Ken Leo, PT, MA, the director of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Rehabilitation Therapies, says anyone who is has difficulty functioning in an environment in which they would like to function is a potential candidate for physical therapy.
"We help people function better in a variety of settings which can range from the athlete who wants to return to competition to the elderly individual who wants to return home following an illness or injury. We also help people function where they work, in their pursuit of recreation, and many other environments.
"Physical therapists provide services that fall in the preventive mode as well as the maintenance and restorative modes. With proper conditioning and training, many health care problems can be prevented," says Leo.
Once an injury or disease occurs, physical therapists play an important role in helping the patient restore function. Diabetes is an example of this. With proper nutrition and exercise, diabetes can be better controlled if not totally prevented. "Maintaining one's abilities is particularly important for the elderly. If you don't use it you will lose it is a pretty good guiding principle for older individuals."
Physical therapy is both individualized for every patient, and there are universal programs that every rehabilitation center follows. "There are some very common problems that we deal with that are fairly easy to diagnose and treat. On the other hand, there are problems that are masked and difficult to diagnose and others that are resistant to treatment.
"Physical therapists are just one part of the health care team. If physical therapy is not helping a patient, that patient will be referred to a different health care practitioner for further care.
"Many times the length of treatment is controlled by the rate at which patients learn to manage their own problems. Much of what we do is education. When patients learn to manage their problems, our services are no longer needed.
"Physical therapy can be very rewarding. We just completed a staff engagement survey. In this survey, the staff was asked if they like the work they do. Out staff overwhelming responded yes.
The department has several ongoing investigational research projects. One of the most interesting and successful is studying ways to maintain bone integrity during periods of paralysis. Dr. Richard Shields is identifying ways to maintain bone strength and prevent life threatening complications that are often associated with long terms of paralysis. |
