WHY PHYSICAL THERAPY FIRST?

For years there has been a stigma attached to Physical Therapy. Ask most people what a physical therapist does and they will tell you something along the lines of “A PT is who you go see after an injury or surgery for some stretches and exercises to get you back to normal”. While this is not necessarily wrong, it is just scratching the surface of what a good Physical Therapist can do for you. 

WHO WE ARE

First off, a little background. Physical therapists are educated at the post-graduate level, with almost all degrees now being achieved as a Doctorate in Physical Therapy (DPT). We take many of the same courses that MDs take in med school, including anatomy, gross anatomy dissection, and physiology. 

The differences come in where we specialize. While medical doctors tend to focus more on internal issues and treating symptoms through medications, a PT’s focus remains on the entire body structure and how it relates to your ability to move and function. When we evaluate you we don’t just want to know what hurts, we scan you top to bottom like the Terminator and try to see why something elsewhere in your body could be the cause of your pain or dysfunction in the first place. 

WHAT WE DO

We watch how people stand, how they walk, how they hold themselves in space. We see when something is not moving correctly (something an x-ray or MRI cannot do) and try to find WHY it is not moving correctly. We can’t help it, it is our curse. But also our gift. 

We test your strength, your balance, your available range of motion and how well you can control that range. Is something too stiff? Too loose? Too weak? We figure all that out, and come up with a plan to correct it. 

Then it’s hands-on time. We get in there and mobilize the areas that are not moving enough and restore the proper joint mechanics, sort of like getting the car that’s stuck in the mud back on the road. 

Then we have to retrain the muscles to move those joints properly in order to avoid further problems. That could involve building strength, stability, or even balance between different muscles. This is what takes the longest time and goes far beyond the “instant relief” that the first step can bring. 

This whole process takes a discerning eye and wise guidance to achieve the goals you need. At FORGE Performance PT we have that experience, with 40 years of clinical expertise between us.

Put yourself in our hands and let’s get you forged into your BEST self!