Whether you recently injured your knee, ankle, elbow, hand, or virtually any other part of your body, we may recommend physical therapy. Physical therapy is a more conservative treatment, but we like to use it because it helps give patients real results, and stronger muscles and joints. To make sure that you actually get good results from your physical therapy sessions, we have a few basic tips for you.
Go
One of the biggest issues that patients run into with physical therapy is only going a few times and then they stop going. Remember that if you want to see real results, you need to go to each and every appointment. We understand that life can be busy and it can be hard to make weekly doctor’s’ appointments, but the more that patients prioritize their physical therapy, the better they will feel.
Practice at Home
Another thing to know about physical therapy when you go into it is that a lot of the work is up to you to do at home. For instance, during your first several appointments, you and your therapist will work on strengthening exercises and they will do some tests. After they have shown you several exercises, it’s up to you to do them at home every day— sometimes even multiple times a day.
Listen
One of the hardest things about an injury is being told you can’t do certain things. Your physical therapist will tell you things that they recommend that you do and things that you should avoid. If they tell you to not do certain exercises or activities, don’t do them. Now, if you love running and your therapist says not to run, they likely don’t mean to never run again; they just mean to take a break from running while your joints heal.
We have seen a ton of success from our physical therapy patients. If you want to learn more about these and other conservative treatments, contact us at our Munster office and call (219) 795-3360.
