25 Jul Physical Therapy Fails for Back Pain
Physical Therapy Fails for Back Injuries!
In 2009, I began to see how the medical system doesn’t work well and needs to be more cohesive. On a humid July morning, while running at full speed, I fell on an obstacle course while trying out for a police scholarship, as documented in “Gift of Injury“. I split my S1 vertebral body (sacrum), damaged my pars interarticularis as my L5 shifted, and squished a couple of discs, which caused a cascade of pain and injury that persisted until 2013 when I met Professor McGill.
I know I’ve been emphasizing this lately, but the more I see people come to me with the same experiences, the more I realize I wasn’t crazy; I was frustrated. It didn’t make sense to me.
The Caveat
There are exceptional hospitals, world-class surgeons, outstanding practitioners, fantastic clinics, and impeccable professionals in each field. I recently had an umbilical hernia fixed from decades of heavy training, and my father had double knee replacements this week. I know there are good practitioners around; I had them operate on me last week!
Unfortunately, there are not enough competent professionals to treat back pain. It’s an entirely different animal, and I am beginning to understand its depths of complexity after 11 years working with Professor McGill and 15 years post-back injury.
Now, The Bad News: Things Have Gotten Worse.
Things aren’t what they used to be; can we agree on this? Things have changed for the worse, significantly, even more rapidly since Covid. The world has permanently changed. I’m not just talking about the cost of groceries, the quality of production, or the emergence of extreme incompetence everywhere you turn; I’m talking about medical care from top to bottom—even the Covid Debacle aside, which is more of a symptom of the broken system.
Worse, there are only so many genuinely qualified physical therapists who have the time, training, and ability to treat people with chronic back pain. Hint: It won’t be accomplished in a 15-minute or 30-minute session (in most cases). The physical therapists I work alongside and refer clients to are acutely aware of their limitations, and, as such, many practice independently, especially when it comes to back pain.
Did you have an exercise or therapy program before an evaluation was given?
Is your physical therapist working with multiple patients, playing ring-around-the-rosie?
Has your PT told you that you will be “just fine” in a couple of weeks, and has this not been the case?
If this is true for you, did you get better? If you are reading this, your PT will not likely help you unless they get lucky; they guess which tissues are impacted on various spine levels and try to get something to stick.
My objective with this video and article—it has become my life’s work—is to point out some of the most common flaws in the system I hear from clients daily to help you avoid the same mistakes I made during my back injury and subsequent failed attempts. My suggestion to anybody dealing with back pain is to read “Back Mechanic” and then “Gift of Injury.” If you need guidance after failing independently, reach out, and I will do my best to help you.
Brian Carroll
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