How to Choose the Right Physical Therapist

Ok, so you got injured doing...something. Maybe you hurt your knee while playing some pick up basketball, maybe it was lifting your child the wrong way, or perhaps you were just innocently twisting your body while getting out of the car. You go to see your physician because it's been over a week, and as you "wait it out" you notice your pain isn't getting any better. The physician gives you a script for physical therapy. Often times, physicians will give you a few recommendations, but how do you really know who's good?

Well, there are handful of questions you should be asking the physical therapy office BEFORE you begin receiving care there.

1) How many patients is each physical therapist scheduled to see per hour? If you've ever been to a "mill" type physical therapy setting (see below) where there are 4-5 patients every hour, you're not gonna get the best care. The practices that are more quality-oriented will schedule one to two patients per hour.

2) Will I receive 1:1 supervision by the physical therapist or support staff during my visit? It's common for physical therapy assistants and aides to supervise clinical exercises during your visit. Just make sure you're not left all by yourself in a room full of patients (which happens quite frequently) and expected to do your exercises without any guidance.

3) Will I be seeing the same physical therapist every visit? Continuity of care is critical in keeping you moving forward and in the right direction. While the occasional switch is acceptable, many practices out there will swap physical therapists left and right, day-to-day. You really want one doctor to know you and your body.

4) Is the practice physician-owned or PT-owned? Typically speaking, physician-owned practices are "mills." Great business model, if you really think about. How can you beat self-referring patients to your own practice? However, since volume is key in these types of practices, the quality often suffers tremendously- I can't tell you how many patients I've spoken to who spoke with the physical therapist for 5 minutes and then was left to do "exercises". Years ago, a friend of mine sent his dad to a physician-owned practice for his shoulder; he was given electrical stimulation by the physical therapist, then was directed to ride a stationary bike for 30 minutes and received a bill for >$300. I don't know about other physical therapists out there, but I've never treated a shoulder injury by using a stationary bike (it was even one of those arm bikes for cryin' out loud!).

At Maven Sports Medicine, we focus our practice on providing quality care to our patients. After all, the best referral source is a content patient.

Questions? Contact us at info@mavenpt.com.