Health cares best-kept secret San Diego Union-Tribune [Video]

By Stephen Wade

For the Associated Press

If you think physical therapy is only about rehabilitation after surgery or recovering from an accident, think again. For the vast majority, seeing a physical therapist should be about prevention, routine assessment and staying well.

“We’re the best-kept secret in health care,” said Sharon Dunn, the past president of the American Physical Therapy Association.

Roger Herr, the current president of the APTA, and Gammon Earhart, associate dean for physical therapy at the medical school at Washington University in St. Louis, echoed Dunn’s prevention message in separate interviews.

“We need to change our image by getting out of our silos, out of our brick-and-mortar clinics,” said Dunn, who teaches at LSU.

Detmer checks Bullard’s leaps. All 50 states allow physical therapy visits — usually starting around $150 — without a referral from a physician, but insurance may not cover it. (Jeff Roberson / The Associated Press)

The image of the profession …

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