{"id":19784,"date":"2022-07-21T10:56:20","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T15:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepapergown.zocdoc.com\/?p=19784"},"modified":"2023-03-20T12:44:29","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T17:44:29","slug":"what-to-expect-from-physical-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/guides\/what-to-expect-from-physical-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Expect from Physical Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"

One spring, just as the trees were beginning to blossom in New York City, I broke my leg while running on an injury. After an emergency surgery, I spent more than six weeks hobbling around on crutches. When I was finally able to ditch them, my healing journey wasn\u2019t quite over. I embarked on a new one: physical therapy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While it wasn\u2019t as dramatic as surgery or scaling crowded subway staircases with crutches, it allowed me to completely regain mobility \u2014 and walk again by late July.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s get physical<\/h3>\n

While traditional therapy focuses on your mind and mental health, physical therapy focuses on the, you guessed it: physical. Physical therapists go through <\/span>extensive training<\/span><\/a> to help people heal injuries through exercises and movements that condition muscles and build strength.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While surgeries like mine certainly account for their fair share of PT visits, you typically don\u2019t need to have some big accident or a diagnosed condition to need physical therapy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cPeople often believe their limitations don\u2019t warrant a visit to a physical therapist because there wasn\u2019t an injury, like a car\u00a0 accident, a sports injury or some moment in time that caused a structural injury,\u201d says Abby Halpin, a physical therapist and owner of <\/span>Forte Performance & Physical Therapy<\/span><\/a>. \u201cUnfortunately, that leads to people not getting the care they need.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In general, Halpin says, if you\u2019re experiencing pain or reduced range of motion that impedes your ability to go about your daily life, physical therapy is probably a good idea.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are a few different issues you can address through physical therapy:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n