You Need to See a Physical Therapist FIRST,
For Back Pain
Early initiation of physical therapy helps you get better faster! Keeps you from missing days of work due to pain. Gets you back to the activities you love. And keeps you from having to rely on pain medication to do it.
When the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) examined 200,000 cases, researchers found a “significant pattern”. Patients whose initial visit was to their physical therapist, chiropractor, or acupuncturist, decreased their odds of early opioid use by 85-91% and lowered their odds of long-term opioid use by 73-78% compared to those whose initial visit was with a primary care physician.
In fact, a major health care provider has announced that they will waive copays and deductibles for physical therapy sessions for patients with new-onset low back pain for the first 3 visits. (But don’t get too excited- they will only do this in the southern states for now). But this shows how physical therapy is valued by the insurance companies. Because early onset physical therapy is more likely to help a patient recover and help decrease overall costs for that patient.
80% of people will have low back pain at some point in their lives. Starting physical therapy within 14 days of back pain can end up saving almost $2700 over the course of your recovery!! This is because early physical therapy decreases the chances that a person will need an X-ray or MRI, medication, injections, or surgery.
Sources:
http://getpt1st.com/2015/08/29/low-back-pain-get-physical-therapy-first
http://apta.org/ptinmotion/news/2019/11/01/UHCpilotexpansion
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