October is Physical Therapy month and I want to jump up on my soap box and proselytize about how amazing our profession is.  Our healthcare model is slowly but surely shifting and PT is coming out on top as the provider of choice to restore and improve tissue capacity, improve pain, and push back on aging.    Sure, we can help you heal quickly after injury, but we can also make you a more resilient, happier human with an improved life span (how long you live) AND health span (period of time you are free of disability and disease).  Who doesn’t want that?   

When I first started practicing physical therapy over two decades ago (yikes!), we were a reactive profession.  Patients often entered into the healthcare system through an injury, and after bumping down a murky road of imaging, pain medication and too often surgery, they would end up at a physical therapy clinic.  

Luckily over the past 10 years, we have become the provider of choice for injuries.  We couldn’t be more thrilled to have our patients seek care with us first when they get hurt because we KNOW that we can accurately diagnose their injury, get them better faster and be less costly than any other medical provider.   

While this shift is both encouraging and necessary, Team GSM has bigger aspirations than just getting you back on your feet again and returning you to a pre-injury baseline.  Our team also has a more proactive approach to physical therapy and is helping folks get upstream of injury by seeing folks before a sport or recreational season, helping our patients avoid overuse injuries and keeping our elderly folks living independently.    We want to coach you towards being a more resilient human who is less likely to get hurt in the future.   

What really gets me fired up is that in the past several years there has been a tremendous amount of data looking at our ability to push back on metabolic diseases (the biggest causes of death.)  I’m pumped that PT is the top provider to help with this.  When we look at our ability to improve our life spans, health spans and “trick” our genetics, skilled exercise prescription is the most effective lever we can pull.  Appropriate strength and conditioning is more than going for a walk or jumping into a yoga class, it’s understanding our energy systems and how challenging them correctly pushes back on most systemic, chronic disease.  Since PTs are the experts on movement, exercise and the skeletal system, we are the best providers to step into this space.  

14 years ago, I started my Workshops For Workers in Yellowstone NP which are geared towards reducing injuries and improving overall quality of life. That data is strong, we are making a difference, and the word is spreading!  We wanted to reach an even wider audience with this data and created the Move Better Series to help folks get more fit and healthier.  Awesome, right?  

When Team GSM looks to the future, we see a much bigger goal than waiting for you to get hurt and then getting you back to your pre-injury baseline.  We want to raise the bar, give you the opportunity to decrease your risk of metabolic disease while crushing the trail miles well into your older years.  If there’s one recommendation I can make, it’s don’t be reactive and accept “age related decline” but get proactive about your health and wellness.   Find a fitness forward PT who understands how intelligent strength and conditioning is truly the elixir of youth, and get after it! 

Written by Darcy Cook, MSPT