HUNTINGTON PHYSICAL THERAPY
  • Home
  • Therapists
  • Locations
    • Huntington Location
    • Barboursville Location
    • Kenova Location
    • Milton Location
  • Conditions & Injuries
    • Arms >
      • Shoulder
      • Elbow
      • Wrist & Hand
    • Legs >
      • Hip
      • Knee
      • Ankle & Foot
    • Spine >
      • Neck
      • Lower Back
    • Neurological
  • Services
    • Pelvic Health Services
    • Supplies
    • Dry Needling
    • Sports Medicine >
      • Return to Sports
      • Return to Sports Tools
    • Massage Therapy
    • Work Related Physical Therapy Services >
      • Ergonomic Work Evaluation
      • Functional Capacity Evaluation
      • Job Site Analysis
      • Pre-Placement
      • Stop Loss
      • W.O.R.C.
    • Splints, Braces, & Inserts >
      • Custom Hand Splinting
      • Custom Brace Fitting
  • Information
    • Patient Info
    • About >
      • Reviews
      • Vision
      • Successes
    • Videos >
      • Exercises To Do At Home
      • HPT Success Stories
      • Sports Rehabilitation Techniques
      • Educational Clips
    • Baby Boomers
    • Laser Therapy
    • FAQ's
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Blog
  • Review Us | HPT
  • New Patient
  • Cookie Policy
  • Home
  • Therapists
  • Locations
    • Huntington Location
    • Barboursville Location
    • Kenova Location
    • Milton Location
  • Conditions & Injuries
    • Arms >
      • Shoulder
      • Elbow
      • Wrist & Hand
    • Legs >
      • Hip
      • Knee
      • Ankle & Foot
    • Spine >
      • Neck
      • Lower Back
    • Neurological
  • Services
    • Pelvic Health Services
    • Supplies
    • Dry Needling
    • Sports Medicine >
      • Return to Sports
      • Return to Sports Tools
    • Massage Therapy
    • Work Related Physical Therapy Services >
      • Ergonomic Work Evaluation
      • Functional Capacity Evaluation
      • Job Site Analysis
      • Pre-Placement
      • Stop Loss
      • W.O.R.C.
    • Splints, Braces, & Inserts >
      • Custom Hand Splinting
      • Custom Brace Fitting
  • Information
    • Patient Info
    • About >
      • Reviews
      • Vision
      • Successes
    • Videos >
      • Exercises To Do At Home
      • HPT Success Stories
      • Sports Rehabilitation Techniques
      • Educational Clips
    • Baby Boomers
    • Laser Therapy
    • FAQ's
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Blog
  • Review Us | HPT
  • New Patient
  • Cookie Policy

Blog

HPT Blog

Categories

All
Baby Boomers
Testimonial

Archives

January 2025
November 2024
November 2023
April 2023
April 2022
March 2022
January 2022
November 2021
June 2021
March 2021
February 2021
December 2020
October 2020
August 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
July 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
May 2017

When to Call a Physical Therapist First: Ways to Save Money and Get Treatment Fast

2/21/2020

4 Comments

 
Picture
Most physical therapists would consider themselves experts of the musculoskeletal system. Given that we have expertise in this area, there are many injuries or ailments that can be treated immediately by a PT. Most insurance companies no longer require a referral from a physician to start PT, and if after a PT evaluation and treatment, further intervention is required by a physician, then the therapist can help guide you to the appropriate referral. Here are some of the conditions that a PT could see first.

1) Recurrence of a past problem that was successfully treated by PT. If you have had a flair up of a previous problem that you went to PT for, then it is often unnecessary to see a doctor that is most likely going to send you back to therapy. The therapist should be familiar with your case and often the same treatments that worked last time will work again. This is especially common with flair ups of back and neck pain.

2) Muscle strains. Many times, these injures are associated with slipping or an athletic injury in an event. PTs are especially good at treating soft tissue injuries such as, muscle strains, and they have multiple options to make it feel better; like laser, massage, dry needling, E-stimulation and ultrasound. The faster the treatment starts the faster patients can start to feel better.

3) Ankle/knee sprains. These rarely require surgical intervention and often respond well to therapy. If the patient is able to weight bear on the injured joint for multiple steps and it is improving, then further treatment from an orthopedist is not likely. Though it is important to point out that some of these sprains can be difficult to truly evaluate until the swelling goes down. Often once the PT is able to help the patient get the swelling to decrease then a referral to a surgeon might be indicated if they suspect any tearing of ligaments.

