In honor of National Physical Therapy month, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all physical therapists out there-now, more than ever, our patients need us, and I know that what we do really makes a difference. So, a question I get a lot is-“what is physical therapy?” A lot of people assume physical therapy is something that you do when you’ve had an injury, or accident, but it’s so much more than that. Here at Natural Fit Therapy, we actually specialize in preventing injury, and not always just trying to correct injury or pain. We’ve heard the phrase “physical therapy is torture”, and while we like to make sure you work hard in your sessions, we never want you to feel worse after seeing us! There are certainly times where you might feel sore after an appointment, but that’s a good thing-your body is telling you that it’s working. We be-lieve that our main goal as a therapist is to help you achieve that one goal you’ve had for so long, but haven’t been able to achieve because of pain, or even anxiety of possible injury! It’s about the outcome, not the process.
Maybe you’re skeptical about physical therapy. Maybe you have a loved one that’s skeptical as well…so today I want to talk about the biggest questions/misconceptions I hear about physical therapy. Hopefully you can walk away after reading this article with a better understanding of exactly what physical therapy is, and why we think we at NFT aren’t just your “average therapists”.
- “What does Physical Therapy treatment actually entail?” Things like massage, stretching and loosening of joints and muscles, combined with exercises and advice to improve posture. This can be done in-person, or virtually!
- “Are there different types of physical therapy specialties?” Yes! Some clinics specialize in therapy for younger children, some specialize in sports injuries, etc. It’s important to know what your therapy clinic specializes in before making an appointment. Here at NFT, we specialize in treatment for adults aged 50 +, focusing on balance, strength, and back pain. We are certainly able to help you with any kind of pain you’re having, and our motto is that we like to help people avoid pain pills and surgery-at all costs!
- “How long will it take for physical therapy to get me active and healthy again?” On average, from the last few years we’ve been doing this, and for most problems that involve joints and muscles that we see in our physical therapy clinics, we’ve worked out a way to speed up the process and get it down to as little as 4-6 weeks to get a person comfortable and safely active again. This, of course, is dependent upon the case, how often you come a week, and your motivation! We’d love to get everyone pain-free and back to 100% right away, but there is an adjustment period, and you should never feel discouraged if you don’t feel back to normal immediately–it’s the outcome, not the process, that you’re working towards!
- “What’s the difference between a good physical therapist and a bad one?” Just three things: (1) The amount of “care” taken (easy to spot), (2) the hands-on techniques and skills being used, and (3) the ability to accurately diagnose an injury.
- “Is physical therapy expensive?” Not in my humble opinion. It comes down to what you value, I guess. Most people will spend more each month on a fresh cup of coffee, than the “cost” of physical therapy. And by the way -there is no set “price list”. And that’s because everything we offer is tailored to suit you, your needs and what you are hoping to achieve and even by which type of physical therapist you’d prefer to see.
- “What’s the difference between Physical Therapy and a Chiropractor?” To be brief, a Physical Therapist looks for a cure. And our aim is to help you so much that you will not need to constantly keep coming back to us. So a physical therapist will work you out a plan, to work on stopping the injury happening again. We do very similar techniques to osteopaths and chiropractors, such as manipulation of your spine, but we do added things such as massage and stretching and believe that the combination of that, plus exercises and posture correction will reduce your pain fast, and also help you manage your pain in the coming years to avoid the need for repetitive visits to see us. “How do I know if I need therapy or surgery to fix a problem?” This is a great question that we hear a lot! The biggest thing is to find out what’s going on first-a correct diagnosis is important. If you have spoken to your doctor and surgery is your only option, we would never want to go against the opinion of someone you have a trusted relationship with, however, our mission at NFT is to avoid surgery at all costs-sometimes it’s necessary, but some-times it can make a problem worse, not to mention it’s expensive! We recommend booking a consultation with us first to find out if we can help you avoid surgery.
- “How long will it take to start the process of getting physical therapy?” As long as it takes you to ring up and book! If you had tooth pain, my best bet is that you’d ring up the very first day you noticed the pain -and you’d do it because you know that it’s the best possible way to get rid of that tooth pain, fast. So, to answer the question, it will take as long as it takes you to make an enquiry and then coming in to see us.
Do you have any questions you’ve always wanted to ask about physical therapy? Call our clinic at 512-730-0231 and we can answer any burning questions you may have. If you’re interested in having a longer conversation with a therapist to see how we can help with your pain/prevention, you can book a FREE Discovery Session!
In a Discovery Session, you can speak with a physical therapist about what pains/issues you’re having, what goals you want to achieve if you were pain-free and more active, and how we can get you there! We are only offering 5 of these appointments for the month of October, so hurry and call before we’re all booked up!
