Different Is Good
Close your eyes for a second and conjure up an image of a physical therapy clinic. Do you see a large room with weights, mat tables, maybe some parallel bars to help someone who needs to retrain their brain and body how to walk? Those are awesome clinics - I have amazing friends and colleagues who work in that type of outpatient PT clinic, and I refer patients to them whenever I feel like they would benefit better from that than what I provide.
Breathe Physical Therapy is just a little...different. Different is good!
My typical patient isn’t coming to me to rehab after knee surgery, for example. Lots of my patients come because of pelvic health concerns. Others for issues with chronic pain. Oftentimes, there’s a history of trauma (including trauma experienced in a medical setting) that is likely to affect their symptoms. Their environment and surroundings can be just as important to providing good care as the actual PT interventions I provide.
That's why you will always be as comfortable and welcomed as possible. I’ve worked hard to make my clinic a welcoming and safe space for all of my patients. Need some hot tea and time to breathe (get it - Breathe PT? I crack myself up...) before we get started? I’ve got you. Come curl up in the comfy chair in my treatment room and tell me all about it. No really - we’ve got time, I build extra time into my appointments so we don’t have to rush as we talk about WHATEVER is on your mind. The lamps around the room are sooooo much more soothing than those overhead lights.
Oh yeah, I have super sciency PT books on the shelf, but there are also some rocks and crystals because I love pretty things and these are some of my favorites. I’ll break out the pelvic model and anatomy app if we need to do some visual learning, but did you SEE that piece of amethyst on my desk? It’s gorgeous. If you need a snack, they’re over by the coffee. It’s harder to get good work done if you (or I) are hangry. Also, go grab a water out of the fridge to make sure you stay hydrated!
Healing your body is hard work and I'm here to walk alongside you as you do it.
What I do, and where I do it, may not resemble what most people see when they imagine a PT clinic. And that’s ok, it works for my patients. I do lots of hands on work, and patient education is at the forefront of my practice. You’re going to know so much more about your body when you leave the clinic than when you walked in. Don’t worry, I’m still going to give you a home program because I expect you to do work between our visits. But that homework might be a deep breathing exercise. We’ll make sure you know where your diaphragm is, and how to best use it to not only get oxygen to your tissues, but bring a little ease to your entire nervous system.
Different really can be good.