4) Arthritic joint pain. Arthritis very common in the aging population. Many of these patients know they have an arthritic joint because they have been told so by a doctor on a previous visit. This does not require another appointment to diagnose the same problem. Many of these arthritic joints are not bad enough for replacement, but will
respond to over the counter anti-inflammatories, stretching and strengthening. The stretching and strengthening piece of the program is something that PTs prescribe every day and are experts at managing. Save your time and money and avoid the same diagnosis from the doctor that you have gotten before and go straight for immediate treatment.

5) Back/neck pain. Back and neck pain that has come on suddenly can be very painful. In many cases, this is caused by disc bulging and should be treated immediately because of the pain and suffering it can cause. Many PTs have had extensive training in the treatment of disc problems and if anyone has had nerve pain associated with the problem you know how painful this can be. Treatments include traction, manual therapy, and directional preference stretching to decrease the disc irritation on the nerve. Patients will also need extensive education about postures to avoid in order to
prevent the problem from getting worse.

If you or a loved one is suffering from any of the above-mentioned ailments, don’t hesitate to call your family PT and ask for an evaluation. These are ailments that we deal with every day and would be happy to quickly treat in an effort to get you back to full function as quickly and cost effectively as possible!

PictureJohn Oxley PT, ​DPT, OCS, CSCS, Cert. MDT





            To Schedule An Appointment Call 
                           304.525.4445


4 Comments

Thinking About Our Family PT Like Our Family Medicine Doctor

2/4/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Family Medicine doctors are seen as an integral part of the healthcare delivery model because they are on the front lines treating patients, and whole families in some instances. They are seen as necessary to keep healthcare costs down because they help prevent problems from becoming severe and keep people from flooding the ER for every small event that takes place. The job of the family medicine practitioner is difficult because they seemingly need to know a little bit about everything. It is their job to manage some of the chronic ailments and refer out when people need more specialized care. This model seems to work well and I think it should be expanded.

The family practitioner model should be exported to the physical therapy world as well. The only difference would be that physical therapists would manage the numerous musculoskeletal pains that happen over a lifespan and the doctors would continue to handle everything else. I often hear from patients that they have a problem, but they will wait to bring it up with their doctor at their yearly or 6-month checkup. If PTs did checkups on people on a yearly or every 6-month basis, they could address many of the musculoskeletal issues that go untreated but cause dysfunction and limitation of activities.

When there is sickness in a family what do most people think to do first? Call their doctor to see if they can get in quickly to get medicine or treatment to find out what is going on. PTs could easily serve the same purpose for families. If you have a non-emergent issue such as acute back pain, a twisted ankle, or knee pain your family PT should be able to get you in within 24 hours to figure out how it should be managed. Management of these types of conditions rarely require a doctor and should ultimately be managed by a PT anyway. If we can adopt this model of healthcare with physical therapists for the musculoskeletal system, we could have a positive effect on reducing medical costs.

My message is clear! If you are an outpatient PT you should be offering your services to families and friends as a way to help manage aches and pains while decreasing unnecessary medical costs. If you are a potential patient you should make an effort to build a relationship with a local PT that will be there when needed to help you or your family members get out of pain quickly, efficiently and with a minimum spent on unnecessary visits, procedures, and tests.

​

PictureJohn Oxley PT, ​DPT, OCS, CSCS, Cert. MDT​




​         To Schedule An Appointment Call 

                        304.525.4445

1 Comment

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    January 2025
    November 2024
    November 2023
    April 2023
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All
    Baby Boomers
    Testimonial

    RSS Feed

Call to Schedule Your Appointment Today
​304-525-4445

CALL NOW

Kenova
907 Oak St,
Kenova, WV 25530
304-697-9589
​

Picture

Barboursville
6007 Midland Trail #111, US-60, Barboursville, WV 25504
304-525-0794

Picture

Milton
1733 Midland Trail ste c, Milton, WV 25541​
304-525-4473
​

Picture

HUNTINGTON
2240 5th Ave, Huntington, WV 25703​
​​304-525-4445
​

Picture
Copyright 2017 HPT Services, Inc | Huntington, WV & Barboursville, WV | All Rights Reserved | Call Us Today 304.525.4445
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Cookie Policy

(304) 760-5957