Frequently Asked Questions

Pain and injury cause confusion to the body and shut down certain muscles. When these muscles shut down our body tries to compensate with other muscles and movement patterns. This leads to dysfunction and pain in the body. Physical therapy reorganizes the brain to use the correct muscles and healthy movement patterns. This KEY PRINCIPLE is what heals the body.

“Physical Therapists are movement experts.” ~Vision 20/20, APTA

Our body is incredibly designed to move through space forward, backward, to the side, through rotation and at a diagonal. When our brain is organized and in a pain-free state, we are able to sync up the correct muscle sequence and coordination for a healthy movement pattern.

In a painful state, the brain is confused. For example, when the hip extends or moves behind us, the glute should fire first. It is the main hip extender and should be the driver of movement. However, with pain the brain may fire the hamstring and/or the back muscles first to do the work of the glute. This causes back pain or hamstring pain and leads to dysfunction. Physical Therapy teaches your brain (and YOU!) how to fire the glute first to have a coordinated and healthy movement pattern.

“Good and healthy movement looks the same on ANY body.” ~ Lori Duncan, Founder

It’s Patient-Based. YOU-based. That’s right…it’s all about you.

If you’ve had PT in the past, it has likely been an Insurance-Based experience.

What’s the difference? A LOT!

Patient-Based Experience: You arrive at the clinic and your physical therapist greets you. You get to discuss the progress you’ve had, concerns still lingering and exercises that didn’t work or now feel easy. The treatment consists of hands-on manual treatment, Pilates and/or specific exercises designed for you. It’s all about what you need. Your entire 45-60 minute treatment time is with the PT and dedicated to optimizing the Triangle of Treatment: Mobility, Stability and Strength. This combination is the KEY to restoring healthy movement patterns. This level of care allows for significant healing, with most patients seeing us 5-9 visits total.

Insurance-Based Experience: You arrive at the clinic, sign in at the front desk, sit and wait for your appointment to start. You see the Physical Therapist for 15-20 minutes. Then, you are handed off to an Aide (unlicensed, unskilled individual to take you through your exercises). You continue to do the same exercises you did the few weeks before with possibly a few more repetitions, but no real progressions. After your exercises, you are taken to a table for ultrasound, ice and/or Estim. By this time, you have likely spent 75-90 minutes at the clinic for 15-20 minutes with the licensed physical therapist. You will likely spend 2-3 days/week for 4- 6 weeks, totaling up to 18 visits. Isn’t your time worth something?

Our PT approach, our kindness and knowledge. We treat everyone 1:1. We watch how your body responds to the prescribed exercises during each visit. If something isn’t working for your body, we modify or change it. Our clinic does not do cookie-cutter PT.

Every treatment is a progression from the one before, so each visit feels important and new. The entire treatment time consists of YOU and the Physical Therapist. That’s it. Your time here feels calm, private and personal. We get to know you, how you learn and what goals drive you to heal your pain and injury. Having 45-60 minutes of dedicated time with a medical profession is rare, but we know it’s the optimal way to heal the body.

Absolutely Not. Pain does not heal pain.  

Healthy, intelligent and research-based PT feels healing, mindful and effective. Our patients leave feeling BETTER…every time.

“It doesn’t have to hurt to count.” ~Heather G., a former patient

The very best modalities to heal the body are manual therapy, therapeutic exercise and education. And, the research will support this every single time. We are not in the business of fads, gimmicks or using interventions that get a lot of media attention. We are Doctors of our profession and use our skilled hands and minds to help you find and experience pain-free movement. And, we teach your how to heal your body.

“Thank you for all of the education about my body and exercises to make the various areas stronger and in less pain. I have learned so much over my visits.” ~KS, former patient

No. Not at all. Manual therapy is a specific skill to physical therapists and consists of soft tissue manipulation, joint mobility, movement with mobilization and muscle facilitation. Manual therapy is used to restore mobility, inhibit poor muscle activation and promote permanent change.

Massage Therapy is wonderful and appropriate when the body is healthy. Massage is a great adjunct to activity when you need a re-charge of relaxation and muscle manipulation to encourage good mobility and recovery. It does not include joint manipulations or muscle facilitation.

“Manual therapy feels like magic on the body.” ~ TT, former patient

The body is one continuous unit and should be treated as such. It’s ancient thinking and highly ineffective to just treat the ankle, or just the shoulder. All movement is stabilized from the core and it must be incorporated for optimal healing. The true core is our trunk: including shoulder blade muscles, lats, spinal stabilizers, deep abs and glutes. The legs, arms and neck move freely from the core.

With an ankle injury, the closest part of the core is the glutes and hip. Without core stability the body does not function well. Yes, it’s true most ankle sprains are the result of weak ankles, but the other main culprit is a weak hip.

Main Gist: We treat the CAUSE of pain or injury, not just the symptoms.

What does that mean? Here’s a patient example

A woman fell on her shoulder and fractured her arm. The only way to repair it was a reverse total shoulder. She came to see us for PT on her total shoulder, but we also treated her balance. Why? Poor balance was the CAUSE or reason for her fall and fracture. Without this approach, this patient would be susceptible to another fall, fracture or surgery.

Without treating the cause of pain or the whole body as a system, true lifelong healing is not an option.

YES!! This is not PT 101. If you've had PT in the past and think it didn't work, it's because you had non-individualized PT 101. That is not us!

One of the biggest epiphanies at our clinic is how much more powerful, practical and intelligent our approach is to healing the body. 

Overall, it's more time-efficient to have PT at our clinic. And, you can submit all of the charges to your insurance deductible. Win-win!

 

Absolutely! Physical therapy is a medical service so you are able to use your FSA and HSA benefits at our clinic. 

Yes! We accept the following credit cards:

  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • American Express
  • Discover

Checks and Cash are accepted too.

We do have a 24 HOUR cancelation policy and appreciate your thoughtfulness before canceling. Late cancels are subject to the full visit fee.