Physical Therapy Essay

Pain; pain is a universally used term to describe a feeling. Physical therapists have been treating pain using mechanical techniques since before medication was commonly accessible and used. Furthermore, physical therapists first came about in the late 1800’s during the vietnam war to assist in healing wounded soldiers. However, the polio epidemic is what truly started the need and ambition for the physical therapy profession (McGill 53). Now, physical therapists, commonly called PT’s, work hand in hand with medication to promote health in the same industries, yet physical therapists in the United States are currently not allowed to prescribe it. Additionally, across the globe, physical therapists are granted permission to prescribe when it

Not only would this action benefit the patient, but the physical therapist as well. During the studies, when the physical therapists were prescribing medication, their level of care became higher because they grew to learn more about their patient. For the majority of patients, being able to reduce the number of doctor visits would reduce the overall cost of their payment. Although it will not cut down the price of the pharmaceuticals, it will cut down the money spent at the doctors office. Additionally, not all medication is needed in the rehabilitation setting, only pain relievers or even stress reducers. The action of allowing physical therapists to only prescribe those two would even make a large difference in patients and PT’s lives. Furthermore, in multiple countries physical therapists are permitted to prescribe; they're either granted full access, or are under doctors orders. The majority of the physical therapists will step in when they can to assist doctors in the patients recovery process. Physical therapists already work closely with doctors and perform the same if not better than them when it comes to prescribing; because of this, PT’s do not require much more training to be able to prescribe. Additionally, multiple healthcare related topics would be further resolved with the modification of allowing physical therapists to prescribe. The physician shortage would be greatly decreased with the role of PT’s prescribing since they would be decreasing the reliance and demand on physicians. The opioid crisis would also be resolved with PT’s being able to prescribe because they know first hand how close their patient is to the goal of returning back to daily life, or sports, so they know when to wean their patients off of pain relieving medication. Overall, the role of physical therapists should be amplified to allow them to be