PT Guide
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Career as a Physical Therapist
Lucy: It seems like the athlete, is it therapist’s choice finally or is the doctor’s choice, trainer’s choice?
Matt: Here, it’s the physical therapist final say, yes we might get a clearance from a non-team physician but we’ll make a final say whether you’re safe or not and for the most part, I want them to be out there, I’m not here holding you out of play, I want you to go have fun, to be a kid and laugh and play and jump around but I will hold you out without hesitation and sometimes the athletes don’t like me but I think almost across the board ninety nine percent of the time afterwards they’re thankful for it.
Lucy: Cause you’re respecting then in long term.
Matt: Which, it’s tough for coaches, coaches need to hear now, yes I want to hear now but you have to think big picture if you’re only thinking short term especially with concussions, yeah, maybe they’ll forget their child’s name when they get older because of too many concussions, I don’t want that on me, I don’t coaches want it on them, I don’t think they truly think about it but again not trying to throw anybody under the bus but I don’t want that on me, I want my athletes to walk out here knowing that when they’re older, they’re going to live full fulfilling life, I have been around certain surfaces, I have little bits of narcotics but I don’t like that, but that being said as long as people are educated and they’re going to, they’re willing to take the risk, they’re getting paid, hey that’s your body, I will do everything in my power to hopefully prevent the use of that but if that’s what we have to do as a last ditch effort.
Understand you’re getting paid millions of dollars, it is a little bit of business, I would feel hockey not so much as others, even football, not so much as others, you’re going to love it, he can’t just play hockey and football and not love what you’re doing because your body takes a toll and I feel that It’s a last ditch effort but that’s where someone such as myself and other athletic trainers, PT’s, OT’s, doctors, everybody should be utilized before we have to go down the wrap of injections and pills, but that being said it does happen so.
Lucy: It’s balancing the risk and some of the risks.
Matt: You can have bone issues and then just simple issues such as concussions, you hear NFL athletes say all the time, I can care less, I’m getting paid millions of dollars, I love what I do right now, I don’t care what happens In twenty years, you say that now but when you get there, just take a look at William Parry, these guys that are older, it’s scary and then think of like Junior Sale and all of the guys who were killing themselves, because of this, the changes in their brains, you say it’s okay now but, you should heed the warning.