Heard 1 Cole Heard Mrs. Chambers Honors Lit 19 October 2016 As technology progresses day by day so, too, must the way we maintain and keep our bodies healthy. The most commonly used ways to help treat injuries of the muscle are physical therapy and surgery; many people argue over which is believed to have greater success. Physical therapy is a way to treat the body and heal in each individual s own time, allowing for a more natural recovery, thus most of the time helping to prolong further injuries better than surgery would. Physical therapists will show their patients how to use each specific muscle within his/her injured area, teach them how to use the muscles together and begin to aid in strengthening the injured muscle. Once their patient has fully grasped the importance of his or her treatment the patient will feel obligated to continue down the path of physical therapy. Day by day the targeted area will begin to loosen, become easier to use, and begin to fire (be used) naturally for the patient. As the treatment comes to an end, the patients will not only be stronger but more aware of their body and able to feel when the area may start to inflame again, thus helping the patient to know he or she needs to do the exercises prescribed by their doctors or physicians. When dealing with surgery, the pain may be relieved for a short period of time, if the surgery is successful. Quite frankly, there are just too many chances taken by having surgery and nothing is promised to the patient in terms of what the outcome may be. Physical therapy is not as risky as surgery and has better effects for patients, who learn to understand their bodies through this process. For example, physical therapy would be just as
Heard 2 effective if not more effective than surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis and much less risky compared to it. In a study of one hundred and sixty-nine men and women from Pittsburgh all agreed to have surgery, half would get it right away while the other half would start physical therapy. Participants in both groups saw benefits as early as 10 weeks after surgery or beginning physical therapy twenty-two participants in the surgery group (25%) experienced surgeryrelated complications like repeated surgery or a surgery-related infection, while eight of those in physical therapy (10%) reported worsening symptoms as complications (LeWine). This shows just how effective one or the other is and how more subjects felt worse after surgery than with physical therapy. Although the numbers are not far apart, physical therapy can continue, whereas surgery is an operation that when completed cannot always be done again. This study only shows the effects ten weeks after. If one were to look head the number of those with complications from surgery will rise while the number for physical therapy should dwindle. Some patients may need longer than ten weeks to show real results in physical therapy. In some cases the patients may have to sit out of any type of physical exercise to allow the injured area to rebuild strength before beginning to utilize it again. In another study of how well certain treatments work for torn rotator cuffs one hundred and sixty-seven shoulders were able to be used. There were checkups at the three, six, and twelve month marks that led to the authors writing, Contrary to our hypothesis, surgical repair of a supraspinatus tear does not improve the constant score when compared with acromioplasty only or conservative treatment ( Physical Therapy ). This means that physical therapy had just as good results in repairing rotator cuffs as surgery. These results do not give a patient with this injury much reason to want to have an operation. The chances of it working successfully are not large enough to persuade someone to choose a risky procedure over a natural recovery.
Heard 3 Physical therapy is a safer alternative to surgery that will allow patients to have better long term results. Patients can get better with physical therapy or surgery (Dryden) said sports medicine specialist Rick W. Wright. Wright believes both approaches to be effective in the long run and even gives examples of subjects opting to switch from therapy to surgery because they felt the therapy was not enough and vice versa. Mr. Wright gives these examples on a study of three hundred and fifty-one knee injuries where fifty-one patients opted to switch treatments. This is not a large number of people wishing to switch to therapy; it is actually only about seven percent of the people in Mr. Wrights study. His information does not give a compelling argument in the case of physical therapy being equal to surgery, although this is what he tries to show. Knee injuries require a very careful and planned recovery no matter which option someone chooses to go with, but some studies show that physical therapy benefits active younger adults and allow them to avoid having surgery. Some of the long-term consequences from having a rapid surgery are osteoarthritis, a degeneration of joint cartilage and the underlying bone, most common from middle age onward causing pain and stiffness in the knee, and tears of the cartilage pads inside the knee called the menisci (Davis). Another study again shows two groups of people assigned different ways to recover, one being immediate surgery and the other being physical therapy with option to switch. In the delayed surgery group of fifty-nine, twenty-three eventually had the procedure performed after an average of 11.6 months while thirty-six only did rehabilitation, these results make sense because less opted to switch allowing the idea of physical therapy alone to work (Davis). Multiple studies such as these prove that physical therapy does more than surgery ever could for the majority of the participants. More than fifty percent of the patients in each study stuck solely to physical therapy.
