When is the best time to see a PT?

It’s winter here in Colorado. In many other parts of the US, people are cooped up inside, feeling a bit blue, counting the days til spring. But not here, because in Colorado, winter means snow. And snow means ski season. And unlike most other places in this country, our winters are cheerfully sunny. Yet all our fun in the winter sun doesn’t always go the way we imagine it will. Ski season, unfortunately, is also injury season. 

So here’s something you probably haven’t given much thought to. When is the best time in life to see a physical therapist? For a lot of people this ski season, their first thoughts of physical therapy will be when their ACL tear is diagnosed by the ski resort’s local hospital staff. Surgical recovery and physical therapy naturally go hand in hand. ACL surgery is expensive and recovery done right takes time, so getting back on the slopes is no small feat. What if you could reduce your risk of injury before you set foot on the mountain in the first place? Would it be worth your time, effort, and money to better ensure that ski season doesn’t turn into just…winter?

American healthcare is incredibly reactionary. We only rehab when something is broken. That way of thinking is short sighted, expensive, and a real bummer if you want to keep doing the things you love to do. While we can never guarantee you’ll never get hurt, physical therapists are trained to observe how you move, identify weaknesses that may make you more susceptible to injury, and then come up with a plan to lessen your risk. I like to call it…”Prehab.”  And it’s not just applicable to skiers. People who see PTs before planned surgeries tend to have easier recoveries…because they are more confident and better prepared for the challenges ahead. Even if you seem perfectly healthy, there’s a good chance you could benefit from a preventive care visit with a PT. 

For example, a young female soccer player is statistically 2-10 times more likely to tear their ACL than their male counterpart. Serious injuries like this can be devastating, ruining a season’s worth of playing time and halting progress compared with peers. Women are also far less likely to return to their sports at all compared to men. There are a lot of factors that make someone more susceptible to this type of injury, so seeking help to identify your own unique risk and working to improve your strength and biomechanics with a PT now, even if today you feel amazing, could be the difference in keeping you in the game vs. a career ending injury. So when should you see a PT? When something hurts? Or well before to insure a greater chance of being able to do what you love for a lifetime? 

I may be biased, but as a PT, I will always prefer to prepare people ahead of time for the physical challenges they’ll face in life rather than treating them after an injury or surgery. Preventative care is logically a wise investment. I feel this way most deeply for pregnant women. Rather than waiting til after you’ve had a baby to deal with the physical fallout of having a baby, we should be training and preparing for the physical challenges of gestating, birthing, and caring for our small humans. PT can feel expensive, especially if you have high out of pocket costs, so it can feel like a waste to invest in yourself when you feel “fine” or “good enough”. But consider for a few moments how a few preventative care visits with a PT could change your whole experience. If you are taught to exercise your pelvic floor properly, including how to relax during the birthing process, you're far less likely to experience incontinence (and also then have to pay a PT to help you stop peeing your pants) after your baby is born. Learning how to carefully and safely lift your baby/toddler/all their things can prevent back pain and ensure you’re able to be there for your family. Small changes now can have long lasting benefits for your health.

As PTs, we will always take in the broken and do our best to heal what we can. But consider the path you're on and your goals in life. It’s generally easier (and usually always cheaper) to keep you moving in the direction you want to go by preventing setbacks and injuries rather than having to start anew when something knocks you down. You don’t have to be hurt to see and benefit from a PT and their professional insights. So I guess my answer to the question “When should you see a PT?” is “Why not now?”