Frequently Asked Questions

Physical therapy (PT) helps people recover from surgery, an accident or injury. PT also helps when a person’s body is not functioning at what is considered normal for them—perhaps they had a heart attack, stroke or fall; or are dealing with a neurological disease; or even facing aging and incontinence. Physical therapy helps when the body is changing in a way that is affecting function and quality of life. A physical therapist evaluates a person from the standpoint of their mobility, balance and strength. What are they having difficulty doing? What do they want to get back to doing? The basic premise of physical therapy is that you’re looking at the person’s physical dysfunction and determining the steps to take to improve the person’s physical condition.

More than half of all Americans are suffering from pain. Whether it is acute pain or chronic pain, there’s a ton of evidence showing that pain in America is a widespread problem that commonly results in sick days from work, and can be a precursor to opioid use and dependency. However, many do not even know that Physical Therapists are well equipped to not only manage pain but also its source. Physical Therapists are experts at treating movement and neuro-musculoskeletal disorders. Pain often accompanies a movement disorder, and Physical Therapists can help correct the disorder and relieve the pain.

For many patients, one of the primary objectives is pain relief. This is frequently accomplished with hands-on techniques, modalities such as ultrasound, electrical stimulation, and/or heat or cold therapy. Movement often provides pain relief as well. Your Physical Therapist will provide you with the appropriate exercises not only for pain relief, but to recover range of motion, strength, and endurance.

In some cases, Physical Therapy techniques can be painful. For example, recovering knee range of motion after total knee replacement, or shoulder range of motion after shoulder surgery, may be painful. Your Physical Therapist will utilize a variety of techniques to help maximize your treatment goals. It is important that you communicate the intensity, frequency, and duration of pain to your Therapist. Without this information, it is difficult for the Physical Therapist to adjust your treatment plan.

Physical Therapists (PTs) and Physical Therapist Assistants (PTAs) are licensed by their respective states.

Camisa Physical Therapy & Sports Rehab is big on patient education. There’s always an element of patient education to help people discover what they are doing on a daily basis that could be contributing to their problem/pain. The doctor of physical therapy may need to re-educate a patient on lifting something correctly or moving properly. During a PT session, the therapist usually applies hands-on techniques such as joint mobilization for a stiff joint, or soft-tissue work of releasing tight muscles and fascia. Some physical therapists also do manual manipulation, which uses careful, directed manual force to improve mobility in joints, connective tissue or skeletal muscles.

PT always involves exercises of some sort, from a low-level stretch all the way to a well-rounded strengthening program. Physical therapy modalities are rehabilitation technologies that relieve pain, reduce swelling, decrease muscle spasms, improve circulation and promote healing. These modalities at Camisa PT include trigger-point pressure, dry needling, soft-tissue oscillation, Frequency Specific Microcurrent, electrical stimulation, traction, biofeedback, and more. The exercise prescription and hands-on techniques are central to each PT session.

Physical therapists sometimes push people beyond their comfort zone a little bit, encouraging them to go beyond what they think they can do. Physical therapists try to look at things objectively and implement different tests with patients. We try to empower people to kind of fix themselves. We don’t want them to have to keep coming back. Ultimately, we’re trying to get people to a point where they can maintain themselves and do their exercises at home or at the gym and go on with their lives. We push people so they can be independent and not reliant on us, medication or other treatments.

Oftentimes people go to therapy only two or three times a week depending on their insurance and payment options. The responsibility for improvement falls on the individual, too. The stretching and strengthening exercises, as well as movement awareness, are really something that has to be done almost daily. You’re not going to get the progress or improvement you need just relying on going to your therapy visits, so you have to do exercises at home. And, by the way, we can always tell if someone is being good about doing his or her home exercise program or not.

Physical therapy is not a quick fix. Americans in general are notorious for looking for that quick fix. PT follows the way our anatomy and bodies operate. There’s a certain amount of time that is required for certain types of tissue in the body to repair themselves. If you try to speed up the process, you could experience a re-injury. So physical therapy takes some patience and perseverance, and you’ve got to keep up with the program to experience the gains. Physical recovery happens in stages, and you have to be present for the whole program, from beginning to end, if you want lasting results.

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