What is Physical Therapy, and How Can it Help Me?
Physical therapy — or PT for short — can play an instrumental role in rehabilitation, not only by helping to strengthen bones and muscles, but also by increasing flexibility, enhancing balance, and improving your range of motion. It’s an essential fitness tool for conditions like arthritis, lessening back pain and managing other symptoms. It offers immense health benefits, especially for adults and particularly in nursing homes where physical mobility might be a significant issue.
Perhaps you are entirely new to PT and have either heard about it, read about it somewhere, or know someone who may be going through it. You might be curious about how Texas physical therapy can improve posture, function, and mobility and reduce pain associated with arthritis or back problems. Or, maybe you’re just interested in the different aspects of physical therapy, including stretching exercises designed to improve endurance for children and adults alike. Regardless of why you are interested in PT, I wanted to share more information about it for you:
What does a physical therapist do?
Physical therapists are highly educated healthcare professionals who help patients reduce pain, restore mobility, and, in many cases, lessen the need for surgery and use of pain medications. They are the ones to guide adults and children alike in your rehabilitation journey, helping to improve your flexibility, range of motion, and overall fitness.
These trained professionals possess the skills needed to diagnose patients of all ages from children to the elderly in nursing homes, and they give people all the right tools to help with their problems, including exercise, hands-on care, and patient education. A key in their practice includes developing personalized stretching exercises to promote flexibility and endurance, better posture and overall balance.
PT can improve your quality of life
Physical therapy can take many different forms. At all times it involves exercises designed to maximize your range of motion, enhance your fitness, and coordinate the movements. It can also use hands-on techniques to condition your joints or muscles to move and contract smoothly – which is strikingly beneficial for managing arthritis.
Physical therapy can help “wake up” underperforming muscles, manage arthritis symptoms, and “turn off” the ones overacting. PT can get rid of headaches, help you improve your gait, rid neck and shoulder pain that keeps you up at night, and educate children and adults on performing activities correctly so as not to aggravate an injury.
What to expect during PT
Are you asking yourself the question, “what can I expect from physical therapy?” If yes, you are not alone. Many patients, including adults and children, may be hesitant to try physical therapy for the first time simply because they do not know what to expect going in. Expect a therapy session that not only focuses on muscle strength and endurance but also on enhancing your range of motion and overcoming fitness hurdles.
One of the most important things a healthcare professional can do for their patients is to listen. At Move Empower Concierge Physical Therapy, we hang our hat on being great listeners. Along with listening to your physical limitations, we focus on how we can empower your workouts and improve your posture towards a full function recovery, irrespective of your age or condition.
Physical therapy can and should be incredibly individualized
With a decade and a half of practicing, I know one thing for sure, and that is that no two patients are the same. Each person’s needs, experiences, and personalities are different. Thus, exercises that aim at strengthening bones, improving endurance, flexibility, and range of motion may vary from patient to patient, from children to adults, and from arthritis sufferers to those battling back pain. Keeping this in mind, a patient’s treatment should be tailored to their specific needs and goals. At Move Empower PT, you will always have the benefit of one-on-one care with a specifically tailored treatment plan at the convenience of your location of choice. The manual therapies will be delivered by a trained hand, focusing on improving parts of your body’s gait, flexibility, balance, and overall function, offering a personalized way to restore your health.
If I had a dime for every time, I have heard someone exclaim, “You know what PT stands for? It stands for physical torture!” I would have a lot of money stored away! It’s important to clarify for the sake of accurate information that physical therapy, in fact, offers benefits more than causing pain. Our guidance, training, and support in physical therapy is a vital health tool to prevent injuries, promote your body’s health, manage pain, and decrease reliance on opioids. We strive to educate and strengthen through various types of exercises, catering to every disease or ailment that affects your body’s mobility.
PT is NOT any of the following:
Physical therapy is not torture
If this is your impression or experience with PT, then let me be the first to apologize on behalf of my profession. Physical therapy does not need to be synonymous with pain. Instead, it’s the key to effective pain management – unpleasantness and discomfort are not the key ingredient of our treatments, contrary to the common stroke of thought.
At the most basic level, we promote joints to move in appropriate patterns while activating muscles to fire with proper timing and force in every area of your body. This can easily be accomplished without triggering the body’s alarm system and causing pain. We focus on your body’s mechanics, uniqueness of its injuries, and the particular exercises that would best address these.
Once you have completed your initial evaluation, your physical therapist will educate you on an exercise program specific to your needs. Your exercise program is designed to attend to the movement impairments and strength deficits found during your diagnosis. It will be progressive, and change according to how well you are doing each visit. Do not expect to perform the same exercise each visit or be limited only to passive modalities like heat treatments with hot pads.
Physical therapy should not use a “cookie-cutter” approach
You might be wondering about some other ways that Move Empower Physical Therapy differs from other clinical physical therapy settings. For example, should you struggle with a particular movement pattern, we won’t skip it and move on. Instead, under our expert guidance, we’ll find an alternative exercise to evoke the desired movement or muscle activation.
Our services are tailored to you. PT should never be a one size fits all approach, and it should never be done en-masse. Physical therapy should be tailored to each individual’s needs.
That’s the kind of attention you’ll receive at Move Empower, unlike other outpatient clinical settings where a physical therapist’s time must be divided among multiple patients.
At Move Empower Concierge Physical Therapy, expect a full hour of attention on you and the quality of how you move. I will push you mentally and physically but within reason. I will always listen and only advise when warranted. Your therapy journey is a team approach, and a fun one at that.
Physical therapy should not be boring!
Physical therapy can mean many different things to people. Our primary focus of providing PT treatment is to help you move and feel better without relying on pain drugs and surgery, and instead, harness the body’s natural ability for health and healing.
Are you ready? I am!
To learn more about how PT is different at Move Empower, schedule a FREE discovery session today to speak with me, Eric Finger, Founder of Move Empower! Together, we can find a treatment plan that works for you, providing the supportive hand you need to ensure progress.
Take a look below at some of my patient’s testimonials. Hear them explain in their own words about the parts of their body that they’ve seen improvement in, due to our expert guidance, training, and support.
“I bought the eight-session pack from Eric to help recover my foot that had suffered a stroke of bad health from being barefoot in the house during the pandemic. Starting from the first session, I noticed improvements. I just finished my last session, and my foot has recovered to pre-pandemic strength and beyond. I am a very active person, so this has made life a lot better. Eric is a calm, patient, and talented physical therapist that I highly recommend (quite often) to other members at the gym and martial arts.” –Skylar N.
“Eric is a true professional in every sense of the word. Strong work ethic, listens to the customer, and provides custom solutions to help you move toward your goals. I would highly recommend his services!” -David S.
“It’s clear that [Eric] cares about his patients’ progress and goals, given how he attentively listens and follows up. I would definitely recommend this provider to anyone experiencing stubborn or emerging pain!” –Trisha
Ready to start your physical therapy journey? Get your FREE discovery session today!
