You've rolled your ankle, hurt your back, sprained a wrist or maybe your knee is just giving you grief. You can't get in to see a physio for at least a week, but who wants put up with the pain for that long?
Good news, research has confirmed it is safe and effective to see a physiotherapist for musculoskeletal injuries and pain.
When assessed in an ED setting, people who saw a physiotherapist instead of an ED doctor required less imaging, didn't have any really bad outcomes/adverse events occur, there was no increase in missed diagnosis... and as an added bonus people spent almost one and a half hours less in the ED.
Our ED doctors and nurses are incredible. They know so much about a huge range or conditions. But they're there to save your life, and your physiotherapist is your musculoskeletal expert.
In Australia, it is very normal for a physiotherapist to be a primary contact practitioner (someone you can book straight in to see without first beeing assessed and referred on by another profession), and as such, we spend years of training making sure we are safe and are able to identify when someone needs to be seen by a doctor instead of us. Asking a range of detailed questions at the start of your session with your physiotherapist will help us to determine if you are safe to be seen today by a physiotherapist, or if there are medical concerns that need to be addressed first.
Believe it or not, pain itself is not a good indicator of this. You can have very severe levels of pain due to a musculoskeletal injury alone, or be experiencing a medical emergency with only a niggle. As musculoskeletal experts, your physiotherapist can help you to determine what's going on - if it's likely to be related to your muscles, bones, tendons or ligaments; or if it doesn't fit in with those patterns. In this case, we can recommend presenting to an ED/send a letter to your GP/recommend a face-to-face assessment with a local health professional as required.
Skip the ED for things that don't have to go there. Access high quality physiotherapy from anywhere in Australia in our online urgent care clinic, open 7 days a week.
References
Sutton, M., Govier, A., Prince, S., & Morphett, M. (2015). Primary-contact physiotherapists manage a minor trauma caseload in the emergency department without misdiagnoses or adverse events: an observational study. Journal of Physiotherapy, 61(2), 77-80.