If you've been referred to a physical therapist by a physician or you've simply decided on your own that it's time to consult with a health care professional near you about an injury or condition, you're probably expecting to see results. If over time you don't see any noticeable changes in your physical health after many physical therapy sessions, there could be a couple of reasons why. First, we'll cover some of the ways patients can improve during physical therapy, and then, some of the reasons why a patient might not be making any progression from their visits.
How you can improve during physical therapy
There are a couple of ways a patient can improve during therapy. Improvement can manifest in different ways, including decreased risk of injury, decreased risk of needing surgery, increased fitness, increased range of motion, increased flexibility and better recovery time.
4 reasons why you might not be making progress in physical therapy
- You're not doing your exercises outside of sessions ” Your physical therapist will likely send you home with a packet of movements and exercises to do while you're at home. It can be difficult to make lasting progress if these exercises aren't regularly completed outside of your sessions.
- You're aggravating an injury ” In some cases, stretching too much can aggravate an injury. If you are doing your own stretching outside of your PT sessions and are stretching an injury out, you may be doing more harm; consult with your physical therapist for guidance.
- Your exercises might need to be more challenging ” If you're not seeing any results from your physical therapy, it could be because your exercises aren't challenging enough! If you feel like the exercises you've been doing during sessions have been easy, you may want to consider talking with your therapist about whether you should be trying some more challenging movements.
- Your physical therapist may not be considering outside factors ” If you haven't let your therapist know about certain aspects of your physical health, like smoking or a sedentary lifestyle, this could be hindering your chance of making progress during physical therapy sessions.
These are just a few of the several reasons why you might not be making the progress you want in physical therapy, but you shouldn't give up on your therapy journey. It's important to communicate with your therapist as much as possible so that you can jointly reach your health goals.
Alliance PTP is ready to help you find top-notch PT with trackable progress
At Alliance Physical Therapy Partners, we're proudly bringing together physical therapy practices across the country to help people get the high-quality PT they need. Want to see a physical therapist in person? We can put you in touch with an Alliance PTP partner that's close to you and that can help you address your progress in physical therapy.
Not keen on in-person PT sessions or not close to an Alliance PTP partner? No worries. We also offer effective and affordable virtual physical therapy through our Agile Virtual Physical Therapy platform.
Contact our team today so we can help you find the most effective physical therapy services for your injury or condition.