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Physical Therapy Success

Updated: May 16, 2019

Key to physical therapy success: Speak up early & often about how an injury limits the everyday activities that are most important to you.





What Brings You to Physical Therapy Today?


When you kick off a new project at work, chances are you spend a fair amount of time setting

and reviewing goals. These goals help you—and those you’ll be working with—get a clear sense of what you’re looking to achieve and begin to map out a plan of attack. Along with specific goals, you also probably find it helpful to set some key milestones to ensure that you stay on task and to prevent your motivation from waning.


These same principles apply when going to physical therapy for an injury. Communicating what you hope to get out your therapy sessions can help your physical therapist to individualize the treatment plan and design an exercise program that aligns with your goals. The idea is to move from “I’m here because my knee hurts” to “I’d like my knee to feel better so I can get back to doing X, Y and Z.”


Let’s talk about a concrete example to illustrate goal-setting in action: A father of three ruptures his Achilles tendon while playing a game of pickup basketball after work. When he lands in rehab, he explains to his PT that he’s due to walk his oldest daughter down the aisle at her wedding in a few months. This gives the PT a specific goal—and a timeline—to aim for. Of course, not every patient has a goal tied to such a momentous occasion. It can be as simple as carrying your groceries to your car unassisted or lifting your grandchild into a high chair. Either way, it’s important to have goals—and to communicate them clearly to your physical therapist.


Your PT wants you to get better but without the right guidance from you, he might default to

following a checklist and design a program that unknowingly misses your goals. Only you know precisely what you want out of PT: If you have a wrist injury and getting back to your knitting hobby is important to you, then be specific! Another patient could come in with the same injury but have completely different goals, so guide your PT to help you achieve what’s most important.


Proper communication ensures success, and that means you can’t passively participate in your care and simply listen to what the PT recommends. Instead, communication needs to be a twoway street.


So next time you’re at physical therapy, speak up: Make sure that your PT knows

precisely why you’ve made the appointment, what you hope to get out of it and why it’s

important to you. This information not only helps your PT make important decisions about your care but also to think of new ways to keep you motivated during therapy.


If you find yourself making an appointment to see a physical therapist for a new injury or a

nagging pain, make sure that you prepare in advance. Being prepared to answer this one simple question can help to ensure that rehab is a success: What brings you to physical therapy today?


After all, you wouldn’t walk into a kickoff meeting at work without first giving some thought to

the goals that you planned to share with your team, would you?

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1 Comment


tmoney995
May 15, 2019

I first have to say that I was not going to go to PT after my rotator cuff and impingement surgery. I thought I could do it on my own. I am here to tell you that I am so glad I decided to go and that I couldn’t do it on my own. After 9 weeks so far, one month, I have improved my shoulder mobility range so much! I didn’t start therapy until 7 weeks after surgery as I had open surgery. My range lifting my arm up straight went from 120 to 160 degrees. 180 being perfectly straight. My range lifting my arm up and out to the side went from 70 to 120 degrees …

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