Three weeks down with five more to go. I haven't killed or seriously injured anyone, so I guess you can consider it a success. Actually, I'm having a great time, and I am really struggling with the thought of going back to a classroom and sitting through another year of lectures. (To any professors who might read this, I'm not putting down the PT education model, and I realize that I still have much more to learn.) It should be a good thing, though, that I like clinic so much, since I'll be spending many more years in that setting than the classroom setting, right?
Anyways, one thing that I have been amazed with in clinic is the number of medicines that patients are on. I must say, my appreciation of the liver has increased dramatically. With all this enlightenment on the prevalence of massive prescription drug use, I was intrigued by this article from Dr. Christina Lasich entitled "Top 1o Reasons Pain Medication Use is Increasing." The article is difficult to summarize, so I'm just going to copy the 10 reasons here. (Don't turn me in if this violates some copyright law. I did link to the original.)
1. Insurance companies have cut benefits for alternative therapies.
2. The baby boomers are getting older and the joints are wearing out.
3. Many people can't afford the time or money for treatments like physical therapy, acupuncture, and massage.
4. A growing number of physical therapy programs are mediocre and can actually increase pain.
5. The obesity epidemic leads to more people with painful conditions.
6. Less people are willing to slow down for recovery from injury.
7. Medications work in a pinch.
8. Quitting smoking, eating healthy, and exercising are difficult lifestyle commitments.
9. Medication use increases as the population grows.
10. Finally, health care providers are more aggressively treating pain, the "fifth vital sign."
Dr. Lasich seems to be a rare breed in the sense that she prefers physical therapy and conservative treatment over the invasive, poor resulting (although lucrative business) spinal fusion procedure. Here are the links to a couple of websites she has going.
www.christinalasich.com www.gvbacks.com