Heard 4 Physical therapy is healthier for someone s body because surgery has a higher possibility of ill effects afterwards such as scar tissue, arthritis, and infection that can lead to worsening symptoms. Movement after surgery is another aspect not mentioned as often as it should be, considering how increasingly worse it may become. While scarring is a part of healing, it can also cause movement and flexibility to be lost ( Why Physical ). No patient would want to undergo a procedure that in the end may leave them in worse shape than when going into it. Mobility is one of if not the biggest factor when dealing with muscular injuries. The muscles we use to walk, stand up, or even move an arm require a great range of mobility. By having surgery the individual risks giving up a percent of that movement. Physical therapy may be a great alternative to surgery, especially in cases of pain relief. A physical therapist can show you how to relive back pain with core muscle exercises to provide strength and flexibility If you experience joint pain, strengthening the muscles around the joint will provide support, relive pain and minimize the risk of further injury ( Why Physical ). These are all examples and ways that physical therapy is able to prevent injury where surgery would not have this benefit. For those that deal with major injuries and are feeling great discomfort, physical therapy is the way to go. Physical therapy will not leave the patient feeling uncomfortable but rather create better movement and or mobility for them. Overall, physical therapy has greater beneficial long-term results and can help with much more than that. There are many examples of physical therapy helping out in other ways, such as prevention of falling for anyone over 65, which thirty-three percent of people that age or older fall every year. This is a significant amount of people to be injuring themselves for simply not having the right preparation or strength within their hips, back, and other important bodily areas. Physical therapists understand the body and issues that may be occurring in any specific
Heard 5 individual, assess them, and come up with a sequence of stretches/exercises to allow the person to achieve recovery to the best of their ability. Although, in some cases surgery is the only viable option, it does not guarantee injury prevention alone and is usually always followed up by physical therapy just in case. The reasoning behind having after-surgery physical therapy is not only idiotic but a waste of someone s time and money. To go through surgery to only need physical therapy would make one question why they had surgery in the first place. In terms of which will allow someone to have better mobility, a higher chance of injury prevention, and less after effects physical therapy is the way to go. Surgery cannot give anyone stronger muscles but can cause problems in movement of the targeted area as well as scarring. When looking into the best treatment options for any age group and for the majority of injuries, physical therapy is the best injury prevention plan one can choose. If they decide to go through with surgery on an injury, the patients must know to expect complications and be ready to go into physical therapy as well to fix those complications. Physical therapy prevents injury, strengthens muscles, and allows someone to do more in old age (with everyday tasks) allowing them to be independent further into one s life, which is more than enough reason to go through it. As someone becomes increasingly more comfortable with their physical therapy, they may notice other parts of their body showing signs of fatigue or weakness and be able to target and strengthen that muscle, leading to even greater results and no need for surgery in any aspect. The reason this can lead to even greater results is due to figuring out one s body parts and targeting other weak areas the patient may have, making the patient so aware he or she can pick out any uncomfortable area and begin to strengthen it. This creates an overall better experience and will only make the individuals feel healthier, more aware, and ready to accomplish more tasks with ease.
Heard 6 Works Cited Davis, Jennifer. "Study Finds No Benefit in Immediate Surgery for ACL Tears." Arthritis Foundation, www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/treatments/jointsurgery/types/knee/acl-tears-delay-surgery-physical-therapy.php. Dryden, Jim. "Physical Therapy Often Just as Good as Surgery for Knee Problem." Source, 2016 Washington University in St. Louis, 10 Apr. 2013, source.wustl.edu/2013/04/physical-therapy-often-just-as-good-as-surgery-for-kneeproblem/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016. LeWine, Howard, editor. "Physical Therapy as Good as Surgery and Less Risky for One Type of Lower Back Pain." Harvard Health Blog, 9 Apr. 2015, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/physical-therapy-as-good-as-surgery-and-less-risky-forone-type-of-lower-back-pain-201504097863. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016. "Physical Therapy as Effective as Surgery for Rotator Cuff Tears." PT in Motion News, 12 Mar. 2014, www.apta.org/ptinmotion/newsnow/2014/3/12/rotatorcufftears/?blogid=1073741861 5. Accessed 10 Oct. 2016. "Why Physical Therapy?" Ministry Health Care, htpp://ministryhealth.org/hc/home/fall2011/whyphysicaltherapy.nws. Their source is The New England Journal of Medicine, 2002;347:1068-1073.
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