Our Philosophy on Treating Pain through Physical Therapy
In the past couple of blog posts, we focused on pain and how it should be monitored, treated, and some of the more important warning signs to pay attention to. Pain is typically viewed as a bad thing, but while pain is certainly no fun, it is really just a way our bodies can tell us that something isn’t right.
There are many ways that pain can be treated. Medication is usually the most convenient but can also be one of the most dangerous and unproductive forms of treatment. While pain medication may be part of a treatment plan, it likely shouldn’t be the sole source of relief.
At Wertz Orthopedic Physical Therapy, we believe that the source of the pain should be determined and treated. Meaning if we can identify WHY there is pain, then we can treat the core reason, not just mask the pain. Our core mission is to provide our patients with physical therapy as it should be – meaning we are committed to providing our patients with the personal care and attention they deserve on their road to recovery.
How does Wertz PT use physical therapy to treat pain?
There are many techniques and ways that we can advise our patients to treat the source of their pain. No single situation is going to be the same, so the treatment plan really depends on the individual being treated and the source of their pain. This can be determined through the process of our initial evaluation.
Since our team specializes in Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy, we can treat pain through manual muscle and joint stretching. One of the most significant benefits to having Wertz PT treat the source of the pain is that the treatment will be carried out, start to finish, by one of our Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists.
To become an OMPT, our team has gone through two additional years of schooling to learn how to isolate the source of the patient’s pain properly. When the source of the patient's pain is in the spine, we can determine which specific spinal segment is irritated and the direction in which it is not moving well. In the extremities, we can determine not only if it is a joint or muscular restriction, we can differentiate between which muscle or in what direction the joint is not moving well. If the problem resides in a nerve or nerve root, most times we can determine exactly which segment the problem is coming from.
Another unique aspect to our office is that our patients will be note only evaluated, but also treated consistently by one of our OMPT’s. This is very unique to our clinic since many clinics use physical therapy assistants and students during treatment sessions. Not us! You will see an OMPT every visit.
In addition to joint mobilizations and manual muscle stretching, we can also treat pain through specific exercises, ultrasound, or electrical stimulation.
What makes Wertz PT’s philosophy unique?
Our mission isn’t about increasing our financial numbers or meeting quotas. While it is important to make sure the clinic can remain open and pay our expenses, our whole purpose and reason for doing what we do is to provide physical therapy as it should be. We don’t use cookie-cutter treatment plans. For example, if Susan visits us for lower back pain, her treatment is going to be specific to her. Susan’s source of pain and reason for pain, could be completely different than Aaron’s lower back pain. Many physical therapists have lost touch with the core of that and resort to what treatments are fastest and easiest. For us, we’ve made our approach such a priority that our entire business is centered around providing exceptional, personalized physical therapy.
We first start by identifying the patient’s source of pain. We want to know where the pain is stemming from, so we know where to focus on the treatment. Once we know the source, then we work to understand why the pain is occurring. For example, we will manipulate or mobilize a specific segment in the neck, back, or rib instead of doing a shotgun approach and hoping for the best. By isolating a particular segment, we can adequately address the specific segment that is limited. Other physical therapists will take a broader approach and not drill down to the specifics.
We value finding physical therapy interventions that can directly affect the source of pain and not just mask it temporarily. This starts the first evaluation. By doing our evaluation in such a way to find the specific source of the pain, we become more effective in resolving the pain.