For any of you who have been through this...

It’s been two months since my car/bike accident and operation. I’ve been getting therapy from a practitioner who comes to the house twice a week, but his expected course of treatment with me is ending. At this point, I’m using a cane, and still need painkillers.

I could continue with him with a change in billing procedure. But my surgeon suggested I start at a PT center, and he gave me names of two he recommends locally.

Of course, I worry about COVID in these establishments, but I visited one of them and there’s a lot of space for distancing. The smaller one has less space but could arrange for me to be the only patient during my appointments.

And both claim they follow CDC guidelines...masks, gloves, sanitizing.

But at my age I still worry. My SIL had a HR years ago and did fine with home therapy alone.

For those of you (or your families) who have been through this, any advice? Thanks!

Standard protocol from the orthopedic surgeon that did Mr wtg's anterior hip replacement is in-home PT twice a week for two weeks, so that's just four visits from a therapist.

Mr wtg did all of the assigned the exercises twice a day for six weeks. The first two weeks the therapist was checking him to be sure he was doing them correctly. After that, he was on his own.

After that he did a few, but not all of them for a several weeks after that.

Two things: Mr wtg's was the anterior approach; not sure if that's what you had. No muscles cut and recovery is generally much faster.

And his was a planned procedure rather than the result of an accident.

After a redo of my shoulder because a therapist ripped out the rotator cuff stitching; the surgeon told me to go to a session, learn what is to be done and do it alone at home.

Yea, Mr wtg's ortho isn't impressed with physical therapists in general. Says too many of them are from the "no pain, no gain" school and the patient ends up getting injured.

Sorry to hear about your experience, Chas...

Having gone through a TKJR (total knee) and super dooper spinal op requiring ongoing rehab - as in, still doing stuff at home years later - one thing I know for sure, is that an absolute requirement for continuing in a PT center is if you need to use equipment only they have.

I am extremely frustrated by the (often) insurance-imposed requirement to only work on a single body part per session . I have a number of defective parts (knees, left ankle - re foot drop and fracture - parts above and below the spinal fusion (neurological?), and more). I have yet to find even one really good PT who designs exercises which incorporate rehabbing more than one part at a time.

This is contrary to common sense and anatomic needs, and yet I can't find such expertise. Or perhaps it's not expertise but rather that insurance just won't reimburse for sessions aimed at rehabbing more than one part at a time. If I were to do separate exercises at home for all the wonky parts I have, I'd do little else all day! (And that's not even counting cardio-vascular strengthening! )

I just mostly improvise, based on my intra-body experience and anatomic studies, but it's unsatisfactory. Maybe you are "lucky" only to have one primary problem area so you can get better direction - also a treatment plan you can implement at home, with only occasional check-ups.

It sounds, though, as if you have more than one problem part, like me. As a pianist, I'd think, your PT planning would also combine "ordinary" rehab with occupational therapy (thinking I recall something about your discomfort on the bench?). Not sure why OT and PT seem to involve separate training and exercises.

Sorry, no thoughts about the COVID risk. I guess the therapists are like many specialties, obliged to return to more normal work setting for financial reasons - their own earnings and that of the facilities employing them.

I'd certainly want to know what precautions they take to exclude possibly ill staff and patients, as well as tracking and testing if any show signs of infection.

I sure hope they'd inform you if any tested positive down the road so you could make your own informed decisions.

quote:

Originally posted by Amanda:
Not sure why OT and PT they seem to involve separate training and exercises.

The physical therapist that worked with my mom after she broke her hip and had a partial hip replacement was from India. He said that in that country there is no distinction there between "physical" and "occupational" therapy. He said therapists in India are trained to do everything.

He indicated that he was often frustrated when he worked with patients in the US because he was considered a physical therapist. He was only supposed to do exercises considered physical therapy even if he thought a patient could benefit from a particular exercise that fell in the OT category. It's the insurance thing and what seem to be arbitrary lines in the sand between the two disciplines.

Hands down, he was one of the best therapists I've ever met, on a whole host of levels. He knew his stuff technically and had exceptional skills working with people who have dementia.