5 Ways to Maximize Your Manual/Physical Therapy Practice

The role of a physical therapist (PT) is to assist patients in preventing disability and achieving pain relief. A PT works hand in hand with the patient to reach this goal and if you have started your own physical therapy practice, these ways will help you maximize your practice.

 

1.  Educate the patient about the technique

• Indications/contraindications
   
• Patients are more likely to tolerate a manual physical therapy technique even if it's uncomfortable, rather than painful, if they know why you are doing it.
   
• Their options
  
  
  • What may happen if they choose not to have a certain physical therapy treatment
    
    
    • One example is thrust manipulation vs mobilization. Manipulation may improve range of motion (ROM) and pain faster for a few visits but in the long term will have the same effects.

2.  Always take pre-test and post-test measurements of motion/function

• One of my most important points during Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapy (OMPT)  teaching is: if you are going to cause a patient some discomfort, there better be a demonstrable improvement afterward.

• Motion/function is easily measured, just choose one thing to focus on improving.

3.  Give 1-2 home exercises maximum to lock in the corrected and improved movement/function

• Less is equal to more. The patient is more likely to be compliant if they're only doing cervical retractions, or lower body rolling patterns until the next visit to your physical therapy practice.

• If they get worse, and you gave them 2-3 things to do, which physical therapy exercise was it? Was it a combination? You may not know until you remove two of those things and that was a visit that rings negative in the patient's mind.

4.  Think outside of the box

• Too much tone to make headway with soft tissue mobilization (STM) / instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM)? Use reciprocal inhibition of the antagonists to quickly decrease it.

• Alternatives to a traditional joint mobilization (JM)

• Stabilize the part you normally mobilize and mobilize the other (mob scap on stab humerus, or mob cranium on stabilized mandible)
   
• Perform STM in a tissue folded position to make it more tolerable
   
• Perform STM in a tissue lengthened position as a force progression

• Combine techniques
  
  
  • Perform JM while in neural load

5.  Be interested, not interesting!

• Some patients like participating in conversation around the physical therapy clinic, others are very egocentric and only want the visit centered around themselves.

• Learn to recognize this and focus on and listen to the patient actively.

• Ask them occasionally how they are feeling, especially as the technique progresses.

• Even if they come in acutely painful, be very positive and explain the acute phase is the best time to treat, "As quick as you flared up, we can just as quickly find some relief."

• Ask them about their family, job, etc. Remember these things and personalize the visit of your patients to make a good impression in your physical therapy practice.

Keep these simple yet important pointers and managing your physical therapy practice and you'll be making your name in the industry in no time - not to mention the number of very satisfied clients.

Click here for more information on Dr. Erson Religioso III.

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