Top 5 Fridays! 5 Ridiculous PT Orders

Many of these scripts came back when I took less direct access patients. Here are some of my favorites from yesteryear.



1) Lumbago

I remember as a new grad, I had to ask a senior therapist what that was. He laughed and said it had most likely been around for years. When was the last time you heard someone say, "I got a case of the LUMBAGO!" Thankfully, ICD10 has replaced it with Lower Back Pain Syndrome. Sounds serious.

2) Calf Strain

A local neurologist (reminder, don't ever go to this guy), referred me a patient for a calf strain. Why? His calf hurt. He could do single leg calf raises til the cows came home. During the exam, not only did lumbar forward bending produce his complaints, but also a well SLR.

3) Restless Leg Syndrome

A local GP lost it a while back, apparently my predecessor at an old clinic did not treat his daughter well, so he lost his "faith" in PT. He would send patients for William's Flexion Exercises for ANY condition. He would also only order 1 visit, this was before direct access and would never order more than one. I would usually just do whatever I felt was necessary. I eventually stopped accepting his patients, but one of the last ones was referred for Restless Leg Syndrome, to be treated with William's Flexion Exercises. I often wondered why he just didn't show them himself.

4) This was a verbatim script - Moist Heat to Bilateral Groins

Not much to be said here, I used to hang this up in my office circled in red marker. Until that doctor himself came in for PT, for himself, with a script, he wrote himself, for himself... saying.....

5) Moist heat, ultrasound, estim, traction for lower back pain



Yeah, we've all received that one before. To his credit, that doc was very impressed with my treatment, and I eventually told him just to write my name and PT on the script.