Evidence Based Rehab

Iwas shocked to stumble upon a letter apperently written by president elect Barack Obama professing support for the chiropractic profession. Now, my intent for this blog is not to go out of my way to bash other professionals just to bash them. However, Obama's words concern me as they appear to indicate he is ignorance in regards to evidence based medicine and the problems with our healthcare system (over-utilization, excessive imaging, dogma and personal beliefs dictating treatment). From the letter posted on Chiroeco.com:

We need to knock down unreasonable barriers of access and discriminatory insurance coverage so Americans in need of quality chiropractic care can access it without difficulty. We need to expand the range of chiropractic services covered by Medicare, facilitate integration of doctors of chiropractic into the health care systems of the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense, and allow commission of doctors of chiropractic as officers in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service.

I am absolutely for the right for people to choose chiropractic care for their conservative musculoskeletal care. However, I draw the line at the government using my tax dollars to pay for "subluxation" treatments and excessive imaging. The biggest problem is that an evidence based chiropractor is called a Doctor of Physical Therapy.

Secondly, Obama's comment on "integrating" chiropractic is almost laughable. The very tennant of chiropractic is it's drive to SEPERATE itself from mainstream medicine. No comment on whether this is right or wrong, just stating a fact. They push anti-vacination, subluxation theory for health, pedicatric health through manipulation, and a wide variety of nutritional supplements. Is this what we want to spend our money on?

We are all looking and hoping for health care system reform. I just hope the reforms are well researched and done with the least amount of ingnorance possible.

Jason L. Harris

Labels: Chiropractic, evidence based medicine, health care, Obama

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recently published a study on the benefits of physical therapy for lower extremity trauma. The abstract is as follows:

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of physical therapy (PT) use on a range of measures of physical impairment in a cohort of patients with lower-extremity trauma.

DESIGN: Longitudinal, observational study of patients with severe lower-extremity trauma. Patients were interviewed by a research coordinator and examined by an orthopedic surgeon and a physical therapist during initial admission and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months postdischarge.

SETTING: Eight level I trauma centers.

PARTICIPANTS: Patients (N=382) whose legs were salvaged after limb-threatening trauma to the lower limb.

INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Unmet need for PT was assessed from 2 perspectives: an orthopedic surgeon and a physical therapist independently evaluated each patient and were asked whether the patient would benefit from PT. Patients classified by these health professionals as needing PT services over a given period and who reported receiving no PT at the end of that period were classified as having unmet need as evaluated by the orthopedic surgeon or physical therapist for that follow-up period. Multiple variable regression techniques were used to compare improvement in 5 measures of physical impairment and functional limitation between the met and unmet need groups over the periods of 3 to 6, 6 to 12, and 12 to 24 months: percentage of impairment in knee and ankle range of motion (ROM), reciprocal stair climbing pattern, gait deviations when walking, self-selected walking speed greater than 1.2 m/s (4 ft/s), and the mobility subscores of the FIM instrument.

RESULTS: Patients with unmet need for PT as assessed by a physical therapist were statistically significantly less likely to improve in all 5 of the selected domains of physical impairment and functional limitation than patients whose PT need was met. These results remained constant after adjustment for patient sociodemographic, personality, and social resources, as well as injury and treatment characteristics, reported pain intensity, and impairment level at the beginning of the study period. Patients with unmet need for PT as evaluated by an orthopedic surgeon were significantly worse off than patients with met need in only 1 of the 5 selected measures (ROM).

CONCLUSIONS: The results are consistent with a beneficial effect of PT after lower-extremity trauma. The results point to a need for improved standards for the prescription of PT services, and highlight the importance of involving a PT professional in the prescribing process.

I think the conclusion is relatively strong worded in regards to not just the importance of physical therapy intervention, but that outcomes were affected by whether the PT was involved in the decision making for rehabilitation. While it would be a stretch to generalize these conclusion to other lower extremity conditions seen in PT (elective post-op, sprains/strains, neuromuscular) it's important that MD's (the gate keepers in the health care world) begin to shift their view of PT's as less of an adjunct of THEIR treatment to micromanage, and instead begin allowing themselves to work with PT's as health care professionals that bring a different body of knowledge to help in the conservative treatment of neuromusculoskeletal conditions.

