When I went for physical therapy after an auto accident, I told the PT that I was on narcotic pain relievers (Vicodin) for a few weeks, but that I didn’t take any for about 5 days prior to my appointment because I was feeling better. He then told me I was feeling better due to the fact that I still had the medication in my system even after 5 days, and that studies have shown that people have had the narcotic pain meds in their system even after a week. Now, I know that the pain relievers aren’t having any therapeutic effect after 8-12 hours at the most, but I was wondering if this PT really knew better, and he was just trying to BS me so that I’ll sign up for a lot of sessions, or do they really believe this.
#1 by DJ on February 10, 2010 - 9:42 pm
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I recently went to physical therapy. I was given medications by my doctors and showed them to the PT because I had a couple of questions. He said he did not have pharmaceutical knowledge – not required as part of his training. So I would say no.
#2 by Aimee on February 13, 2010 - 3:33 am
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I am a Doctor of Physical Therapy and part of my training was a Pharmacology. I can’t say EVERY therapist has this knowledge, but some of us do. Some of us also know more than others because of the settings that we work in. As a therapist who worked a lot in hospitals, I learned a lot about medicines from the doctors that I worked with. If you get an answer you’re not sure about, ask your therapist to provide you with some literature. If they are a true professional, they’ll do this for you in their spare time. It’s a huge part of our job…to educate our patients. You could also do your own research online and look up the name of the medicine and find out about the side effects and how long it stays in your system.