Planning Ahead For Physical Therapy

Many people who have scheduled corrective surgery for orthopedic issues such as a knee or hip replacement may have never experienced Physical Therapy before.  They do not know what to expect during a typical treatment session.  If this is you, you should not have to waste your energy worrying about this aspect of  recovery.  Here are a few suggestions to make your rehabilitation less stressful.

1.  Prior to surgery, research local Physical Therapy clinics.  Use the internet, phone book and word of mouth.

2.  Once you have a list of local clinics, try to visit each one.  Ask for a tour of the clinic so that you can get an idea of the therapy machines that will be available for you

3.  Ask for information regarding treatment time length, what will usually be performed during treatment, and what will be the therapist's goals regarding your rehabilitation.

4.  If you want to know how much one-on-one time you will spend with your therapist, ask how many patients each therapist sees each hour.  This will give you an idea of whether your therapist will be spending time bouncing around between multiple patients during your session.

5.  Ask if you will be seeing the same therapist throughout the course of rehab or if you will be treated by different therapists each time.  Depending on your preference, usually you can request to see one particular therapist if that is what you respond better to.  Clients look at this differently.  Some like to see the same therapist because they do not like to "start over" with each new person.  Others like to work with multiple therapists because each therapist may have different expertise regarding the particular condition and a different 'set of eyes' may be beneficial.

These are just a few tips that may take some of the stress out of your course of rehabilitation.  Good luck.