While it’s typically not common, some people see their physical therapists for preventative purposes and not necessarily to treat a “specific” injury.
Here’s why – and if it’s worth seeing your physical therapist regularly.
What is Physical Therapy?
Physical therapy is a treatment method used to treat people of all ages and prevent injuries that could cause significant pain and discomfort. Physical therapists help their patients strengthen the muscles needed to protect joints and tendons. They also treat injuries that cause pain and discomfort and help rehabilitate the body to help prevent future injuries.
Physical therapy isn’t always the answer for everyone. There are some points where surgery is needed first to repair the underlying injury and condition.
How Does a Physical Therapist Help?
As mentioned, physical therapy isn’t always the first answer. Sometimes, if we are experiencing discomfort, a good amount of rest, ice, or heat job can help alleviate the pain. However, physical therapy can play a pivotal role in how people’s bodies heal and respond from an injury for injuries or discomfort far beyond what an ice pack or rest can heal.
Some of what you can expect when visiting a physical therapist is:
- Undergoing a physical exam and evaluation, including the history of your health and specific testing procedures, including evaluation of posture, movement and flexibility, and of muscle and joint motion and performance.
- Receiving a clinical diagnosis, prognosis, plan of care, and short and long term goals.
- Receiving physical therapy treatment and intervention based on the therapist’s evaluation and diagnosis.
- Self-management recommendations.
- Etc.
If you don’t know of any reliable physical therapists in your location or that accept your insurance, try doing a Google search for physical therapists near me. Click on a few of the search results, read the respective reviews, and give them each a call to vet them out.
When Should You See a Physical Therapist?
While most people would assume that the only time to see a physical therapist is when you have a specific injury or particular area of discomfort, this isn’t entirely true.
Going regularly, say twice a month, to your physical therapist and working on things like functionality, mobility, and strength are all that make seeing your physical therapist regularly something to consider.
If you don’t see a physical therapist often, it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to live a healthy life and be free of any pains, but it certainly helps your chances.
For example, every year, half of all Americans over 18 will develop a musculoskeletal injury that lasts longer than three months. Now ask yourself, what would that number look like if those people had regularly engaged in physical therapy services.
Questions to Ask Your Physical Therapist
When deciding on working with a physical therapist, whether for preventative reasons or to treat a specific injury, you’ll want to ask them some questions to ensure that they’re a good fit for you.
Some of those questions should be:
- Why am I hurting?
- What did I do to cause this pain?
- Do you see this condition a lot?
- What do you need from me for this to work?
- How much time should I be prepared to commit to PT to feel better?
- Will I be seeing you or someone else?
- What should I be ready to do during my sessions?
These are all critical questions to ask your physical therapist, and just because each therapist has a different answer, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong.
Similarly, in the same way that all lawyers have different ways of arguing cases, physical therapists have different techniques to treat specific scenarios.
Reasons to See A Physical Therapist Regularly
There are many reasons to see a physical therapist, but these are the top five:
- Reduce Pain: Therapeutic exercises and manual therapy techniques such as soft tissue mobilization can help alleviate pain and rehabilitate muscle and joint function. They can also prevent pain from returning at a later point.
- Avoid Surgery: If physical therapy can help you eliminate pain or heal from an injury, you might be able to avoid surgery. Even if you do require surgery, you might benefit from pre-surgery physical therapy. If you go into surgery stronger and in better shape, you could recover faster after the surgery.
- Improve Mobility: If you’re having trouble standing, walking, or moving regardless of your age, physical therapy can help. Learning and doing stretching and strengthening exercises can help restore your ability to move efficiently. By working on your range of motion, your mobility will naturally improve as well.
- Improve Your Balance: When you start physical therapy, your therapist will screen you for fall risk. If you’re at high risk for falls, physical therapists will provide exercises that carefully test your balance as a means to simulate real-life situations. Therapists also help you with exercises to improve your overall coordination.
- Age-Related Issues: As people get older, they can begin to develop arthritis or need a joint replacement one day. Physical therapists are specialists in being able to help patients recover from joint replacement surgeries and can help patients alleviate the pain that unfortunately comes with getting older and dealing with arthritis.
Conclusion
There are many times in people’s lives that, unfortunately, their doctor will murmur the phrase, “I want you to do physical therapy for a few months.” When we typically hear that, more often than not, there’s something wrong.
However, as you can see, it doesn’t have to be associated with a negative connotation. There are many reasons to engage in preventative physical therapy to strengthen our bodies and improve our mobility.
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