spent two and half  days in DC with 100 of the most expert of experts (I really was kind of star struck) discussing movement, why we are the experts and how we communicate this to others. I have left feeling very excited about movement and want to share a few ideas about what makes PTs unique in this area:

1) We listen
When we meet a client we are skillfully able to listen to your description of the problem you are having in life (ie—maybe you tell us you want to pick up your grandkids or walk across the sand).  Through careful questioning and listening we can deduce what you feel are the major movement issues and how they are affecting your life.  We don’t let you leave until you feel we have a good understanding and we set goals together to address it!

2) We watch
And when I say watch, I mean that we exquisitely observe your key movements and components of movements.  We know what activities to watch, what movements to look for and what they mean.  We have spent years practicing and refining our skill as movement observers.  We are able to break down any task into key phases and we know precisely the critical events and key objectives of those phases.   In our clinic, and a growing number of clinics around the country, we can use technology (high speed 2D video capture) to improve the precision of this analysis.   We review our analysis with you, describe what we are seeing and help you understand the why because we are expertly trained to know why.

2) We know why

We get to the underlying cause.

When we analyze movement with precision we can determine the underlying cause.  I think this is a key piece that sets us apart.  PTs have the knowledge and background to determine the underlying cause of your problem with movement.  The figure below is from the Summit that I just attended and it demonstrates our knowledge of movement in this movement system (by the way--this figure is still a work in progress--provided by the APTA--more on the definition here: http://www.apta.org/MovementSystem/). 

We understand how these underlying systems work together to make the complex movements that we do everyday and we can test them to determine the primary root of your problem.  Did you know that when you feel your toes catching while you walk it could potentially not be related to your foot at all?  Through movement analysis we might find that the problem is actually with you not hitting with heel contact on your other side—setting you up for a series of movement events that lead you to drag your toes (more on that another day).  We can build your underlying resources (strength, control, mobility, etc.)  but more importantly re-train your movement so that you don’t just put a Band-Aid on a problem, but have a life time solution (and prevention of future problems).   That is simply amazing to me!  PT’s are detectives and solvers of movement problems and figuring out these movement puzzles is what we are passionate about.

3) We empower and transform

Finally, through our role as movement experts we empower people to take control of their health and life through very active means.  We train movement patterns that you can implement everyday to improve your walking, running, jumping, getting out of bed, etc.—so that you can optimally move for life.  In the words of the APTA vision statement, PTs are “transforming society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience”.

Maybe you can see why I get so excited about this!  In the words of the immediate past-president of the APTA--R. Scott Ward (one of my table mates for discussion at this summit), "movement is necessary to survive and thrive".   PTs have a unique role as movement experts in transforming lives like no one else.  

If you are having difficulty moving, call your PT, get your yearly movement check up and let us help you move optimally so you can live your life fully. 

www.reactivept.com