Have you ever been asked any of these questions by your patient?
“How do I lose weight?”
“What does a healthy diet look like?”
“How often should I workout”
“What kind of workout is the best?”
If you answered yes, you’re not alone. As PT’s we’re often asked general questions about health and wellness. This happens for several reasons and in my opinion we are in the best position to answer them. But are we taking full advantage of that position? Are we making the most of it? What’s our role as PTs in encouraging a healthier lifestyle?
Why PTs Get Asked Healthy Lifestyle Questions
How do PTs end up being the ones to field all these questions anyway? Well, it starts with the large gap that exists between health and healthcare. In general, most people know they should exercise, eat right, get enough sleep, manage their stress, etc. in order to be healthy. However, our healthcare system isn’t set up to give patients the information and guidance of how to actually do all those things.
Traditionally, PCPs would generally be the ones to be able to discuss diet, stress, and exercise in-depth. These days though there just isn’t time for it due to packed physician schedules. Not only do PCPs not have the time to educate patients on healthy living but there also isn’t much chance for follow-up. This leads to patients being left with A LOT of unanswered health and wellness questions.
Patients don’t know what to eat, what not to eat, how much is too little or too much, if sugar free is that much better for you, or if they really should try the mediterranean diet . . .or was it paleo? They can’t remember the difference now. They don’t know what exercises to do at the gym. Come to think of it, what technically is the best kind of exercise? If they lift weights, how much weight should they use? How often should they workout and how long? It’s been two days since the last workout they tried and they’re STILL sore and aren’t totally sure if that’s normal or not. They’re wondering what they should try for their stress and their sleep. What’s better – journaling or meditation? Or should they just pop a melatonin and call it a night? I mean how do you start meditation or journaling anyways???
Many of our patients have all these questions swirling around in their heads. They’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin. Thanks to misinformation on social media there’s a lot of crap for them to shift through. They need a trusted professional versed in health and wellness and who knows them as an individual.
Enter their super cool, totally awesome, extremely nice and highly educated physical therapist. A healthcare professional they’ve likely built a relationship with and get more than fifteen minutes of face to face time on a weekly basis. I mean why not ask their PT? What have they got to lose?
This is why we get asked all the health and wellness questions.
Why We Should Answer Them
Some PTs might get annoyed with these questions. I mean we’re not personal trainers, or dieticians, or health coaches. The patient isn’t there for that stuff in the first place. To a certain extent, I get it. But I think we should answer them anyway for a few reasons.
For one, many patients don’t have access to these services. Patients from lower income households don’t have the funds for health coaching or personal trainers, but they’re the ones most at risk for developing modifiable chronic conditions. You may be the only chance they get for health and wellness education.
The next reason is one I mentioned before. There is a lot of crap out there. Social media is a tool that can be used for good or evil. Unfortunately in the health and wellness space there’s a lot of evil. It’s full of reels and Tiktoks swearing by one or two exercises to snatch your waist or grow your glutes or the one and only diet guaranteed to get you “toned”. Patients don’t know what’s worth listening to and what’s not. They also don’t know what might work for them as an individual. We have the education to tell them what not to pay attention to AND the knowledge about the patient as an individual to steer them in the most appropriate direction for their specific needs.
The last reason I think we should definitely be answering these questions … because we can. We are more than qualified and we have the time to provide the education and guidance patients need to put small changes into action. I’m not saying to make it your whole session. You don’t need to make full workout routines or meal plans for your patients because then there’s no time for the rehab part. I like to have a few resources on hand that I can refer patients to that build off some brief education I did during the session. For example, I have a list of cheap but healthy foods, calorie/macro counting apps, and general dietary guidelines. I also have a short list of fitness apps I find are beginner friendly that patients have enjoyed in the past.
The physical rehabilitation we do no doubt has a great positive impact on patients. That plus a little wellness education is one hell of a combo. If it’s one that could possibly lead someone down a healthier path for good, why wouldn’t we do it?
Why Bridging Health & Healthcare is Major Opportunity for PT
My big final thought on all this is the potential opportunity this could be for PTs. Highlighting our knowledge on general health and wellness shows both our expertise and value to patients and the healthcare system overall.
I think everyone would agree patients with modifiable chronic conditions that cost the healthcare system billions every year could use some health and wellness education. Like I said before, no one is stepping into that role – not PCP’s and certainly not specialists.
So why not us? In my opinion we’re the best people for the job anyway. We’re used to guiding people toward behavior change already. Let’s just broaden the scale. I would also argue PTs have some of the best client-clinician relationship building skills in our entire healthcare system. Also, depending on the business model you work in this is another potential revenue stream.
What do you think about PT’s acting as a bridge between health and healthcare? Share in the comments section. To me it makes sense for both our profession and our patients. Any resources or other things you’ve found helpful in your practice when trying to “be the bridge” between health and healthcare for your patients? I’d love to hear what other PTs are doing or using. If you missed the last post you can catch up here. You can make sure you never miss new content by hitting subscribe below and following @the_pt_page on Instagram and Threads to keep up with all things PT.
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