While life for many of us as Americans has come to a grinding halt, with many now under stay-at-home orders and facing the arduous task of juggling multiple roles like parent, teacher, and at-home-worker, there’s one thing that hasn’t stopped due to this pandemic - pain.
The World Health Organization estimates that between a quarter and a third of all people live with some sort of musculoskeletal pain, which is pain originating from tissues other than vital organs, such as the joints, connective tissues, or muscles. In fact, low back pain is the leading cause of pain worldwide (1). In a typical year, about a quarter of the general population will attend a visit with their primary care doctor for musculoskeletal pain (2). Perhaps most striking of all, the most common reason for going to urgent care or the emergency room in America is for musculoskeletal pain (3).
But what happens when Americans are asked to avoid using urgent care, the emergency room, or even going to their doctors’ office unless they suspect they have the novel coronavirus disease, or COVID-19?
The answer has been surprising: Americans seek care with physical therapists - musculoskeletal pain specialists - who provide care through an electronic video conferencing medium known as telehealth. In a telehealth meeting, a patient and provider can speak to each other in real time through secure patient portals that support video conferencing. Quite a few patients have tried telehealth already with their primary care doctor for necessary check-ins that the doctor has deemed better addressed at home. But a telehealth visit with a physical therapist is different than a mere face to face chat. Just like in a regular physical therapy visit, the phyiscal therapist (PT) will ask the patient to perform different movements on video to help the PT see how the patient moves, identify the cause of their pain, and identify how to help it feel better. The PT can also show the patient exercises specifically designed to treat their pain over video, and help the patient perfect their form over video to make sure they’re moving safely.
Pearl Physical Therapy rolled out telehealth services last month, leading the way in Plattsburgh and North Country of New York in supporting community needs. The response has been encouraging, with patients reporting that telehealth has been easy to use and leaves them feeling better, just as they would feel after an in-person PT visit.
“It’s really convenient,” says one patient, who wishes to remain anonymous, when asked about her telehealth experience so far. “I can even use my cell phone to get into my telehealth meeting, and I live really far away from Plattsburgh, out in the mountains.”
Telehealth visits can be accessed from desktop computers, tablets, or cell phones - anywhere that you can click on a simple link your physical therapist will send you to start the telehealth meeting.
Insurance companies are seeing the value of telehealth, too, with many rushing to provide full coverage of the service to their beneficiaries. Some insurances have even gone so far as to waive all copays traditionally associated with telehealth physical therapy visits, in a bid to encourage patients to use the service and help reduce the burden on their local primary care offices and hospitals.
If you or a loved one live in the Plattsburgh/North Country community and are interested in seeing a physical therapist by telehealth for musculoskeletal pain, give Pearl Physical Therapy a call at (518) 563 - 7777, or submit a request via our contact us form here. We will discuss your individual needs with you, including your availability for telehealth meetings and your level of insurance coverage, and will work with you on developing a plan of care for your pain - a plan of care that you can complete at home, keeping yourself and your family safe.
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