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Seven Questions for a Physical Therapist

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Seven Questions for a Physical Therapist

Jul 11, 2017

On this episode of Seven Questions for a Specialist, The Scope speaks with Randy Carson, a physical therapist at University of Utah Health. What are some of the best and worst things you can do for your body? What does everyone need to know about physical therapy? And how many massages should you expect during therapy? Dr. Carson has the answers to these questions and more.

Episode Transcript

Announcer: Seven questions, seven answers, it's Seven Questions for a Specialist on The Scope.

Interviewer: All right, it's time for Seven Questions for a Specialist. Today it is physical therapist Randy Carson. Are you ready? I'm going to ask you seven questions. Just answer them as quickly as you can.

Randy: Yeah.

Interviewer: What's the best thing I can do for optimal body function?

Randy: Exercise.

Interviewer: All right. What's the worst thing I can do?

Randy: Eat poorly.

Interviewer: Why is physical therapy so awesome?

Randy: I think it's so awesome because we still have a lot of one-on-one time with patients, where that's pretty rare in the healthcare industry.

Interviewer: What can physical therapy do that most people are unaware of?

Randy: That's a good question. In my area there's probably not a lot. I will say a misconception is that we give a lot of massages.

Interviewer: It's not the case?

Randy: I'm going to turn your question around. That's not the case.

Interviewer: What exercise should everyone do? Is there some exercise that everybody should do?

Randy: Absolutely. Everyone should walk and walk a lot.

Interviewer: What's the most common question you get asked when somebody finds out what you do? You're at a party. What happens after that?

Randy: It usually has to do with shoulder or knee pain and a lot of knee pain when I run.

Interviewer: And they want to know what you can do about it.

Randy: Yes.

Interviewer: What can you do about it, by the way?

Randy: Well, you should definitely get in shape so that you can run instead of trying to run to get in shape.

Interviewer: All right. Why did you specialize in physical therapy?

Randy: It's kind of a funny story. Way back when I was in 7th grade, I decided I wanted to be a PT after watching a news special on someone with a spinal cord injury that learned how to walk again. I decided way back then to do it, and I never turned back. That's the area of the field that I work in 23 years later.

Interviewer: Thescoperadio.com is University of Utah Health Sciences Radio. If you like what you heard, be sure to get our latest content by following us on Facebook. Just click on the Facebook icon at thescoperadio.com.