Physical Therapy
Physical Therapy
At First Care Medical—Physical Therapy, we specialize in helping patients return to normal life. This kind of care means we focus on your needs and treat the root causes of your pain, not only the symptoms. By focusing on you, we’ll help you progress and find the treatment necessary to help you return to your life.
The First Care Medical – Physical Therapy care process includes 4 steps.
Initial Evaluation
A Physical Therapy evaluation consists of several components including evidence-based tests and measures to help us get a big picture and greater understanding about what has happened and what is causing you pain and dysfunction. These components include:
- A comprehensive history of you, the patient, as well as a detailed description of the cause of the injury
- Measurements of range of motion and function, which help us gain a deeper understanding of current dysfunctions
- Testing and questions regarding the appropriateness of and ability to participate in therapy
- Manual Special Testing to reveal the nature of your injuries/pathologies and to create an individualized plan of care.
Plan of Care & Diagnosis
After the evaluation is complete, the physical therapist will determine a plan to get you better and back to reaching your personal goals based on your diagnosis and what problems are present to create a comprehensive, individualized plan.
Treatment
Proper treatment is vital to recovery after an accident or injury. There are many options to create an effective treatment plan.
Depending on your diagnosis, Physical Therapy treatment often consists of a combination of one or all the following components:
– Modalities for Pain Control
- This often includes the use of electrical stimulation and hot or cold packs to reduce pain.
– Manual Therapy
- Stretching
- Joint Mobilizations
- Massage and muscle release
- Manual exercises
– Spinal Manipulation
– Dry Needling
- An intermuscular rehabilitation technique that assists in the healing process, decreases muscle spasming, and treats neural dysfunction at the root
– Neuromuscular Re-Education
- Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation
- Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation
- Kinesiotaping
– Concussion Rehabilitation
- Balance Training
- Vestibulo-ocular and cervico-ocular reflex training
– Exercise
- Stability, strength, and endurance training
– Functional Training
- This encompasses a wide range of tasks that we can work on to help you as an individual get back to normal life. If you are having pain or problems with working, we often focus on gradually returning to lifting, carrying, or other similar activities.
Education
We understand that injury and the process of healing can be complicated and overwhelming (especially when working with insurance companies is considered. For that reason, we pride ourselves in providing thorough, easy-to-understand education regarding pathology/injury, as well as treatment options, durations, and effectiveness. We also educate our patients in mechanics and rehabilitation techniques that can be performed at home to prevent the recurrence of injury, thus helping to maintain a higher quality of life and reduce the potential of re-injury.