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Physical Therapy Month
VA Celebrates Physical Therapy Month
By Dr. Mark Havran
Thursday, October 20, 2022
We’re celebrating Physical Therapy Month by recognizing physical therapists’ unique value as movement experts and their commitment to building awareness of the benefits of regular physical activity.More than 2,750 physical therapists and 580 physical therapy assistants work across VA.
VA physical therapists and physical therapy assistants are health care professionals dedicated to helping patients maintain, restore and improve movement, activity and functioning, enabling optimal performance and enhancing health, well-being and quality of life.
Therapists at VA also raise awareness of physical therapy as a safe and effective alternative to opioids for the long-term treatment of chronic pain.
This past year has been a year of resiliency and collaboration to improve services offered to Veterans in three significant areas:
- Improving access by embedding physical therapists into Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACTs)
- Collaborating with pain management and the Office of Rural Health to expand pain treatment options
- Partnering with Women’s Health to expand training and intervention in pelvic health
Other key collaborations
- Increasing the number of therapists embedded into PACTs with Office of Primary Care and Diffusion of Excellence
- Partnering with Gainesville Veterans Rural Health Resource Center and Office of Women’s Health to initiate a rural pilot to mentor, train and provide necessary equipment in rendering Pelvic Health services
- Increasing virtual care through Telerehab and Clinical Resource Hubs
- Increasing therapists expertise within emergency departments with Offices of Emergency Medicine and Geriatrics and Extended Care
- Expanding PT Residency Program with Office of Academic Affiliations that created an overall increase of 28 programs and 23 positions per year by the end of academic year 2025
- Spreading the evidence-based program STRIDE in collaboration with the Durham VA Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice
- Memorandum of Agreement with APTA to create a partnership in raising awareness of programs offered to expand training opportunities
For additional information, visit www.rehab.va.gov/PT/
