Five Steps to Help PT Patients Succeed By Vadim Brodsky

SENIOR FITNESS SPECIAL SECTION
What You Don’t Know About Physical Therapy May Hurt You-
Five Steps to Help
PT Patients Succeed
By Vadim Brodsky
1. Confirm availability. When you call a physical therapy office,
find out if you will be working with one person throughout your
therapy or if physical therapists are interchangeable at the clinic.
Make sure you know and are comfortable with the answer. It is
always more productive to work with a single individual than with
a group of ever changing practitioners.
2. “First, do no harm”. There is a right way and a wrong way to
do exercises. Good form will improve your condition, and uncorrected form can cause damage. Your physical therapist should stay
with you during your appointment, working one-on-one, to monitor
and correct your movements so you learn to do them successfully
at home.
3. Communicate. Make sure you communicate well together about
your condition, your expectations and how you feel. Talk through
the timing of your program. The right practitioner will listen to
you, respect you, and give you the time and patience you deserve.
Life is movement, and when movement hurts, you and your doctor
may decide that it’s time for physical therapy. With the right physical therapist, your recovery could be faster and more successful.
There is a direct correlation between success and well-informed
patients. Results aren’t one-visit magic. The body is a marvelous
machine and as physical therapists, we have an unparalleled understanding of how the body moves. We work with clients to create
individualized programs, with therapies in the office and in the
patient’s home environment.
Traditional physical therapy includes soft and deep tissue massage
as well as musculoskeletal manipulations and exercises. I find it is
more beneficial to the patient to supplement the traditional methods
with proven non-traditional techniques such as yoga, Pilates, and
tai chi. For example, when one of our patients was experiencing
balance problems and fell off a curb, we included elements of taichi into her physical therapy program. Now her grandchildren love
the fact that, “Nana’s balance is better because of martial arts exercises,” and they do the routines with her at home!
Other modalities that can be included in treatment plans the
Feldenkrais, Alexander techniques, Bowen and hypnosis. These
are “somatic therapies” that help train the mind and body together.
They are advanced and specific adaptations of “the power of positive thinking”, part of the integrative medicine movement, and they
do make a difference.
Because physical therapy is a team effort, I recommend these five
steps to get the most from your physical therapy experience.
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4. Be your own advocate. If you’ve hit a plateau working with a
physical therapist, don’t despair! It’s perfectly okay to call another
physical therapist. Explain what your current program is, that
you’ve hit a plateau, and ask what techniques they might add. This
is where an understanding of both traditional and non-traditional
therapies can really help.
5. Expect a business partner, too. Your physical therapist and his
business staff are trained in the complex world of medical insurance. I am adamant about patient rights. Medicare and most nonHMO plans let you select the physical therapy practitioner who is
right for you as you not just a name on a referral slip. We try to
help our patients call their health insurer to confirm coverage, copays and clinicians. The rule about your coverage should be “no
surprises”. Your physical therapy office should advocate for you.
For example, if you reach a Medicare limit on your PT, your physical therapist should understand how to try to get an extension
approved.
With these five steps, you’re in control. You have a choice, and the
choice can be to simply want to feel better every day for the rest of
your life.
Vadim Brodsky is a licensed physical therapist that trained at the European
School of Physiotherapy at the Hogelschool van Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
Brodsky has been a solo practitioner in the Philadelphia suburbs for over fifteen
years, treating orthopedic disorders and sports injuries, post-surgical conditions,
neurological disorders, balance and vesicular rehab conditions, movement disorders and chronic conditions. His practice is American Dutch Physical Therapy,
located at Elkins Park House, Suite 110A, 7900 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA.
Call (215) 635-5575 to ask about free office and home environment evaluations.
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