On average, it takes 2.6 hours for low emergency patients to be seen in an emergency room in Ontario. But is it really necessary to see an ER doctor for some back pain? And how does your doctor assess an ankle sprain over Zoom? Should you maybe just call the physiotherapist? We are finding the answers with Nilu Mahavitane, our senior physiotherapist at Body Works Physiotherapy.
So, when do you need to see a doctor before you see a physio? It really depends on the type of injury. Not sure where you fall? Check out some of our commonly encountered scenarios:
- Accidents/Falls: If you have a serious accident, such as a fall down the stairs, and are experiencing difficulty and pain with walking, then it is time to head to the emergency room. Our first concern would be to check for and rule out a fracture. If you’ve been in a car accident and lost consciousness, you will also want to be assessed first by a medical doctor.
- Sports Injuries: Say you’re on the soccer field and you roll your ankle, but you can still walk on it, what should you do? Even if there is a bit of swelling, you should call your physiotherapist for an appointment to get treatment started, because the sooner you can start your treatment, the sooner you’ll be on your way back to the field!
- Sudden Onset: If you start having blurred vision, trouble breathing, altered sensations into your arms or slurred speech; those are situations where you’d want to go see your doctor. If you’re experiencing back pain that is sudden, or you have numbness in the saddle region (that’s the area between the legs into the groin area), or you start losing control of your bowel and bladder functions, those are situations where you would want to see your doctor first.
- Gradual Onset: Perhaps you have back pain, with some numbness or tingling in your legs. You can go see your physiotherapist right away, where they’ll do an assessment on the cause. After they have assessed your pain and if they’ve ruled out their red flags, then they can begin treatment right away to reduce the numbness/tingling. However, if during the assessment, we have concerns or see red flags like those mentioned above, then they will refer you back to your doctor or to the hospital.
- Post Surgical: At Body Works, we see a lot of patients right after a major repair or replacement. It’s one of our specialities! However, there are some red flags we watch out for: supposing there is a patient who’s just had a knee operation, and they come in with excruciating pain in their calf. That’s definitely a point where we would refer them back to the hospital. While post surgical pain is normal, we want to rule out any blood clots, as this is a surgical complication that can occur.
As you can see, at Body Works we go through assessment questions and take your history as soon as you start with us. There are questions that will be on our minds to rule out more serious concerns and injuries. Our number one priority is to make sure that each and every patient is safe to proceed with the assessment and treatment.
There are definitely pros to seeing a physiotherapist first when the situation applies correctly! The sooner you can get in to see a physiotherapist and get your treatment started, you’re going to be dealing with your pain and swelling immediately. We can work on your range of motion and get you started on a strengthening program. Statistically, a quicker start means higher results, that will help you on your way to recovery and get you back to what you want to be doing.
Starting with physiotherapy does not mean you cannot see your doctor later. We encourage patients to always follow up with their doctor. Oftentimes, we’ll start with treatment, but may want to get further imaging to help with our treatment plan and to rule out possible tears. Also, if the treatment’s going a little bit slower than expected, or new pain presents itself, further imaging can help guide us to adjust treatment sessions towards better long term goals and results.
All Body Works locations are near major roads and transit routes that the public can easily access! We’ve have four different locations all across Scarborough/Pickering, and each of these four different locations has physiotherapists, chiropractors, and registered massage therapists. If you are looking to experience all the benefits of a multi-disciplinary approach, reach out! Check out our contact page here or you can easily call us at 1-(866)-7PHYSIO to book for your next appointment.
