Wandering with pain inside hospital

Welcome to my dear readers! In this very first article of mine I wish to share a true clinic experience of mine and some explanations regarding that.

Now at present I am practicing in Oman. This happened five years back when I was practicing in India. I got one patient with back pain and neck pain (suffering for 13 years). The pain for her was so much and she was living with that pain, or to be more specific, she was forced to live with that pain. It was not that she didn’t opt for medical services in all these days. She had a long medical history. She took treatment by the advice of a physician (orthopedic). Initially she was treated with analgesics (pain medication). As she had no improvement she was continuing the medication whenever she gets pain, but only for a temporary relief. Later on she had pain in her shoulders hip and knee joint. The doctor had tested her for TB (Tuberculosis) of the spine. It was negative and still on doubt he started her with ATT (Anti-Tuberculosis therapy) for 6 months. Even after 6 months she had pain and he added an another 6 months course in vain. This was her history when she came to us. On physical therapy postural and muscular assessment we found that she had lower crossed syndrome and forward head posture(a disorder of the muscles due to chronic faulty posture). This was the reason for her chronic and never ending neck and back pain. Once the position of your spine shifts from normal then it will affect your other joints from shoulder, hip and so on. The physician should have referred her to Physical therapy. But on all these years she did not have even one session of physical therapy. Now the treatment for her will be to correct the faulty posture of her body by muscular exercises (strengthening and stretching as per individual need) and specific physical modalities to reduce her pain. More than therapy assessment of the condition by a person with sound knowledge in the science of biomechanics in important, by which he can land with an appropriate plan of action.Though will be a little long term process she can be rehabilitated at least from her debilitating pain. This will be done by a physical Therapist. This is the story.

Now I wish to share my views. First of all I am not against any  physicians or other medical professionals. Everybody is good on their job i.e. if done without taking unnecessary extra responsibility or by underestimating others responsibility. The physician’s job is well ahead of Physical therapists and I personally love them. But in this case I think I don’t have to explain further as the story is very clear. My point is that Physical therapists are specialists in biomechanics of the human body and also with sound knowledge of all the diseases affecting the human body and are with high potency to serve the community on their limits independently. Now why I have to specify independence is that if done under others supervision or advice the patient would have been deprived of her right to be treated due to some unwanted ego. With good cooperation we can serve the community better. Will meet you in another interesting article. Until then stay healthy! stay aware!