Why Patient Collaboration is the Key to Effective Lifestyle Medicine in Physical Therapy
An interview with Dr. Nola Peacock PT, DSc
Lifestyle Medicine in physical therapy is more than just educating people on how to have a healthier life. It’s actually about creating a partnership for collaboration, so that the patient can choose the best thing for them.
As physical therapists, we often love to share our knowledge. While there is a time and place for education, there is also a time to sit back a bit and allow the patient to come up with their own solutions.
Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine (ILM) is on its way to becoming the critical tool for all healthcare providers. In fact, the world of healthcare is already transforming with ILM…and I for one want to be on board with this amazing development.
Dr. Nola Peacock wrote a chapter in the book Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine in Physical Therapy with co-authors Dr. Ericka N. Merriwether and Dr. Rupal M. Patel. Their chapter, “Obesity, Diabetes, and Cardiometabolic Health” provides valuable keys to helping our clients achieve better outcomes.
Why we need Lifestyle Medicine in Physical Therapy
The book, which is co-edited by Dr. Ginger Garner and Dr. Joe Tatta highlights how 80% of healthcare spending in the US is tied to the treatment of diseases caused by poor lifestyle choices. In 2018, it was reported that 23.4 million Americans have DM (90% type II) and 81.6 million have pre-diabetes (2), totaling approximately 32% of the US population. Additionally, a new study that has come out in 2022, states that ONLY 7% of Americans are in good standing with their cardiometabolic health. (3)
If we look at the big picture again in 2020, healthcare spending was a whopping $4.1 trillion dollars. If we do the math, 80% of that is $3.28 trillion dollars per year (1). That is a lot of money that is being poorly utilized across the board.
You may see these numbers and feel a real sense of frustration. However, looking at it from another perspective, there is so much potential. As a physical therapist who practices lifestyle medicine, you’ll have amazing opportunities to truly make a difference in people’s lives.
Dr. Nola Peacock and her Contributions to Lifestyle Medicine in Physical Therapy
Let’s get back to Dr. Peacock and the contributions she is making to this growing field. She is an outpatient physical therapist and the Lifestyle Medicine Clinical Coordinator at St. John’s Health in Jackson, Wyoming. She is a board-certified clinical specialist in geriatric physical therapy, a national board-certified health and wellness coach, and board-certified by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
We had the opportunity to ask Nola a few questions:
Q: What made you choose physical therapy?
A: I chose physical therapy as a profession because it allows me to help patients all along the continuum of function. I am able to provide preventive and health promotion services as well as physical therapy to help the members of my community thrive.
Q: What is your favorite thing about being a physical therapist?
A: I love providing education to patients. Whether it is in a primary prevention or rehabilitative setting, offering thorough, individualized education is powerful. Knowledge is the starting line for behavior change. Education with health coaching support can set a patient up for successfully changing habits, adopting healthy behaviors, and improving lifestyle choices.
Q: How did you become interested in using Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine in your research or practice of physical therapy?
A: Early on in my work as a physical therapist I learned that patients do best when they are in charge of their own health. Physical therapy is not a passive treatment approach but rather an active collaboration between patient and provider.
Lifestyle medicine emphasizes patient-driven action toward optimizing all areas of health including sleep, stress, nutrition, substance use, and social connection in addition to physical activity. With this evidence-based approach the patient and I can work together to manage the symptoms and address the root causes of their physical challenges.
Q: What do you think the biggest challenge facing physical therapists is today?
A: Physical therapists need to recognize that we are more than just rehabilitation experts. We can and should provide preventive and health promotion services that benefit our community members.
We need to embrace the role of lifestyle medicine provider by offering high-quality patient education and health coaching support across the entire continuum of care from true primary prevention to rehabilitation to wellness and fitness.
Q: How do you think we can overcome or navigate this challenge?
A: Physical therapists can benefit greatly from clinical, research, and academic collaboration with other disciplines. I find that regularly interacting with and learning from dietitians, fitness professionals, physicians, sleep experts, mental health providers, and others has improved my ability to provide lifestyle medicine across the continuum of health care.
Q: If there was one thing from your chapter of the book that you thought everyone needed to know, what would it be?
A: Lifestyle medicine is powerful. Evidence indicates that intensive lifestyle changes can not only decrease one’s risk for coronary artery disease but can actually reverse heart disease.
Q: What do you think people should really know about ILM – if you could only give them ONE tip?
A: Lifestyle medicine is simple, it may not always be easy to implement, but the principles are basic…make the most of the choices you make each day and the actions you take each day to move a little bit closer to your best self.
REFERENCES:
- Katherine Wilson, Wilson Analytics. 2022 Edition — Health Care Costs 101
- Sasson C, et al. American Heart Association Diabetes and Cardiometabolic Health Summit: Summary and Recommendations. JAHA, 2018;7:e009271
- O’Hearns et al. Trends and Disparities in Cardiometabolic Health Among U.S. Adults, 1999-2018. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2022;80/2:138-151.
