Physical Therapy for Athletes is Bullsh!#

[gorillahung]

I'm sitting here with likely two partially torn rotator cuffs. My doctor tried to get me in for an MRI. However, my insurance denied to pay for it citing that I had not tried physical therapy. I've torn both rotator cuffs before (10 years ago?). I went through all of the physical therapy for shoulder problems (pulling on rubber tubes, dumbell raises with 3 lb. dumbells, stretches using PVC pipe, etc.) There are 4 tiny muscles comprising the rotator cuff. The physical therapist had me going for "treatment" for one hour a day five days a week. That's just gross over training. Thanks to the physical therapist, my shoulder problems worsened. I ended up having surgery on both shoulders. Nobody has ever shown me how an injured muscle, tendon, or ligament will heal by training it 5 hours a week. I'm just pissed off because I've been making great progress with my workouts and then I get injured and no doctor can even perform an MRI to see what is wrong. When I tore them 10 years ago it was apparently caused by numerous bone spurs. I never fully recovered after the surgeries. I suspect that the surgeon didn't remove all of the bone spurs and that's what is causing the problem now. I went 10 years without touching a weight. I started training in June. Within 2 weeks of training I started having pain again. That's what leads me to believe the surgeon didn't remove all of the bone spurs. If my shoulders didn't heal in the 10 years that I quit lifting then there's something there that's causing these tears.

 

[stevesmi]

100% agree.. what you went to was just an insurance company PT that doesn't know shit and is not educated or trained to deal with athletes.

I'm not sure where you live but if you live near a place that has pro teams you need to find a legit place that caters to advanced athletes, where they actually go. there you will find a physical therapist that actually knows how to help an athlete and isn't just trying to get through their day and charge you per visit. this persons qualifications are going to be above and beyond those $11 an hour people you were seeing before. you will know within 5 minutes of talking to them if they know their shit or not.

90% of the physical therapists are just people with 2 year degrees making $11 an hour. they don't give a fuck about you. they just want to run up your insurance bill.. they cater to the old lady, not the athlete. you need to find one that caters to the bigtime athlete, it will cost more but so worth it. of course it works, how do you explain NFL athletes blowing out knees, shoulders, etc and coming back the next year and having big seasons? it matters plenty who you choose to help you with an injury

 

[polarbear1134]

When my knee was messed up I went to a physical therapist and they worked wonders for it. I saw them 3 times a week for 3 weeks and they taught me simple exercises and stretches I could do on my own at home and they made a huge difference. No more knee problems.
Where are you finding physical therapist with a 2 year degree lol.
Around here just to be a physical therapist's assistant you need a bachelors degree.
There is difference between a person giving you physical therapy and a physical therapist.

 

[stevesmi]

when I fucked up arm up playing football in high school I can remember I went to a crap PT and my arm was so swollen that the bone was sticking out, so I showed it to her and her response was "hmmm.. I don't know why its like that" and walked away

she must have gotten her degree from a cereal box or she really didn't give a fuck. I then spent about 2 months going to this lady and had zero improvement.

after my car accident I went to a chiro who had 'physical therapists' working for him in the office who were making $10 an hour, all of them were 19/20 year olds who were still in college.. they did the same bullshit cookie cutter program on every patient who came through. a few minutes of a lame massage, some stretching (I do 10X better stretching going to a yoga class), some pulley work with no resistance (I do the same thing at the gym with real weight), and roman chair type exercises with no weight. how does any of that benefit an advanced athlete? it would be just fine for grandma who never lifted weights in her life, but for me it was ridiculous

the last PT I went to I went in and sat with her and within 5 minutes she knew what my imbalance was.... 3 chiropractors couldn't figure it out yet she was able to , and we immediately started working on them. 3 appointments and I had her print me out exercises to do at home. 3 weeks later I felt 100% better. she had 6 years of college and knew her shit. she had worked with athletes like Tim Tebow and Shaq, she had seen my issue 100X before and put together a program for me! not a program for grandma

 

[polarbear1134]

Well in most states it's like this by law
"Educational Requirements for PTs. Before they are allowed to practice, physical therapists must have earned graduate degrees from accredited academic programs in physical therapy. These programs typically culminate in a doctoral degree"

And yes the one I went to had their doctorate. By the way in most states you can sue anyone who even calls themselves a physical therapist who doesn't have at least the minimum of the related masters degree. And that's for a 1st day employee.

 

[stevesmi]

^^ its like any profession. some people get into it cause they have a gift for it.. others get into it just to get through the day and get a paycheck.

 

[gorillahung]

I remember telling the first PT I saw that "It hurts when I bench 200 lbs" She said I couldn't have a serious injury if I could lift that much weight. I told her that two months prior I was able to bench press 400 lbs. with no pain. I'm not sure if she ever understood that I had essentially lost 50% of my strength. I'm just frustrated at the moment because I have 30 amps of Organon Sus 250 that I want to hit but I don't want to waste it by using it when I'm injured.

 

[ALIN]

My last major injury I didn't do any physical therapy other than my own and I recovered just fine.

 

[gorillahung]

We have a division 1 college football team in town. I'm going to try to go to one of the PTs that they send their football players to.