The PT Handbook: Pain Doesn't Care About Science

Welcome! The PT Handbook is a physical therapy newsletter discussing all things physical therapy/sports medicine. This newsletter is an extension of our philosophy at Art of PT Sports Physical Therapy LLC where our patient population includes combat athletes and gym lovers. We are a PT private practice that prides itself on providing true one on one healthcare.

This handbook will provide practical PT tips and dive into hot topics surrounding the sports rehab world. If you have questions about the field of physical therapy or need to schedule an appointment (virtual/in person), contact us with the link below!

Dr. Gerry Robles PT, DPT

Founder, Art of PT Sports Physical Therapy LLC

www.artofpt.com

PT Handbook Tips: Pain Disrupts Protocols

Pain is unpredictable. There’s no ABSOLUTE protocol for it. It’s individual. What works for someone doesn’t work for another. It rarely works like that when dealing with people in pain. There’s optimal ways of doing things yes, science based even, however sometimes the human body doesn’t like what science recommends. As a clinician, we need to be as science based as we can be. But sometimes patients aren’t having it.

Pain moves, it magnifies and it dampens. Like an emotional attachment to someone. It’s annoying and can play tricks on us. Doesn’t matter where the pain is. It can be in your neck, back, hip, shoulder or ankle, you name it. There’s so much information out there when it comes to pain. Especially these days, anyone can look up some random back pain exercises on IG or TikTok. But pain has a way of telling you there is no one size fits all treatment. It’s dependent on so many things.

Pain is the 5th vital sign along with the measurements of blood pressure, temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate. Pain is an experience that is individual to the patient. There can be actual tissue damage to the body that comes with pain or you can have no structural/tissue damage and still have pain. Weird right?

Here’s a wild example, why is 90% of back pain “Non-specific"? What does that even mean? It means it’s hard to identify a specific disease or structural problem giving you pain. And that’s 90% yes, you read that correctly. Musculoskeletal pain (mainly back pain) is one of the top reasons people go to their primary care doctor for. It’s everywhere.

This post is more about getting you to think about pain and how it acts. It doesn’t act how we want it to. So when you go see your primary care and they can’t describe what you’re feeling, you’ll know why. It’s hard to pin point. And what they should do (hopefully your primary care does this), is send you to physical therapy. They should know a local physical therapist that can help you and further examine your pain. We are the pain and movement experts, nobody else. We, as doctor’s of physical therapy, are the first line of defense when it comes to pain. Not a pill with strange side effects or a surgery that has questionable outcomes. And if your primary care doc doesn’t know a physical therapist for you, let me know, I’ll help you out :)

Until next time,

Dr. Gerry Robles PT, DPT

Founder, Art of PT Sports Physical Therapy LLC

www.artofpt.com