Physical Therapy Can Be Too Much Of A Good Thing: Study

Often touted as a treatment for injured workers, excessive use of physical therapy can be a significant cost-driver for workers compensation payers and can impede return to work, experts say.

“Physical therapy can is a wonderful thing; it’s just when it’s abused,” said Dr. Ed Bernacki, a professor of population health with the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, who co-authored a study finding that the costs associated with 15 sessions or more of physical therapy can be close to double to costs of ten to 14 visits.

The study, published in August’s Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, provides data sourced from 192,197 comp claims in Texas between 2013 and 2017.

The report concludes that excessive physical therapy — 15 or more visits — can increase claim costs more than other well-known cost drivers such as comorbidities, opioid use and legal involvement, and can keep claims from closing.