How to Get Faster, Better Results from Your Physical Therapy
Today I want to talk about how to get faster, better results from your physical therapy. We are strong believers in getting to the root cause of your pain, we want to make sure that we are as effective and efficient as we can be from day one so we don’t waste your time.
Our Advanced Diagnostic Services
Bay Area Physical Therapy has the ability to use advanced diagnostic services that most other physical therapy clinics do not have. We offer musculoskeletal ultrasound and electrodiagnostics such as nerve conduction studies and EMG (electromyography).
With the musculoskeletal ultrasound, we are able to see what the structures in your tissues look like. We can look at joints, we can look at muscles, tendons, ligaments. We can even look at some of the nerves throughout the body and really make sure that we can get information to your physical therapist to help them customize the programs for you.
Identifying the Correct Source of Pain or Numbness
Nerve conduction studies and EMG examine more of what the nerves do and how they might be affected. Some common diagnoses we could develop with these tests would be radiculopathy, which means nerves that are getting pinched as they come out of your cervical spine or your lumbar spine, which might cause pain down into your arms.
Some of you report carpal tunnel, numbness—tingling pain into the hands. We need to figure out where that’s coming from. Is it coming from your neck or is it coming from the wrist? That answer can certainly change how we make up a plan of care for you. We want to make sure that we have a correct diagnosis to be able to make the adjustments necessary.
We Refer to Other Medical Professionals as Needed
If we find something a little bit more significant than we thought, like a tear, then we can refer you to the proper medical professionals. This means if you need a surgical repair, we can get you a referral to a doctor as soon as possible.
If it is just a sprain or something a little bit less significant like tendinitis or tendinosis, we know how to handle that in-house. In physical therapy, we have certain treatments that are more geared towards those diagnoses.
For example, if you have a more chronic hamstringing injury, tendinosis for example, we might want to make sure that we’re including instrument-assisted soft tissue techniques. With those techniques, we can use tools to help us work on the tissues. We can also use forms of cupping or myofascial decompression.
There’s also a certain type of strengthening that we’re going to use on the tendon to get you those faster results. We believe this is the most effective and efficient way to treat our patients.
We Are 100% Focused on Recovery and Results
The most important factor in getting better results faster is the commitment of you, our patient, not only to coming into all of your sessions so you are consistent with care, but to doing your home program.
You’re only with us a couple times a week at most, and obviously there’s many more hours in your day and in your week. We want to make sure we’re not flaring up things or slowing your progress. So together, we can get you back on track and back to normal functioning without unnecessary medications, injections, and surgeries.
We would love to show you how we can help. Please call our front desk today to set up a complimentary consultation or an evaluation to help you get the fastest results you can. Call us at (925) 284-3840 today.
Lauren Masi is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, board-certified clinical specialist and certified athletic trainer. She earned her bachelor’s degree in physiological science from UCLA, a master’s degree in physical therapy from CSU Northridge, and a doctorate from the University of St. Augustine. As owner of Lafayette Physical Therapy and Bay Area Physical Therapy, she has assembled a skilled team to provide highly personalized and effective care. Lauren’s extensive career encompasses expertise in various physical therapy techniques, including Mulligan and Paris methods, myofascial release, and spinal mobilization. Lauren enjoys horseback riding and family time when not treating patients.