Tips In Preparing For Your First Physical Therapy

By Marjorie Richards


Going for therapies can be really helpful for the body. You can have the highly-educated, well-trained, and licensed therapists to handle your body. If you are confident with the therapist's work, you should schedule an appointment with him or her. Here are what you should do to prepare for your first time physical therapy Portland.

The first thing that you should do is to make a list of the symptoms that you are feeling. Make a note on how long you have been experiencing them as well. When there are a lot of these symptoms to list, you should start with the symptom that is bothering you the most. You can work your way down the list with that in mind.

With the listing of the symptoms, it will be of help to be specific with these symptoms. You should note what relevant details you have for the symptoms making you suffer. There might be times or conditions when the symptoms worsen. It might be throbbing or sharp. Whatever it is, you must note them in your list accurately.

It is appropriate to have a goal you want to reach with your treatment. You must tell your therapist about it so that you two can work together to achieve that end result. You better find a therapist who can understand the goals you have and help you work on it. These goals might be avoiding a surgery, reducing your pain, or increasing one's mobility.

Your medical history should be revealed to the therapist. Knowing the medical history of the patient will allow the said therapist to know more about what your symptoms are actually for. List all of the chronic conditions you have as well as injuries and accidents you experienced. Environmental factors such as prolonged sitting and standing at work might worsen these symptoms so note of that as well.

If you are taking medications, then you should list all of those medications. It does not matter if the medications are prescription or over-the-counter, you have to list them all. Also, you will have to include vitamins and supplements in there. The list you provided can give the therapist an insight on your health profile.

It would be beneficial to bring lab reports and diagnostic reports with you whenever you are going to your session. By giving the reports to the therapist, the latter can have an idea on your health condition. Know that the therapist can thoroughly understand these reports as well. They can work well with the said reports.

If you are getting therapies as a result of the referral from physicians or other professionals, then you better provide the therapist their numbers. This can become necessary when the therapist wants to contact these physicians. The related people can be kept informed about the progress for the treatment.

There are therapies that will be carried out even on the first visit. To prepare for it, you should dress for the occasion. When you are dressing for this session, it will be for your own convenience to wear something comfortable. You better wear comfortable clothes and even gym shoes when visiting for the first time.




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