5 Facts About Annual PT Exams
You schedule an annual check-up with your dentist and primary care physician. Why not with your physical therapist, too? Here are five things you didn’t know about getting an annual physical exam with a Physical Therapist:
1. Physical therapists are movement experts. While you may be checking in with your primary care physician each year for an annual physical exam, this exam is not specifically catered to your musculoskeletal system or biomechanical function.
2. At Movement for Life Physical Therapy, we encourage an Annual Physical Therapy Exam. This check-up does not replace any other exam, but rather complements your annual physical and serves as a form of proactive care.
3. At your Annual Physical Therapy Exam, our skilled physical therapists will perform a Selective Functional Movement Assessment in order to evaluate your body’s mechanics. This assessment tests posture, muscle balance, and fundamental patterns of movement. Impairments to one or more of these components could potentially alter your movement, resulting in pain or injury. Assessing movement patterns preemptively at your Annual Physical Therapy Exam allows us to identify any dysfunction that may evolve into a larger complication in the future.
4. With this check-up, we hope to prevent future problems before they occur. Physical therapy serves as a means to move your body at its highest level of function. You don’t have to be injured in order to attend physical therapy, and people of every age and ability level can benefit from physical therapy.
5. At Movement for Life Physical Therapy, we customize our care to fit your individual needs. Whether you are an elite athlete, weekend warrior, gardener or dog-walker, your physical therapist will design a plan of care intended to help you perform activities you love at your highest potential.
Following your Annual Physical Therapy Exam, you may be prescribed home exercises or stretches to benefit your everyday life. This check-up is not intended to reinstate a regular physical therapy program. Instead, we offer this exam as a simple check-up and will base any further recommendations on a case-by-case basis.
Don’t wait until an injury occurs to get assessed by a physical therapist. Call any of our convenient locations to schedule your Annual Physical Therapy Exam today!