Question from a student...

[magspt]

Hi all, I am a physical therapy student who is very interested in manual therapy. For those of you out of school and practicing I was wondering if you have seen an increase in manual therapy in recent times. I know that with health care costs increasing, people may be turning to manual therapy as an alternative to expensive medical procedures or surgery. There also seems to be an increasing amount of research supporting different techniques used in manual therapy. So, is the use of manual therapy techniques increasing? Also, have any of you experienced difficulty getting insurance companies to cover certain types of manual therapy techniques or difficulty getting referrals from physicians for manual therapy? Thank you so much for your input, it is very much appreciated.

[JeffHathaway]

The evidence is pointing to the efficacy of manual therapy (including manipulation) more an more. THe future of manual therapy is bright. But one must remember the value of exercise and functional activity as a component of a manual approach. Chiros focus on the manual and tend to ignore the importance of these other areas. THe most successful PT's embrace manual therapy AND the other procedures we are taught WHILE remembering the relationship with the pt is of utmost importance.

Evidence based practice is leaning more and more to the need for high level manual skills - that is a major part of the future