What is Physical Therapy?

The health and fitness industries are rapidly changing with social media and endless dissenting opinions and where acronyms like DPT, NASM, PT, CPT, LMT, MD, DO, NP, DN, etc can make it difficult to understand who is best equipped to help. If you have been through the healthcare system whether from an injury requiring surgery, or maybe something more insidious, then you know how many “hurdles” there are to resolve pain or movement dysfunction.

The goal of this article is to shed some light on what performance physical therapy is and where Mountain Performance PT is filling in the gaps in the system for people tired of jumping through hoops without getting the care they deserve. 

The American Physical Therapy Association uses the following definition to describe the role of a  physical therapist, “Physical therapists are licensed doctors who work with multiple patient populations impacted by disease, injury, and movement dysfunction. They optimize quality of life by maintaining, restoring, and improving patient's ability to move, function, and live more active lifestyles.” They further define physical therapy in their vision statement- “Transforming society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience.” 

So, physical therapists get people moving better to improve their quality of life, but how exactly? For years, when people had a health concern, whatever that concern was, they went to see their doctor (in current vernacular their medical doctor) who would do their best to provide a solution or send them to someone who could. Over the last century or so we have seen a shift toward direct access to other licensed practitioners who are also capable of providing initial care or referring somewhere else if necessary. Physical therapy is now direct access in some capacity in all 50 states meaning that someone can schedule a visit directly with a physical therapy office without seeing a physician first. This cuts down on wait time and allows people access to help with less wait time.

With an education focused on movement dysfunction, physical therapists are well equipped to step into this primary care provider role and assist patients in navigating their health and wellness. There are millions of people who have benefited from physical therapy care, myself included, so what’s the catch? One of the ongoing challenges in health care are the costs, both to the provider and to the patient. It costs more to provide care as well as to get the care. Some small PT practices are being strangled by inflation while at the same time insurance reimbursements are being cut. I don’t pretend to understand the ins and outs of health insurance, but I see the results to care. Physical therapy clinics are seeing more and more patients/day/hour to stay profitable which results in patients having less one on one time with the provider. This leads, arguably, to worse outcomes and slower outcomes. 

This is the first gap Mountain Performance PT is trying to close. We charge a cash rate for visits and we are not beholden to the insurance companies and can treat on the terms we create with our patients. In our clinic, patient-centered care is a reality and not just a marketing term. This change from insurance to self-pay will likely save patients time and money in the long term as well as provide for an improved experience and outcome.

So we have defined physical therapy, direct access, and talked about the gap in patient care in insurance-based models. But where does performance fit into all of this? Most standard out-patient clinics are primarily focused on orthopedics (think knee pain) and a large portion of their patients are 65+ years old. Pair this with a society that is becoming increasingly sedentary and before long rehab turns into light, slow exercises with the goal to be able to walk from a car to the desk at work and back without pain. For some people an outcome of that sort would be worth gold, but what about those who want to get back to lifting 300# from the ground, or being strong enough to manage 90# on their back for 6 days in the mountains? Those outcomes are not the same. What I realized was that I wanted to provide a solution for those people who were over-looked, because they could already do basic daily activities without pain, but would have pain as soon as they added weight to their back or the barbell. There is a place for all types of clinics with different focus and specialty and I am not disparaging any clinic in these comments. I say this to make the point that if you have fallen through the cracks of the healthcare system whether because of insurance coverage or lack thereof or because you haven’t yet returned to full activity in a certain lifestyle there are still options for you. The “performance” in Mountain Performance PT means that our job isn’t finished until the patient is performing at a higher level than when they started. We are not happy with the status quo and want to elevate the health and wellness of our society as a whole.

Let me finish by summarizing that our current healthcare system is ever-changing and can be difficult to navigate. Being in pain or out of the game is frustrating enough without the added burden of jumping through hoops. We are striving to provide an alternative solution where the patient comes first and decisions are focused on improving outcomes and elevating the lifestyle of those we work with. Invest in yourself and get the outcomes you deserve.