Reason #5: Cost
Definitely a valid reason. Things really are tough for all of us right now. Your life and your body: you are special and important to many people. You touch many lives on a daily basis. If you don't take care of yourself, how can you be there for those who depend on you? Sometimes it is worth paying money for expertise. If you have the right individual providing the expertise, you actually save money. You save because you don't continue to shop around searching and trying all sorts of things. Reason #4: No Guarantee of Results
You are absolutely right... there is no guarantee of anything in the the health care world. I can't guarantee physical therapy will give you the desired results. To let you in on a secret, I worry about that too. I really don't want to waste your time or your money. Reality - physical therapy isn't the answer 100% of the time. So, what should you want? You need a physical therapist who really tries to determine if physical therapy is an option for you. If physical therapy isn't an appropriate option, then you need a physical therapist who can think, recommend and have a discussion with your physician to help you get the services you need.Reason #3: I Thought I'd Get Better
Now that is most definitely a valid reason. It's very true too! You've lived in your body long enough to generally know what happens after you injure yourself. You know that generally injuries heal and they just become a memory. It is difficult to give general advice... how about a quick rule of thumb? If you know you hurt yourself (but not serious enough to go to an emergency room), use ice for the first 48-72 hours. After 72 hours you can use heat (don't be ridiculous and burn yourself, you know what kind of heat I'm talking about). Generally speaking, you should begin to feel substantially better within 1-2 weeks. For sure, around the 4 week point, you should be reaching normal. From my perspective, if the situation isn't resolving adequately by the 4 week point, then it would be a good idea to see a physical therapist. I highly doubt you'd need intensive physical therapy. Thinking about many who were in this kind of situation, chances are all you would probably need would be me using my hands on your body, giving you a few activities to work on and advising you on how to successfully to get back to life. The people who have had physical therapy at about this time after injury tell me they feel stupid and feel they are wasting my time. Don't feel that way! Those of you in this type of situation are so fun to treat and I love seeing your eyes light up and your reports of all the neat changes as you are able to do more and more activities. If you want to save money, it's a whole lot cheaper doing physical therapy at this point in time compared to 6 months later...Reason #2: My Doctor Didn't Suggest Physical Therapy
Your doctor has to know all sorts of stuff! Do you know how long a doctor is in school? Let's just say years and years! Well, your doctor is going to be very focused on making sure you don't have scary things causing your symptoms. Doctors are human and they are working in a very fast-paced environment. The simple fact is sometimes your doctor is thinking a mile a minute and physical therapy just isn't right there in the forefront. The option of physical therapy just gets lost in the mental shuffle. The doctors in Williamston are very supportive of physical therapy. As you discuss your options with your doctor, ask about physical therapy. I'm willing to bet you'll be pleasantly surprised by your doctor's response. If you've injured yourself or have pain, I'm willing to bet that 9 times out of 10 your doctor will happily refer you for physical therapy services. Just ask about physical therapy if your doctor doesn't suggest it.Reason #1: I Thought Everything Was Normal
This one is a tough one... after many conversations, pain is what brings many of you to physical therapy. For some of you, I find it intriguing that you didn't notice little things that happened before you had symptoms of pain. Take for example knee pain and arthritis. From various conversations, many of you needed your memory jogged on this topic. It seems that before you had knee pain, you had little changes. You might have had a little more difficulty getting out of a chair. At some point in time, you started going down the stairs sideways or one step at a time. Your comfortable walking pace got slower. It is intriguing to me how your body just adapted and compensated without you really noticing it. And it is interesting to me that pain didn't come first. I honestly don't have an easy answer for you. I do know that if you happen to be aware of changes like those mentioned, it would be good to see a physical therapist.Am I forgetting any other reasons?
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