My team of therapists do not believe in the “one size fits all” approach. While you may see some improvements by doing a standard program created for the general population, you will see faster and more complete results with an individualized program. How do physical therapists customize a program to your needs? Here are a few ways:

#1. Patient interview: we want to get to know you. As healthcare professionals our job is to use our wisdom and expertise to serve your needs. When we first meet a client we interview them. Some of the questions that you might be asked during a patient interview are as follows:

• What is your experience with physical therapy in the past?
• Are you experiencing any pain? If so, where is it located? What is the quality of your pain? What makes the pain better? Worse? How long have you had this pain? Is there a pattern to your pain?
• Have you been diagnosed with a specific injury or medical condition that has led you to seek physical therapy?
• Are there any activities that you are having trouble with like walking, sleeping comfortably, lifting, running, opening a jar, playing tennis, completing your work duties, etc. because of these symptoms?
• What have you tried in the past to manage these symptoms? Was it successful?
• What is your current level of exercise and activity?
• Do you have any other medical conditions or past surgeries of which we should be aware?

#2 Physical exam: No matter the reason you are seeking physical therapy, the physical examination is an essential information-gathering process. The physical exam allows your therapist to look for and identify impairments that may be contributing to your symptoms/injury/condition or that may place you at risk for future injury. Some assessments that your physical therapist may perform as part of the physical exam are as follows:

• Range of motion assessment
• Muscle length assessment
• Palpation of local tissues for swelling, pain, tissue mobility
• Muscle strength, endurance and power assessments
• Aerobic capacity or endurance testing
• Gait assessment

If you decide to work with a physical therapist, your entire treatment plan could consist of around 8-20+ custom physical therapy sessions that will each last 60-90 minutes. Once you complete your customized physical therapy treatment plan, you will be able to continue to do the prescribed stretches and exercises utilized during your PT sessions yet in the comfort of your own home.

CUSTOMIZED TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR MANY DIFFERENT GOALS

My team of physical therapists can personalize a training program to meet many different needs. Here are examples of scenarios in which a physical therapist could create a customized training program to help the patient address their symptoms and meet their goals:

• Deconditioning, weakness, poor endurance, difficulty walking or performing activities of daily living due to an illness, injury or medical condition
• Impaired balance causing difficulty with exercise, walking or performing daily activities due to a neurologic injury or illness
• Poor endurance for walking, exercise or activities of daily living due to impairments in cardiac or respiratory systems
• Impaired muscle strength, endurance or power following an injury, surgery or illness or due to a medical condition
• Chronic pain is interfering with a person’s ability to be active, exercise, or perform their daily activities
• An athlete is recovering from an injury
• An athlete would like to know what exercises they should be doing to minimize their risk for future injury
• An athlete would like to optimize their movement and performance of common training exercises like squats, deadlifts, push ups etc to decrease injury risk with training and optimize performance