What To Expect During Your First Physical Therapy Session
Physical therapy is beneficial for a wide range of conditions. It can help individuals regain their strength following an injury or surgery. It can also improve balance and coordination in individuals with temporary and permanent movement disorders. The first visit for a physical therapy Bowie in MD with a physical therapist determines subsequent treatment and includes multiple steps.
Interview
During your first visit, your physical therapist will begin by asking you questions to get a sense of your overall health history, the limitations and discomfort you experience due to your condition, and what you hope to achieve through therapy.
Physical Evaluation
After interviewing you, the therapist may touch and move your body parts or ask you to perform movements or activities to determine how well your joints, muscles, and nerves function and assess your:
- Strength
- Coordination
- Flexibility
- Balance
- Range of motion
- Mobility
- Stamina
Treatment Plan
After a thorough evaluation, a physical therapist will propose a treatment plan to help you achieve your goals. Treatments often begin during the first visit and include various modalities. Sessions will usually start with an application of heat to stimulate blood flow and send oxygen and nutrients to the affected areas. Heat increases flexibility in preparation for other treatments that follow.
After applying heat, the therapist may use manual massage techniques to decrease muscle pain and tension and improve circulation. The therapist might also repeatedly move your joints in various directions to help improve your mobility.
Ultrasound is helpful in the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions. A topical gel on the skin over the affected site helps deliver ultrasound waves to the muscles via a wand to improve blood circulation and promote healing. Light therapy and electrical stimulation can help reduce pain and inflammation and encourage injury healing.
Treatment sessions may also include supervised exercises that you can perform with progressive degrees of intensity as your condition heals or improves. Your sessions will end with an application of ice to control inflammation resulting from therapeutic activities.
Home Exercises
During an initial physical therapy visit to our clinic Mid Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic, your therapist may recommend exercises using special equipment available at the physical therapy site. The therapist will also review home-based exercises you can perform independently between sessions. Discussing the importance of these exercises is a crucial part of your initial visit and will help ensure that you continue to improve and progress between sessions with a therapist.
If an injury or medical condition leaves you unable to enjoy life, schedule an evaluation and initial session with a knowledgeable physical therapist to start on the road toward feeling better.
Physical Therapy for Kids
Physical therapy is something that helps everyone learn to successfully and independently use their gross motor skills and functional mobility skills, but this is even more so true for children who are just learning to use these types of skills. It’s very easy to see why an adult might go to therapy, but a child? Let’s talk about the benefits of physical therapy in Bowie MD at Mid Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic for children.
Why should I bring my baby and physical therapy?
If your child is demonstrating behaviors and issues such as the ones listed below, while this is not a fully exhaustive list of some of the most common things physical therapists see for children, they may benefit from physical therapy.
- If your child is only moving by scooting on their bottom, this might indicate that your child is having trouble learning to crawl or walk. The physical therapist could help you and your child figure out what is causing their behavior.
- If your child is having a lot of trouble with tummy time, it may indicate a deeper issue and needs to be dealt with through physical therapy.
- If your child is clicking or popping their hips, then it might be a good idea to check with the physical therapist about what might be causing that and how you can correct it.
- If your child is moving asymmetrically even with their head, they may have an issue that could be corrected with physical therapy rather than medications or surgery.
- If they are developing flat spots on their head, then they might benefit from seeing a physical therapist.
What are some common diagnoses that a physical therapist in Bowie MD might treat for a child?
Some of the most common conditions of the physical therapist to choose children might see in their treatment of children are listed below. This is not a whole and exhaustive list, but rather some of the most common things that therapists see when treating children.
- Hypotonia is a low muscle tone throughout the child’s body that is affecting the child’s endurance, stability, the way they move, the ability to meet their milestones and more.
- Treatments for this would include functional activities, external equipment usage limited, orthotic management, muscle strengthening and more.
- Torticollis, a tightness through one or more muscles in the child’s neck that causes the child to turn her head to one side and talk to the side is a very serious condition that while it is easy to treat, affects how the child moves, plays and interacts with their environment. This is a condition that is caused by a child’s preference to turn toward one side of their environment, or it can be developed in utero.
- Ways to treat these conditions are encouraging your child to turn both ways and their environment, positioning your child in an opposing manner that they would usually turn, practicing handling techniques and strengthening.
When should I be concerned about my child’s toe walking?
If your child is walking on their toes over 25% of the time, they may have decreased ability throughout their ankles, or sensory sensitivities. This is perfect for a physical therapist to work with your child on, because a lot of physical therapy in Bowie MD is going to focus on stretching, sensory input, shoe modifications, bodily awareness activities, strengthening and abdominal strengthening.