Joint Ventures' Blog

October is National Physical Therapy Month (NPTM). This celebration began in 1981 as National Physical Therapy Week and then in 1992 became National Physical Therapy Month. NPTM, sponsored by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), acknowledges October as a month to recognize physical therapists and physical therapist assistants for their hard work as well as educate the community about the PT profession. This year the theme is "Physical Therapy: It's All About Movement." Movement is a vital part of physical therapy. Your physical therapist is an expert of movement and is able to help you move forward. Whether it be movement toward your goals or simply moving safely and effectively around your house and/or community, movement is essential for everyone. 

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Patient Compliance plays a major role in the rehabilitation process. Your physical therapist designs a home exercise program that is tailored to your specific needs based on evaluation findings and it is your responsibility to do those exercises as prescribed. If pain is experienced with an exercise, it is important that you discontinue the exercise to prevent further injury. Make sure to inform your physical therapist of this issue at your next visit. During the next visit the physical therapist can watch you perform this exercise to make sure that you are doing it correctly. In the beginning the therapist ensures proper technique and the appropriate level of difficulty. Exercises typically are progressed when the original exercise is no longer challenging. One thing to keep in mind is that you are only treated by the physical therapist for a relatively short amount of time in one week. Therefore, you will get more benefit from doing your home exercise program in the meantime to get stronger and speed up the time of recovery. The patient and the physical therapist must work together as a team to achieve the goals established. 

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