PHYSICAL THERAPISTS' ROLE CHANGES WITH TIMES

Physical therapists have worked to correct injuries for years. Now, more and more of their time is spent working with industries to prevent those injuries from occurring in the first place.

HealthSouth Rehabilitation Center and Mid-America Rehab, both in Cape Girardeau, offer ergonomic analyses of worksites to spot safer, less strenuous ways for workers to perform their jobs.

"Industry is taking some fairly serious hits from workers compensation costs," said Sam Hite, director of occupational medicine for HealthSouth Rehabilitation. "They are beginning to become proactive with regard to preventative measures."

Prevention "is a big push for us," said Robert Sherill, owner and administrator of Mid-America Rehab. "You have to convince employers that spending a little bit of money now for the right chairs and floor mats and things to make their employees more comfortable means they're going to prevent injuries and save money down the line. We're really pushing that."

At HealthSouth, specialists look for "hot spots," or jobs in which injuries typically occur, and try to find ways to prevent those injuries Hite said.

Prevention might mean teaching the employee correct body positioning or redesigning the work station, Sherrill said.

Physical therapists can also draw up "objective, measurable" job descriptions that break down each job in terms of what is physically required of employees to help industries meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Hite said.

"Work hardening," a once-popular intensive course of physical therapy in which a client would spent six to eight hours a day in therapy, is giving way to work conditioning, a less intensive therapy in which clients can work in a light-duty job most of the day and go to therapy for a few hours a day, local experts say.

"I think work hardening is pretty much going by the wayside," Sherrill said. "I don't think many insurance companies are going to be willing to pay for that."

The new approach saves industry time and money on medical costs and lets employees get back to work more quickly.

Physical therapists in the area offer a variety of services and treatments.

At Physical Therapy Associates of Southeast Missouri Inc., which was acquired last year by Southeast Missouri Hospital, "We do a lot of outpatient back treatments and neck and shoulder treatments," said Joan Stehr, a registered physical therapist.

"Our approach is to treat the patient to try to get them more comfortable, to help decrease their pain and to work them into an exercise program," Stehr said. "If a person has to do a certain amount of lifting for their job, we try to get them back to that level."

Physical Therapy Associates in Doctors Park and will move into larger quarters in the same building this year.

Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center both offer acute physical therapy and rehabilitation services for trauma and surgical patients receiving treatment in their facilities.

At the Pain Management Center in Missouri Surgery Center, "we deal with most any kind of pain that you have," said Dr. Richard Moore, including chronic back pain, headaches and terminal illnesses.

A physical therapist on staff works with clients at the center and on the worksite to get them ready to go back to work, Moore said.

Changes in medical coverage mean medical professionals are working more and more to tailor programs to businesses' needs, he said.

"I think out of necessity we are. I think managed health care plans have given us mutual involvement that we didn't have before," he said.

HealthSouth and Mid-America both offer outpatient physical therapy as well as their consultant services.

Mid-America concentrates on orthopedic and hand rehabilitation, Sherrill said.

The clinic plans to expand its facilities in the near future to add on to its sports medicine program and will open a satellite clinic in Dexter.