I tried physical therapy and it didn’t work.
Many of our patients in Bethesda have seen other physical therapists prior to seeing us. In their previous physical therapy experiences, they did not achieve the results that they were looking for and are coming to us for answers.
Personally, I love working with these people because they continue to believe that our profession can help them. However, negative experiences in physical therapy often cause many others to lose faith in the profession.
Perhaps you are one of these people. If so, I don’t blame you as I once was in your shoes!
When I was in High School, I experienced a quadricep injury that was impacting my ability to play football.
I went to my local physical therapy practice searching for help in overcoming this injury and play in my junior season. It was going to be my first season starting on both offense and defense causing this injury to constantly remain in the front of my mind.
My introduction to physical therapy was not what I had hoped for, and I now realize that my physical therapists were not taking great care of me (to learn more about how you can determine if this is the case, see my latest blog here).
Luckily, I was still able to play in my season and was back to 100% by the middle of the year. However, I can’t help but wonder if I would have been fully healthy to start the season if I saw a different physical therapist.
Like all other professions, the physical therapy industry has great professionals and poor ones. Furthermore, some physical therapists specialize with athletes, some with cardiac patients and others with people living in nursing homes.
As a result, my hope is that instead of saying “I tried physical therapy and it didn’t work”, you say “This physical therapist or physical therapy practice didn’t provide the results that I was looking for and I need to find someone that is a better fit for what I need.”
