You may have the heard the cliché, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” This could not be more true for the first meeting between you and a new patient. As you perform the initial patient evaluation, you are being judged by him or her regarding your professionalism, expertise, and ability to be personable. In most cases, a patient who visits you has already sustained an injury or is experiencing pain from a chronic or acute condition, and his or her first impression of you depends highly on your ability to alleviate the pain.

Instead of letting the treatment of pain be the reason for their initial interaction with a physical therapist (PT), though, the general public should be familiar with PTs before they need to enter a physical-therapy practice. One major avenue to make physical therapy well known is being neglected, however: public-service advertisements (PSAs) in the mainstream media. Other national health organizations are miles ahead of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) in promoting messages that are very close to the bread-and-butter mission of PTs.

This past February, the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Heart Association collaborated on a PSA, endorsed by the Ad Council, that targeted African-American women who are at high risk for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. The PSA was designed to empower the target audience to reduce their risk of disease. Through television, print, radio, billboard, and Internet advertising, the campaign—“Everyday Choices for a Healthier Life”—urges African-American women to become active and maintain a healthy lifestyle,1 which is a message that PTs can strongly stand behind and in which they can be key players in offering treatment.  

Diabetes is a great example of a disease that is genetically predisposed but can be thwarted by exercise and a healthy diet. PTs should spread the message that this type of disease can be prevented. As new drugs that treat conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and osteoporosis enter the market as well as the public eye, so should new campaigns to promote exercise and fitness to reduce the risk of those conditions—and PTs are an ideal group to communicate these messages.

In a recent issue of Time magazine, Andrew Weil, MD, wrote about the complications of treating osteoporosis in women.2 He stated that some current pharmaceuticals for osteoporosis have strong, negative side effects in women, and that calcium supplements may not be sufficient. Therefore, he advised that women take a preventive approach that includes eating a balanced diet and, most importantly, performing weight-bearing exercises to build bones and muscle mass—another message that PTs can help to promote and stand behind.

In their local communities, PTs may already be actively promoting the advantages of physical therapy in preventing diseases and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The APTA does a great job of collecting and promoting news clips from various media in which physical therapy is mentioned. However, it needs to become a major player in initiating health messages on the national level that reach the average consumer. In the near future, we will hopefully see PSAs in the mainstream media “brought to you by the APTA.” PTs will then lead the call for physical health awareness and disease prevention, not just heed the call set forth by other national health organizations.

References

1. The Ad Council. Disease prevention campaign extended to African-American women. Available at: http://www.adcouncil.org/newsDetail.aspx?id=60 Accessed March 19, 2006.

2. Weil, A. Bones of Contention. Time. 2006; March 20: 121.