Geriatric Physical Therapy - Aka - Pain And Torture?

You're right; it's not something you think about often

. Heck, you don't even think those two belong in the same sentence. When you think of physical therapy, you think of the pain and stretching and sweating that you endured 2-3x/week given to you by some little athletic mid-twenties "know it all," after your weekend warrior masquerade when you assumed you could still play football or tennis like you did back in the day... even though you're now 50 pounds heavier...without warming up...or even...without having exercised for years. But you're pretty sure you still got it. And then you pay for it.

Well physical therapy, despite the P which doesn't actually stand for pain and despite the T which doesn't stand for torture, isn't all its horrible reputation is cracked up to be. It's so much more. And it's more rewarding than you can ever imagine when working with our senior population. Having been a Physical Therapist for the geriatric population in long term care environments like nursing homes and rehab centers has made me fall in love with past generations over and over again. These seniors suffer illnesses and/or injuries, just like us weekend warriors, and have to undergo surgeries or lengthy hospital stays and are often placed into a sub acute rehab (aka nursing home which nobody likes to say) for weeks to recover before returning home.

This is no walk in the park by any means for any senior, as changing your entire way of life and being institutionalized, laid up in a hospital bed, surrounded and woken up by strangers at all hours of the night, and made to urinate lying down in a bed pan is such an odd and belittling situation. Not to mention you are disoriented from new pain killers and now taking four times the amount of pills you normally take. And let's not forget that the pills are crushed up and stirred into a small cup of applesauce. Mmmmmm. Sound like fun? Not really.

The Physical Therapist's role in this setting can be the most important in these patients' lives and often contributes to enjoyable and expedited recoveries that return them to their homes, with their families, doing their activities of daily living and resuming their quality of life. Our physical therapy goals are not what you might think, i.e. Patient will be able to lift 40 pounds without back pain so that he/she may return to an 8 hour work day. Often our first goal for these seniors is to be strong enough to get up from the bed and transfer to a bed-side commode with little assist...to use the bathroom like a normal person...to feel human again. Ah the joy. But that's important...that's what matters in life to them...and these people are thankful! They're thankful for the education and they're thankful for the time you took to help them through such a humiliating situation.

PT in this setting is slow-paced, low stress, patient, humorous, and oh so rewarding. These aren't folks that want to complain all day about the traffic and the pollen and the latest celebrity gossip...these are folks that just want to get better...that just want something to look forward to day after day...that just want caring and empathetic interaction...that just want to tell their stories as they stand in the parallel bars doing their exercises. I can honestly say that doing physical therapy in the geriatric population allows me to go home each and every day feeling good about myself; feeling satisfied that I've made a difference for the life of those older than us, those wiser than us, and those that deserve more respect from us.

by: Lindsay Hurte

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