All Physical Therapy is not Created Equal

[Guest Prosoft Admin]

by Mike Napierala, PT, SCS, CSCS, FAFS

Just pick the closest one or go to the big name place.

I need tires on my car. Don’t forget to pick up a loaf of bread on the way home. Who’d you say had those sneakers on sale?

Commodities.  Same product.  Same quality.  Just a matter of best cost, shortest drive, quickest in and out shopping experience. 

IS PHYSICAL THERAPY THE SAME PROCESS? Should you think of your injury care process the same as buying car tires or a loaf of bread?  Who has the flashiest commercial on TV or the radio?  Who put up the coolest billboard along the highway? Wouldn’t it be so much easier if it were that simple!

I Already Tried Physical Therapy. It Didn’t Work!

Boy, if I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that one! Just think of your car.  That same noise and wobble comes back a few days after you took it in to your local mechanic. What do you do? Do you say “Hey, mechanical repair doesn’t really work,” so I’m not doing that again. I’ll just ignore it.”

NO WAY right! You’d talk to some friends or family and find another mechanic to take a look.  You can’t just leave your car that way.  And taking it in for a car wash or a paint job isn’t going to fix the mechanical problem causing a noise or a wobble when you drive.  Absurd, right?

How about your health?  Could you imagine that process with an illness that won’t go away? 

"Hey, I already went to the Doctor for this cough I’ve had for 2 months and my lack of energy, so doctoring just doesn’t work. I’ve already tried that.  I’m just going to take a shower or try to eat more vegetables and see if that works."

Most of us would go get another opinion.  Go see a specialist for a consult.  You just know in your head that it takes having a trained medical expert to figure out your problem and identify a solution.  You just didn’t see the right one yet.

ALL PHYSICAL THERAPY IS NOT CREATED EQUAL!

It’s an unfortunate truth.  While all Physical Therapists have started off with the minimal requirements of passing state boards and getting licensed there can be really significant differences in skill sets, knowledge base, experience and specialty training over those following years.  And that’s a great thing. 

I wouldn’t want to go to a Geriatric (specializing in helping our more experienced population) trained PT if I’m a 9-year-old athlete.  You don’t want to ask an Orthopedic-experienced PT to do a consult on a relative with a complex stroke. 

We all choose to be on a different team because Physical Therapy is not only area specific, such as orthopedic or neurologic specialized, but within each area there are deeper areas of training and knowledge and skills that you can choose to become more expert in or not. 

For young athletes with sports-related injuries, at PEAK PERFORMANCE we’ve found that our expertise in biomechanical problem solving and exercise approaches has helped us time and time again to identify contributing areas that were missed with traditional approaches. Other times it has allowed us to take more customized and creative ways to exercise that allows a more thorough or a quicker recovery than just following a protocol or assuming every knee or shoulder with the same diagnosis title should be treated the same.

CALL US AT 218-0240 IF YOU WANT TO FEEL THE DIFFERENCE!