That said, the idea that PT may be more effective than medication or surgery is kind of new to me. People may need to be informed that PT is a possible solution for a some pain, especially those a physician may find difficult to diagnose.
If something hurts the default is, and should be, consulting a primary care physician, who should then forward your issue to a specialist. PTs are less trained and less useful than MDs, so their scope should be more limited (and should only be consulted for appropriate ailments).
Now, if an issue is chronic (like my shoulder problems), there's not much point in going to the MD except to get a "Yep, it's your shoulder again, still don't want opioids? Ok, here's the referral for 10-20 PT sessions so you can get it covered by BCBS."
Therein lies a major problem, PTs are so used to dealing with health plans capped at hundreds of dollars. People go to a PT expecting an instant solution which is impossible for complex problems. So the whole PT industry has turned into quick fixes in 2-3 sessions that have an immediate feel good result and hand out a piece of paper with a bunch of exercises no one does. It is just as well, without supervision and coaching, they are probably doing the exercise poorly resulting in minimal benefit.