Jason L. Harris

Article Reference

Labels: Direct access, evidence based medicine, lower extremity, physical therapist

Seattle, Washington, October 30, 2008- Physical therapists from around the world are converging on Seattle this week for the annual conference of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists (AAOMPT). Pain: From Science to Solutions, the conference theme, speaks to the unique role physical therapists have in combating pain. Pain from musculoskeletal problems such as back and neck pain is a leading cause of healthcare utilization. Manual physical therapy techniques such as spinal manipulation play an important role in pain relief for patients throughout the United States. Manual physical therapy includes the use of hands-on techniques including joint and soft-tissue mobilization designed to restore motion and reduce pain. AAOMPT members will be discussing emerging research suggesting that spinal manipulation has the ability to positively affect the brain’s processing of pain signals. Keynote speaker and distinguished researcher, Richard Deyo, MD, MPH, will open the conference. Dr. Deyo is the Kaiser-Permanente Endowed Professor in Evidence-Based Medicine, Oregon Health Science University Department of Family Medicine.

AAOMPT president, Tim Flynn, PT, PhD, said about the conference, “This is an exciting time for physical therapy and for health care. On one side, we have a tremendous amount of research emerging in support of manual physical therapy for pain relief, and on the other side we see the stars aligning for great change in the health care industry.” Flynn continued, “As a patient, your choices come down to drugs, surgery, or physical therapists. Physical therapists can offer a low-cost solution for patients with pain and high-quality research supports what we do.”

For more on the benefits physical therapists can provide in the management of back and neck problems, contact your nearest physical therapist or visit the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists website at www.aaompt.org. AAOMPT represents physical therapists by promoting excellence in orthopaedic manual physical therapy practice, education and research.

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Jason L. Harris

Labels: AAOMPT, evidence based medicine, manipulation, physical therapy

Seattle, Washington, October 29, 2008- Washington is one of only two states in the nation that prohibits physical therapists from performing spinal manipulation. Back and neck pain are two of the most common reasons patients seek medical care. The ability of physical therapists to perform spinal manipulation is supported by numerous high quality randomized clinical trials. This body of research, much of it developed by physical therapists, has demonstrated the proven efficacy of manual physical therapy interventions, to include mobilization AND manipulation, for patients with back and neck pain. Physical therapists have produced landmark research in the area of low back and neck pain which is recognized by national and international physician groups. This month’s issue of Spine, reports on the results of a randomized clinical trial, which demonstrated that patients with neck pain who received a physical therapy program of spinal manipulation and exercise had twice the improvement in symptoms compared to the current guideline group (Walker, 2008). Unfortunately, the current law prevents the citizens of the state of Washington from receiving physical therapy treatment that is evidence based, proven to be effective, and recommended in clinical practice guidelines.

Tim Flynn, PT, PhD, president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists, expressed confidence that, "Given the overwhelming evidence of the benefits of physical therapy I would expect that this limitation will soon change. It is time to bring health care in Washington into the 21st century.” Flynn continues, “The American Medical Association, the Department of Defense, the American Physical Therapy Association’s Scope of Practice, as well as 48 other states in our nation recognizes physical therapists’ ability to perform spinal manipulation. Furthermore, the American College of Physicians and the American Pain Society (Chou, 2007) have published clinical practice guidelines recommending manipulation by physical therapists as the only proven treatment for patients suffering with acute low back pain.“

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It is my opinion that the chiropractic associations continue to push and agenda portraying "patient safety" as a reason to continue to prevent PT's in the state of Washington to manipulate. However, manipulation is taught to all PT's in our training, just as examination, evaluation, therapeutic exercise, and physical modalities skills are taught. "Safety" is a red herring covering-up for the real reason which is profits. Legislators in Washington need to hear from patients in particular about how this law is negatively affecting their health care potentially leading to chronic conditions and significantly increased costs.

Jason L. Harris

Labels: AAOMPT, evidence based medicine, legislation, physical therapy

Osteoarthritis (OA) is no doubt a growing cause of loss of function in our society. MSNBC's Health department recently reported on this growing epidemic related to total joint replacements. They are worth a watch. The first video found here discusses the financial impact on Medicare and the second seems more of a marketing clip for total joint replacements. What caught my ear was in the second video the surgeons comments on why total joints. To paraphrase he states total joints are done when "conservative" treatments don't help. He lists conservative treatments as "medications and drugs..". Wow, is it any surprise that these failed? Not many of us can manage chronic progressive pain with medications.

What is disappointing is the utter lack of mention of what literature shows helps and what is a first line recommendation for pain and dysfunction related to OA. That is Physical Therapy. PT is less expensive, can lead to independence in pain management, has good long term outcomes, and has little to no potential negative effects. These qualities are almost completely opposite of what pills and injections offer.

I've seen total joint replacements completely change a persons function, but if we truly want to decrease costs of conservative management of joint pain, we need to shift away from expensive drugs and injections, eliminate unnecessary imaging, and encourage the return of individuals control over their physical well being.

So, you've got drugs, you've got surgery, or you've got Physical Therapy. Let's let individuals know about their choices.

Jason L. Harris

Labels: Direct access, Medicare, Osteoarthritis, physical therapy