Over the years, I’ve had a number of occasions to have physical therapy. I’ve been told, and I don’t disagree, that this type of treatment can do miraculous things for certain aches and pains or injuries. I have friends that swear they have been helped tremendously by “PT.” I’m certainly in no position to argue with them.
There are probably hundreds, maybe thousands, of methods to treat aches, pains and injuries… there are many alternative treatments that are experimental at best, and probably too good to be true.
In my experience, many physical therapy treatments are based on some really antiquated ideas and offer surprisingly little evidence that they accomplish what they are supposed to. It isn’t quackery, but it certainly falls short of good, modern procedures with proven benefits.
You can probably tell by now that I am of the opinion that physical therapy is over rated and mostly unnecessary. There is a physical therapy facility in just about every shopping center and more opening every day. It’s inconceivable to me that so many people have something wrong with them that can supposedly be helped, or cured, by physical therapy.
After my numerous experiences with PT, I think it’s a trick. Their “treatment” is to give you so many exercises that other parts of your body begin to hurt and it takes your mind off the original problem. If you have a headache, and you hit your thumb with a hammer, your headache goes away….
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