What Should Seniors Expect During Their First Physical Therapy Session?
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Physical therapy is a valuable tool for people recovering from an injury, people managing chronic pain, or people who want to improve mobility and strength. Seniors in particular can greatly benefit from working with physical therapy providers.
But what does that first session look like?
Sharing Medical History
The first step in working with a physical therapist is for seniors to share more about their medical history and needs. Often healthcare providers forward records to physical therapists, but there are still some questions to answer. This information allows physical therapists to understand prior injuries, surgeries, and ongoing health issues.
Assessing Strength, Balance, and Range of Motion
After talking, physical therapists might perform a physical evaluation to assess needs. They’ll typically test strength, balance, flexibility, posture, and range of motion. Seniors might need to go through a few test exercises like standing on one leg, touching their toes, or bending in specific ways. These allow the therapist to see how the senior’s body is moving and where improvements would help.
Setting Some Goals and Defining a Focus
The next step involves setting some goals and defining a focus for future sessions. Those goals take into account health needs, personal preferences, and anything that cropped up during the assessment conversation. Sometimes seniors have some ambitious goals, especially when they’re trying to heal from an injury. Physical therapists can help them to maintain perspective and set some reasonable goals for healing.
Put Together a Plan
Once goals are in place, it’s time for a plan. This might happen during the first session or it might happen in between. Physical therapists look at all of the information they have at this stage in the process and map out a path forward. Therapists explain how often seniors need to attend sessions and what those sessions are likely to look like.
Initial Exercises
That first session isn’t all talk, though. Physical therapists are very likely to start in that very first session and show seniors exercises they can practice in between sessions. These exercises are a great start for seniors, helping them to make at least a little bit of improvement before the next session. The key to doing well with physical therapy is to do the exercises as often as recommended. Therapists watch to make sure seniors do the exercises properly and know how it feels to do them correctly.
Physical Therapy Five Forks SC – What Should Seniors Expect During Their First Physical Therapy Session?
Preparing for the Physical Therapy Session
To best prepare for their first physical therapy session, seniors should wear comfortable clothing that they can move well in. Supportive shoes that fit well are also a good idea. Seniors may also need to bring documentation or paperwork, like medical history information and X-rays so that physical therapists have that information handy. Physical therapists may also let patients know what to do to prepare if there is something specific that they need to do.
The first physical therapy session can be scary for seniors, but it’s often the first step toward getting back to good health and strong mobility.
