How Mobile Physical Therapy Compares to Brick-And-Mortar

1. How Mobile Physical Therapy Compares to Brick-And-Mortar Different Types Of Physical Therapy. I remember last year we had spent $200 to buy lunch for an entire physician’s office for the chance to convey what services Mobile Spine Specialist would be able to provide for their patient population. We don’t do that often. If we feel that we can make a strong connection with a particular group whose values appear to align with ours we will take the chance to find out. I remember one physician of that group expressing that people will primarily want to come to a brick-and-mortar practice unless they can’t leave their home. That is where he saw our services as being of benefit. His statement was made matter-of-fact as he was in a hurry to be on time for his first- afternoon patient (which I commend). At that moment I did not see the need to express contradiction to his belief system. Rarely, is doing so ever effective if the feedback is not asked for. From that exchange, I do think it’s important for the individuals to know the contrasting viewpoints so that you can make an informed determination for yourself. Here are some common misconceptions about mobile physical therapy compared to brick-and-mortar physical therapy. Outpatient Physical Therapy at Home is Only For People Who Can’t Leave Their Home Starting with the physician’s statement, I can understand his viewpoint. If you can’t leave the home for any reason then yes, outpatient physical therapy at your home is a good option. In my 15-plus years of experience including both as a manager of a standalone clinic, and a staff therapist, brick-and-mortar practices may have more equipment at their disposal which in many minds equate to faster results. We see all these cool-looking dynamic exercises on YouTube with thick bands attached to heavy equipment pulling a person every which way as they do single-leg squats and we envision that being us! They look so cool, next-level even, and that should take care of my low back pain, hip pain, and knee pain. Often, those exercises are WAY down the line after you have proactively resolved your pain and have built up the capacity of your body through your HOME program. Getting a patient out of pain typically requires everything that is accessible at home. The majority of your improvement comes from you performing your home program to allow your body’s injured tissues to heal, remodel, and attain resiliency. Exercises should be simple to set up so that you’re more likely to follow through and not skip them, leading to a longer healing time and more money spent. When we make things more complicated are we more likely to be compliant and successful? For myself, I can definitively say no. Resolving pain requires simple exercises. Save all the complicated YouTube stuff for pain-free performance enhancement or to have variety when you are well. A lot of cool, high-level, and easy-to-set-up exercises can be done at home with body weight, a band, light weights, or an exercise ball. As a practitioner of calisthenic training, I can tell you that bodyweight exercises are challenging, beneficial, and can be done anywhere. Treatment at a Brick-and-Mortar is More Effective and Cheaper This has been addressed in a previous post of ours but it certainly helps to solidify the information. A lot of people think that going to a large brick-and-mortar means automatic legitimate care at a cheaper price. But having worked at a large “mill clinic” seeing 20+ patients a day on top of overseeing the similar patient load of a physical therapist assistant, I can tell you with certainty that it is impossible to expect the same quality of care as you would receive in the one-on-one environment for a full hour at your home. What is accomplished in one mobile physical therapy session would probably take at minimum, 3 sessions in a brick-and-mortar. This is based on the fact that you are spending at most at a brick-and mortar, 20 minutes with your therapist before being left to your own devices or an aide who is keeping count of your exercise repetitions. Are you saving money if the overall duration of treatment is going to take 3x as many visits and you are paying a co-pay of $20-$50 for each visit? For exercises to maximally work, there needs to be competent supervision and adjustments for form, load, and speed that only the therapist is qualified to provide with PRECISION. We are not talking about working out for aesthetics or performance enhancement where the only intensity is going all out. Exercising to overcome pain to be pain-free as quickly as possible takes attention to detail, knowledge of anatomy and physiology, and the ability to make adjustments on the fly.

2. Mobile Physical Therapy is Good for Who? Mobile physical therapy is not for everybody but I believe it is appropriate for the majority of individuals for any number of the following reasons: you need to be at home to watch over children, you have too busy of a work schedule to travel to get treatment but need resolution of your pain and injuries, you learn and retain better in a one-on-one setting, you’re anxious and feel uncomfortable around people but need help, you’re looking for a more personalized treatment that is catered to your needs and learning styles, you have difficulty and pain getting into a car to travel to a clinic secondary to coming off of surgery; we can go on and on. The wonderful thing is that care comes to you and can provide everything you’ll need to succeed in your recovery. If you don’t have a fancy home gym or equipment does that mean you can’t get better quickly? Does that mean you can’t return to your previous way of life and become incredibly fit and look good? Of course, you can. Here, let us show you how!