29 Jul Why Everyone Needs a Physical Therapist
Do you have a Physical Therapist on speed dial? If the answer is no, why not?
If you’re not injured and you feel you don’t need a PT on speed dial–think again.
You may be thinking, what would be the benefit of seeing a PT without an injury? Great question.
Physical therapists are able to screen and filter out if you are at risk for certain things. That way when you come in and you do have an injury, it’s less work to get back to your normal function again.
What some of you may not know is that PT’s can have an even stronger presence in a person’s life being able to examine someone on an annual basis.
Why would you benefit from an annual PT visit? To monitor your Movement Vital Signs!
What are Movement Vital Signs? Another great question.
You know how your PCP takes your physical vital signs– like heart rate, blood pressure and cholesterol every year?
Movement Vital Signs are things that PTs check every year. Here are some examples of Movement Vital Signs:
- Have you maintained the appropriate Range of Motion in the Joints and appropriate Flexibility of the Muscles in your body?
- Can you Squat?
- Can you Run?
- Can you Jump?
- Can you lift a weight Overhead?
- Do you have good Balance so you don’t Fall?
- Can you do the things that are required for you to get off the floor if you do fall?
This can include:
- Do you have enough hip and knee range of motion to step up and forward?
- Do you have enough strength through your legs so that you can get yourself off the ground without having to pull on somebody or something?
- Can your hands and wrists tolerate supporting your weight while you’re on hands and knees?
- Depending on what your goals are PT’s can also test if you have the age-appropriate muscle strength to Squat, Lunge, do a Pushup or Pullup or the ability to move fast or with the sense of urgency without feeling winded or like you’re stuck in first gear
Movement Vital Signs are not the only things that physical therapists can look for. PT’s can also find the Body’s Blind Spots.
What are Body Blind Spots? We’re so glad you asked.
There are going to be patterns and parts of the body that might be stiff and might not be moving as well. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what part of the body is actually causing the problem vs the part that is bothering you.
There’s a saying about pain by Ida Rolf, who is a renowned body worker and founder of the Rolf Method, “Where you think it is, it ain’t.”
Sometimes signs will point to an area that is seen as the “problem” – pain, sensitivity, etc … but a lot of the time it’s things above and below it that could be the main reason why you’re experiencing the pain.
Our bodies are able to compensate. We’re able to find another way to get something done because, well, we have to get it done. So, if we keep doing that repetitively, then something else is going to get aggravated.
Okay so now that we’ve established why it may be beneficial for you to see a PT even if you aren’t experiencing any pain–or even if you are, let’s review what green flags you can look out for when you’re looking for your new physical therapist bestie.
PT Green Flags ✅
1) Look for someone Exercise Based – someone who is going to appropriately introduce load and resistance back into a program and rebuild the body
2) Look for someone who understands what you do because they also do it, someone who understands movement and the stress that’s required for you to make an adaptation and change, someone that appreciates and values movement and understands that it’s also one piece of the solution
We want to get beyond getting you out of pain. We want you to get better and then s’more.
click here3) Someone that wants to make you even better, not just focused on fixing what you came in for, living everyday life is not good enough – someone who wants to help you develop the reserves in your body so if there’s an emergency or if you push yourself beyond your limit, you can handle it and not break
4) Someone who is personable and who really cares about you and your goals, your progress and someone who is looking at the full picture/holistic approach
Now that we went over some green flags, let’s talk about some red flags that you may want to look out for.
PT Red Flags 🚩
1) Doing the same exercises that you’ve been doing for weeks on end, spending the entire time on the treatment table. But that also doesn’t mean you give up so quickly. Your PT may have a master plan. Make sure you ask questions about why you’re doing what you’re doing.
How long should you hold out for if you’ve been doing the same exercises for weeks on end? Use your intuition, but if you haven’t seen any progress in 4-6 weeks maybe try something else. However, if you’re healing from a surgery – it may be a little different because you’re waiting for things to repair and heal – and listen to your surgeon’s guidelines. However, if it’s been 12 weeks or 3 months since surgery (for most surgeries, again, this depends on your surgeon’s guidelines) and your program has not looked any different from early on, it may be time to either ask for more of a challenge or move on.
A huge question to be sure to ask yourself- does this exercise or thing(s) that i’m doing match physically with what this body part or this area needs to be able to handle to get back to this activity?
2) One word: Ice.
Kind of kidding but kinda not.
If you are getting Ice as a treatment, this is an indication that the PT you have is not up to date with most recent research and approaches.
While we can/might/ok will be recording a Podcast on this topic alone we’ll give you the mic drop version here.
Ice slows down healing. If you are experiencing swelling, find another way to make the swelling go down since it is public enemy #1.
3) Your PT is not open to having a conversation with you about the other life factors that can improve the quality of your life – sleep, nutrition, education, relationships, other referral sources that can enhance your life.
While we may be biased towards what Physical Therapy can do to transform someone’s life, you can’t optimize your healing, physical and mental function without improving or working on those other things.
Having a PT on speed dial is good so you can come in and have them evaluate you rather than going to an urgent care. A PT can potentially give you some exercises and some things that you can do to speed up that healing process. Maybe you have a twisted ankle or sprained knee– it will take you weeks to see an orthopedist when you could’ve gone to a PT to triage the pain and physical limitations that come with it.
Another benefit to seeing a PT sooner rather than later is that the longer you wait, the bigger risk that your muscles will start to atrophy (aka shrink, aka lose strength). And lastly, having a PT that is familiar with you will be a great benefit when you need to see someone because they will already have an idea of your past medical history.
We get it. Maybe you feel like a PT has failed you. Maybe you tried PT once before and you don’t want to try again.
Trust us when we say we know how frustrating that is–but we urge you to try and find the right fit for you. Find the right person whose message resonates with you. Try to exhaust your options of trying to go to other people and get different opinions because there are a ton of providers with different philosophies, especially before you consider surgery, injections and medication.
To us Physical therapists are teachers. PTs are the next line of physical education that we’re supposed to be getting in school. PTs should teach you how to identify what’s going on and give you the tools and guide you to fix yourself–not to constantly fix you by treating the same problem over and over again.
Let’s get out of pain, stay out of pain, and get even stronger.
Our 3 Step Process here at Evolve to Perform is:
1) Get you Out of Pain
2) Fix the Root Cause
3) Keep you Moving for Life
If you have any more questions or want even more information about why everyone needs a PT- we have a whole podcast episode on this topic that you can find here:
And by the way, here is the number to our BatPhone (516) 421-6353.
Be Well, Stay Well.
Cheers.