I offer physical therapy services both for an active injury AND continued services that would be considered “Wellness”. What that means is that, unlike when you seek out a PT in a hospital, corporate or physician-owned practice, you don’t have to be suffering from an active injury to see me. Wellness can mean a Yearly Preventative “Movement Physical”, a check-in for an old or chronic condition, ongoing care for those who have maxed out their insurance benefits in a traditional PT practice or soft tissue work to help you maintain your progress over the long haul.
According to the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA),
“Physical therapists play a unique role in society in prevention, wellness, fitness, health promotion, and management of disease and disability by serving as a dynamic bridge between health and health services delivery for individuals and populations. This means that although physical therapists are experts in rehabilitation and habilitation, they also have the expertise and the opportunity to help individuals and populations improve overall health and avoid preventable health conditions“. (APTA HOD P06‐19‐27‐12 [Amended: HOD P06‐16‐06‐05; Initial: HOD P06‐15‐23‐15])
Did you ever consider why you see your dentist every 6 months and you have a yearly physical with your physician but your insurance doesn’t cover you to have a yearly assessment of the health and wellness of your musculoskeletal system? Our healthcare system has been largely built on the idea that arthritis and deterioration of movement over a lifetime is predestined and unavoidable. Care is rendered once the condition has already developed, often at the point that tissue deterioration is in progress.
I would like us to do better as a society. While your physician has to cover multiple systems from your cardiovascular to your GI health, I would like to be your musculoskeletal mechanic. In my Yearly Preventative Movement Physical, we will identify postural and movement impairments as well as tissue changes that, if allowed to continue, will inevitably lead to pain down the road. I will develop a comprehensive plan that you can institute, including modifications to your posture and movement patterns complemented by a home program of customized exercises to keep you healthy and pain-free.
If you have a history of:
- Neck pain and headaches
- Shoulder pain, including rotator cuff or labral dysfunction
- Low back pain, including disc injuries and stenosis
- Knee pain
- Foot/ankle pain, including fabrication of pre-fab orthotics (arch supports)
- And more! There’s not much I haven’t treated.
…then reach out and let’s develop a plan to get you AND keep you feeling good!
Specialty populations with whom I have extensive experience:
- Runners
- Dancers
- Figure Skaters
If you opt for a full course of physical therapy, we’ll have ongoing access to a wonderful Pilates studio full of equipment to target all your problem areas. I’ll also make sure you have personalized home exercises and tools to keep you feeling good between visits and going forward.
Elsa Gould Physical Therapy 