What To Expect

So far in our blogs we’ve talked a lot about who we are and treatment approaches we use to help improve people’s lives. Today I wanted to take a little bit of a different approach and talk about expectations. What can you expect from a physical therapy visit? What happens? What do we do? What do we expect from you as a patient? What can you expect for results? The reason I want to talk about this is because when a client fully understands how to use the incredibly powerful tool of a physical therapist, their outcomes improve dramatically. What I want to do with To The Point is dramatically improve your life and the best place to start is understanding the expectations between therapist and client. 

First of all, what does a physical therapy visit look like? Your first visit is what we call an initial evaluation, in this first appointment we like to get to know you, what are your hopes and dreams, what you like to do for fun, your family, career etc. We especially want to know what your chief concern is and if therapy is appropriate to address that. So, in your first appointment we may just be talking for 20-30 minutes. Next, we perform an examination of your affected area which may include strength testing, endurance testing, flexibility testing etc. During this time you may be asked to expose the affected area so we can check that there isn’t a bruise or some other visible condition which may be causing your pain. You will also likely be assessed for tissue/joint tenderness and tightness. It is also likely you will be put through specific tests which will further help your therapist zero-in on a diagnosis. This whole process can take up to 30 minutes. Your therapist will then explain their examination findings and propose a plan of care. They may also discuss what concerns or problems you may have in completing the suggested plan of care. 

We want you to get better! And very often there are things that get in the way of you reaching your therapy goals including scheduling conflicts or financial problems. Your therapist will work with you to try and overcome as many of these conflicts together as we can but ultimately your health is in your hands, we won’t ever force you to commit to a treatment plan. 

Once we’ve established a diagnosis and a plan of care, and if there is enough time in your scheduled appointment, we may begin treatments on the first day which can include manual therapy techniques, acupuncture dry needling, and corrective exercises. 

What do we expect from you as a patient? We expect from our patients that they will adhere to the plan of care as prescribed by the therapists. What we have seen that achieves the best results for the most people is 1 treatment session a week for 10 weeks. There are the rare cases when a patient is completely healed after 1 treatment and we celebrate that! That makes us feel so good as clinicians to see that, but the harsh reality is that in most cases your body needs to undergo adaptive changes such as strengthening or lengthening a muscle which takes time to do. You can think of therapy a lot like an antibiotic prescription. It is so important to take an antibiotic medication as prescribed, every day for the prescribed amount of time or the infection may not be completely wiped out and become resistant to medications. In the muscles, joints and bones in your body, they need to be consistently stressed to affect change, too much stress obviously is harmful but not enough stress won’t get the change you need to improve your body mechanics and get back to what you love. So when we prescribe a treatment plan of 10 sets a week it is for a reason, it is to properly load your tissues to affect the optimal rate of change in tissue length or strength to improve mechanics, decrease pain and prevent future injury.

Your therapist will also prescribe exercises to be done daily. Again this is for a reason, we need to optimally load your body to respond to maximize its ability to heal and improve. It is our expectation that you adhere strictly to these corrective exercises otherwise you may not improve. Our main goal is to get you living pain-free doing what you love, we are here to guide and apply manual techniques which are often required to get your body back on track but that's only half the battle, the other 50% comes from you and your dedication to getting back to life pain-free.

What makes To The Point different from other therapy clinics in our approach? We give 1 hour of attention to our patients with each visit. When you book our services you get to work 1-on-1 with a doctor of physical therapy for 1 hour, which is such a powerful treatment approach, we are able to assess your response to treatments and adjust in real-time. I’ve worked in high-volume therapy clinics before where I only had 10 minutes per patient and I’m ashamed of that, since I’ve started To The Point and I’ve been working 1-on-1 for an hour my client’s outcomes have dramatically improved! 

What results can you expect from therapy? So at this point, your therapist has given you a diagnosis and a plan of care, you’re appropriate for therapy and it's time to get to work. How quickly can you expect results and what is your end outcome? This is a difficult question to answer because of how different each case is and a hundred other factors. I will say this though, in the years I’ve been treating now I’ve seen over 700 patients, my average patient visits is 9.4 and over 80% of those patients saw a 90% improvement or better. There have only been a handful of patients that I’ve needed to send out for surgeries or other specialties. Of course there is no guarantee with anything medically related but I am positive I can improve your pain and if I can’t I’ll get you pointed in the direction you need to go.

The clients that do the best are the ones that take charge of their health, they’re in the driver’s seat, I’m just in the passenger seat giving direction and occasional necessary nudges. I hope that this blog helps you understand a little bit more about what you can expect from therapy services and how they can help you. When we know what to expect from each other as clients and therapists, outcomes improve, which is what we are all about. If you are serious about improving your life and getting the best care possible, I urge you to book an appointment today or if you are unsure if your case is something that therapy can help, then book a free 15 minute call and we’ll chat about it. If I can’t help you, I’ll get you pointed in the right direction.

Wishing you well until next time!