FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

---

The cost of therapy depends on the nature of your injury, the results of our initial evaluation, and what you want to accomplish. We can give you an estimate of the cost and length of treatment after you have visited our clinic for your initial assessment.

Your recovery is determined by many factors unique to you. These factors include the extent of damaged tissue, how long you have had the injury, your nutritional habits, your emotional state, and other factors. We will review these factors with you when you visit the clinic for your evaluation. If needed, we can refer you to a physician or other practitioner who can address specific needs. Your body’s response to exercises and manual techniques will also help us to estimate how long it could take for you to regain function.

After your evaluation, you and your Manual Therapist will determine the number of times you will need to be seen. The extent and seriousness of your injury will be a primary consideration for determining the amount of treatment you will need. On average, clients are asked 1-2 times a week for 4-8 weeks.

Manual Therapist is skilled on hands-on techniques and has a progressive knowledge on clinical reasoning for examination orthopedic cases. They are also trained in advanced exercise physiology that gives specific exercise dosage designed for specific needs of an individual. 

The length of any specific exercise program depends on the stage of your injury and the overall health of your connective tissue. Generally, you will have reduced pain within 1-2 weeks on an exercise program. Remember that being out of pain is only the first step to your complete recovery.

Yes. A skilled and experienced Orthopedic Manual Therapist will carefully evaluate the extent and nature of your injury, as well as your ability and desire to exercise. We will probably prescribe a specific rehabilitation exercise program for you until you have recovered from your injury. However, if we think continuing your regular exercise program would be beneficial, we will encourage you to continue. 

No. “No pain, no gain” is a misconception. Physical therapy for injuries is not the same as physical training for competitive sports. Pain causes muscle contraction and guarding, inflammation, and restricted range of motion. This leads to the continuation of the pain cycle and inappropriate movement patterns that can lead to further injury. In addition, chronic inflammation weakens connective tissue and leads to scar tissue formation. This is why our physical therapy programs are designed to avoid pain.

After an injury, your activity level may initially need to be modified. This is to allow optimal healing and prevention of re-injury. You will know you are doing too much if you experience pain. The pain response may occur immediately or could be delayed for as long as 24-48 hours. A good rule of thumb is to increase your activity level gradually under the supervision of your therapist. Ultimately, the goal of your physical therapy is to allow you to return to your prior activities without pain.

Yes. With connective tissue injury, pain starts because your tissue is structurally stressed or inflammed. We can help you reduce inflammation by prescribing circulation exercises to lush inflammatory substances out of the injured area. This in itself will diminish your pain. Then, by rebuilding the tissues and eliminating poor joint biomechanics, we can further diminish your pain or even eliminate it.

Pain has been defined by the international Association for the Study of Pain as “an unpleasant emotional disorder evoked by sufficient activity of the nociceptive receptor system. Pain is a result of irritation to one of the body’s system. Pain is a symptom, not a physical sign.

There is no pain sensory because pain is not a sensation. There is no pain receptor in any tissue for there is no receptor system whose excitation inevitably evokes the experience of pain. Only the brain “feels” pain it is the brain that will interpret where the pain originates.

Yes. Treatment is not focused on blocking the pain pathway but removing the primary cause of depolarization of the type IV receptor. Type IV are the nociceptive (nocus= trauma) mechanoreceptors, this is not a pain receptor. There are many ways in which its signal can be blocked or modulated before reaching to the brain and once it does the resulting emotional response could be anywhere from pain to pleasure.

Manual Therapy tecniques can lower your pain threshold by reducing your nervous system sensitivity. It can also promote circulation to enhance oxygenation of your tissues. This reduces pain-causing biochemical and muscle spasms.

Yes, physical therapy is effective in conjunction with treatment provided by other providers. We believe in communicating and working closely with your other providers to optimize your recovery.

In general, it is best to have a referral or a prescription for physical therapy. This information allows your Physician to let your Therapist know your needs, which will your Therapist to provide you with the highest level of individualized care.

We use different physical therapy techniques to give the optimal stimuli for tissue improvement, maintenance and repair.

Manual therapy is an advanced level of physical therapy training that includes skilled, specific hands-on techniques to diagnose and treat soS Ossues and joint structures. Expected outcomes may include managing pain, increasing range of motion, reducing soft tissue tension, eliminating joint inflammation, increasing joint mobility, improving joint stability, proper recruitment of muscle groups, restoring normal movement patterns, improving general fitness and returning to work/sport.

If you need to cancel your appointment over the weekend, you can call the clinic and leave a message explaining why you need to cancel. On Monday, when messages are checked, you will receive a call to confirm that your appointment was cancelled.

Manual therapy is a specialty within the field of physical therapy. Traditional physical therapy focuses more on managing and treating the symptoms of the disease process, while manual therapy focuses more on performing biomechanical, tissue-based examination to identify the cause of the disease process. In treating the cause, along with the symptoms, the outcome has higher expectations.

While our Orthopedic Manual Therapist do not offer massage therapy services, we do have other providers within the vicinity who offer various other services including Massage Therapy.

Currently, we only accept cash, G-cash, and bank transfer payment. We are happy to discuss payment plan options as well. It is our policy that payment is made at the time of service.