Ask Your Physical Therapist These Questions At Your Next Appointment

The muscles, ligaments, tendons, and bones in your body make up the numerous joints in your musculoskeletal system, and together this system enables everything from the basic movements of your limbs to the turning of your head. It helps give your body shape, supports your weight, allows movement, and even aids in breathing through muscle contractions. 

But the walking, running, jumping, and other normal things we do every day can sometimes lead to damage to our musculoskeletal system — making rehabilitation through physical therapy necessary.

Physical therapy is a system of exercises and physical movements that help the body heal, and if you’ve never been through it before, you’ll no doubt have many concerns about what to expect. So, to help you get accustomed to the journey through rehabilitation, let’s examine some basics about physical therapy, and learn the best questions to ask the next time you go.

If you live in the Fort Worth, Texas, area and you need rehabilitation to recover from injury, Dr. Joseph Daniels and his experienced team at Southwest Orthopedic Associates can help. 

Physical therapy basics

This is the general term for a number of different treatments with the goal of recovering from an injury, surgical procedure, or managing medical conditions that affect mobility. It is used to help heal joints and tissue from minor or major damage, but also helps with conditions like arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s disease, and cystic fibrosis. 

Depending on your specific issues, there are many techniques in physical therapy to help, including heat or cold therapy, massage, stretching, strength training, hydrotherapy, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). It commonly focuses on muscular and skeletal conditions, but can also help with heart, lung, brain, and skin issues as well.

Good questions prior to starting physical therapy

If you’re going for the first time — or if you have concerns after starting — these are some questions to ask to help better understand your health goals:

How often do you treat my condition?

Having a therapist that specializes in your issues will be a big help in targeting the best treatments and make for faster recovery.

What types of therapy are needed to treat my problems?

It will help to know what sorts of treatments you’ll undergo to be prepared and measure expectations.

How will it help?

A big part of doing this work is understanding why it helps, as opposed to another treatment.

When can I expect to see results from this?

A timetable is essential in order to measure expectations, set a schedule to accomplish, and put aside time outside of your therapy sessions to work on exercises (if necessary).

What do you expect from me during each treatment?

Knowing what is expected of you also sets goals, and helps you focus on the task at hand in your recovery. 

What level of discomfort can I expect?

Recovering will often mean dealing with some measure of pain. It's important to know the threshold to expect going in, so if things become more painful, expectations can be revisited and possibly different goals set.

Physical therapy is a joint process between you and your therapist to help you get better, so asking questions helps both of you accomplish that. If you need physical therapy and want your questions answered, make an appointment with Dr. Daniels and Southwest Orthopedic Associates today.