What to Expect from Physical Therapy after a Car Accident
If you were injured in a car accident, you may have a long road to recovery ahead of you if your injuries were severe. However, do not despair. The treatments you will receive, including physical therapy, will help speed up and improve the recovery process. If you have never had physical therapy before, you may be wondering what you can expect from the process after you have been in a car accident. Learn more about what goes on in physical therapy so you can feel better prepared.
1. Expect to Have Your Limitations Tested
The first thing that you will do when you start physical therapy is to do some exercises or tests to check the limitations caused by your car accident injury. If you injured your back or neck, for example, the physical therapist will have you do stretches and exercises that work those areas of the body to see how flexible and strong you are. This testing of your limitations will give your physical therapist a baseline to work with and improve from. It will help them know which exercises and stretches will be best to begin with and will help them design a physical therapy program customized to you and your needs.
2. Expect to Do Work
Physical therapy can feel quite strenuous at times. You need to push yourself in the process to make progress. As such, expect to do physical work during your session. Your physical therapist will not give you more than you can handle to do. So, follow their instructions as much as possible. If something does get to be too much, let them know you need a break.
3. Expect to Get Other Treatments
Physical therapy is not just about doing exercises. There are other treatments involved as well. Some of these may include ultrasound treatments, massage, and hydrotherapy, among others. Some of these treatments may feel good and pampering. Others, like massage, can feel good and uncomfortable at the same time. The goal of these treatments is to loosen up muscles and promote healing in the body.
Be prepared to do a combination of these treatments at any given session as well as to do exercises and put in work. This combination will work well to help you get healed from your car accident as well as possible.
Now that you know some of what to expect from physical therapy after a car accident, you can go into your first session prepared for what is to come.
