When Looking For A Physical Therapist

We can get hurt in one way or another. Maybe you twisted something when you were lifting that heavy box. Maybe you hurt yourself when you slipped on something, be it a puddle of water, ice or something else. Maybe you got into an accident. Maybe you just slept wrong and something got pinched. Whatever the case may be you are suffering from physical pain that prevents you from doing anything physical and thus limits your body movements.

Even if you go to a doctor you may need more than just medical care in order to alleviate the pain and get back your range of motion. This may require more physical ways of care. This means that it will require therapy with the help of a physical therapist.

The good news is that when you visit your doctor he or she can recommend and refer you to a physical therapist. This is needed because in a majority of jurisdictions in order for you to be able to get one let alone work with one. Those being said don’t just take the recommendation of your doctor and use that therapist because of the referral.

While the rule says that you need a referral, it doesn’t necessarily require you to go a specific one. This means you do have choices when it comes to physical therapists much like you had choices when choosing your family doctor and the like. You want to be able to choose the one that you can comfortably work with and one that will do a good job by you.

Reputation can be everything but it’s not the only thing. Do look for a therapist that has a long standing reputation of doing a good job. However, longevity in practice does not automatically equate to good service so do keep that in mind. The therapist may be relatively new but if they have a good reputation of service then you may want to check them out.

Bigger is not always better either. Sure a big facility means that they are good but the question is: will you get individualized service. Physical therapy is better if there is continuity of treatment. This means it would be more successful if you work with the same therapist for the duration of your therapy. This is the same reason why you stick with the same dentist or with the same doctor.

Then there are the therapist credentials. Just exactly how was the therapist trained? What’s their specialty? Some only work with back pains while others only work with the elderly or with children so you want one that has worked on your specific type of pain so they can take care of it well.

Other thing you may want to look into is the convenient location and the hours of operation. You do want a clinic that is easily accessible to you as the patient. You’re already in pain so you want to be able to go to someplace close and easily accessible to you. At the same time you want one that has the hours that makes it easy for you to set up your therapy schedule without having to force you into the times you don’t like.

Learn more from therapist Deborah Koval.