How Rick Olderman's Chronic Pain Journey Informed His Physical Therapy Career

A photo of podcast guest Rick Olderman, author and physical therapist — Physical therapist/author Rick Olderman discusses his unique approach to chronic pain management

Rick Olderman is a sports and orthopedic physical therapist with over 25 years experience. He is the author of Solving the Pain Puzzle: Cases from 25 Years as a Physical Therapist as well as the Fixing You® series of books to help people with chronic pain or recurring injuries. He has also suffered through his own history of chronic pain, which greatly influenced his approach to physical therapy.

In this week’s episode of the Major Pain podcast, we sit down with Rick to hear about his personal journey and professional insights. A series of sports injuries and occupational strain in his youth led to chronic pain in his neck and back. Instead of seeking professional help, Rick enrolled in physical therapy school with the ulterior motive of learning how to fix his own pain. After graduation he became frustrated that traditional PT methods were only effective for treating acute pain, not chronic pain.

During this interview Rick shares his opinions on why chronic pain patients often don’t see results from traditional physical therapy, leading him to develop his own modalities. He feels that medical students are trained to break the body down into components, instead of treating the body as a system in which everything is connected. He also discusses how specialists and practitioners all approach patient care through their own belief systems, limiting the options that may be offered to patients. You can learn more about Rick and discover his published works at https://rickolderman.com/

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