Physical Therapists as Diagnosticians: Drawing the Line on Diagnosing Pathology

William G. Boissonnault, Catherine Goodman

DOI: 10.2519/jospt.2006.0107

One line that we believe can now be drawn relates to the issue of physical therapists diagnosing pathology, including visceral and systemic disorders. Therapists already have the knowledge base and skills needed to identify suspicious and unusual patient manifestations that suggest a referral is warranted. Not only do we believe it is unnecessary for therapists to specifically label the pathology to determine if a consult is appropriate, we believe that attempting to provide the educational training to do so and make the needed legislative changes to allow such practice by physical therapists would take away from efforts to better define our niche within the healthcare system and advance the science supporting our practice.

J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2006; 36(6):351-353. doi:10.2519/jospt.2006.0107

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