Happy New Year!
With the festive holidays behind us, the new year offers new hopes and opportunities especially in making positive changes about our personal health and wellbeing. Certainly, diet and nutrition are just some of the keys toward health and wellness.
It is not uncommon that most patients wonder why does a physical therapist (PTs) ask for a patient’s diet. While it is generally known that PTs work on bone, joint and muscle disorders, PTs provide evaluation and treatment to their patients in a holistic approach (Phadke, 2017). The holistic approach to physical therapy evaluation and treatment views the patient as a whole encompassing all human body systems that work together and affect each other one way or another. Having said that, a patient’s diet affects a lot of body systems which in turn has an impact on a patient’s physical, mental, social and emotional functioning as well as response to treatment. For instance, poor and unhealthy diet is considered as one of the major modifiable risk factors for developing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disorders such as heart disease and diabetes. Your physical therapist needs to know and consider these factors that may affect treatment outcomes (Phadke, 2017).
Ref: Phadke C. P. (2017). Why Should Physical Therapists Care about Their Patients’ Diet?. Physiotherapy Canada. Physiotherapie Canada, 69(2), 99–103. doi:10.3138/ptc.69.2.GEE