Direct Access to Physical Therapy

Picture this: you just got done with your workout for the day and feel a little twinge in your back. You didn’t change anything from your workout, so you push it to the back of your mind and carry on with your day. By lunch time, your back is hurting pretty badly and it’s hard to sit at work. What should you do? Call your doctor? Go to urgent care?

We’d like to present another option: call your physical therapist. In Iowa, most insurances do not require a referral from a doctor to be seen by a physical therapist. We can often see a new patient on the same day or next day.

When you come in for an initial evaluation, we take a full history, do a head to toe physical examination, and can provide education on what to do, what not to do, and a prescription for exercise that will get you on your way to feeling better.

Physical therapists’ training requires a doctoral degree. That means six to seven years of school and training before we start to see patients. We are taught to recognize if a patient has any red flag signs or symptoms that would need a referral to a doctor or another provider. If you do have a primary care physician, chiropractor, massage therapist, or athletic trainer that you work with, we are happy to coordinate your care and communicate with them about your progress.

Direct access to physical therapy saves patients time and money. Patients with low back pain who receive physical therapy when their pain starts can decrease their total cost of care by about 50% (1). It typically takes about 40 days to go from injury to your primary care, to orthopedic specialist, to physical therapy. A Health Services Research study found that the average cost of care was almost $5000 more if a patient had an MRI first versus seeing a physical therapist first. Get a jump on the time and come straight to PT.

Physical therapy has been found to be as effective for surgery for conditions like meniscus tears, knee arthritis, and low back pain (2).

 Additionally, physical therapists’ diagnostic accuracy is on par with orthopedic surgeons (75-80% for musculoskeletal injuries) whereas non orthopedic providers was about 35% (defined by agreement between clinical diagnosis and MRI) (3).

It is important to note that some insurance carriers like Medicare do require a physician referral, so be sure to check with your insurance first. In many instances, if you’ve seen your physician for an annual physical, they can write you a referral to PT without having to wait to be seen.

So the next time you start to feel an ache or pain, come straight to your physical therapist. It will save you time, save you money, and get you back to what you love sooner!