Is Telehealth PT just as effective as in-person PT?

At the time of this writing, the United States and most of the world is under lockdown and “stay-at-home” orders due to COVID-19 or the Corona Virus. Public gatherings are not allowed, schools are closed, and all non-essential workers are encouraged to stay home to help prevent transmission of the virus.

Some physical therapy clinics are closed and patients are spending more time sitting and working from home.

Telehealth is all the buzz now, as mostly all medical professionals are conducting visits online via video-call. While not a new technique, you might wonder if telehealth is as effective as in-person treatment. The answer may surprise you.

Physical Therapists are movement experts. Using a laptop webcam or smartphone, we can view your posture, positions, and movements with great detail. We can assess and diagnose movement dysfunctions, develop treatment plans, and get rid of your aches and pains.

How can we do this without putting our hands on you?

It's all about movement. We can divide all movement into two categories. Active motion, where you move your body; and passive motion, where someone else moves your body. In a classic physical therapy setting, passive motion may be part of your treatment plan. In a virtual, online setting, only active motion can be accomplished.

Assessing active motion and looking at just how you move are key components to treatment. Everyone moves, but not everyone moves well. We can see little movement dysfunctions or alterations in a movement that can be the source of pain, aches, or soreness. Seeing what hurts and what doesn’t also can add to the treatment plan. We can reduce soreness and pain in several ways.

Pain is essentially an electrical signal that travels up a nerve to your brain, which interprets that signal as being a threatening stimulus. The pain signal can be produced by a soft tissue (mechanical) injury, temperature changes, or chemical changes. We can address pain by changing how the brain perceives this signal, via several tools that you can perform at home on yourself. Once we can reduce the perception of pain, we can improve movement by working the soft tissue to increase mobility or working the joints and muscles to increase stability.

We can do all the above interventions through active motion. Or we can also teach you how to move yourself to perform passive motions and self soft tissue mobilizations as well.

A physical therapist doesn’t have to put their hands on your body to change how you move or feel. With telehealth physical therapy sessions, we can help you move better, feel better, and play better at home.

If you want more information or want to schedule a free consult to see if telehealth PT is for you, contact PAR 5 Physical Therapy.