Finding someone qualified...

[ededit]

Bill and others responding on this forum often recommend seeing someone in person - an entirely appropriate response given the limitations of email. The challenge for the layperson is distinguishing among the good, mediocre and bad treatment professionals. It'd be terrific to hear ideas from the professionals regarding how to select a talented practitioner and/or to know when you should bolt based on the treatment received.

Real-life examples of the latter: The p.t. who immediately starts a client on "vmo-strengthening exercises" when a patient presents w/ medial knee pain. Or the m.d. who prescribes a heel lift (w/o any exam) when the patient says "I think one leg is shorter than the other."

Regarding the former: Cressey often touts the ranking of his kinesiology program (UCONN), the p.t. programs Wash U. in St. Louis and UPitt. are highly ranked - how much weight should a patient give to the individul's education (or place thereof)? Other tipoffs to quality?

Thanks in advance.

[UConnJulie]

If they do a hot pack, ultrasound, and massage ... RUN OUT THE DOOR!!!

The first visit should include a comprehensive evaluation ... and you should be the only patient that the therapist is seeing at the time (otherwise they will be too distracted to really LISTEN to what you are telling them).

They should TOUCH you ... no matter what the injury.

They should explain to you what they think is going on with your injury ... what imbalances they see ... what dysfunctions they see, and what they are going to do to help you.

They should give you some corrective exercises. If it is ALL manual, I'd be leery as they are not teaching you how to prevent the injury from recurring.

I'd be more interested in what continuing education they have pursued as opposed to which school they attended. All entry-level programs are just that ... entry-level. If you want an advanced practitioner, you need to look for someone who has advanced his/her education beyond their initial college degree ... usually through continuing education where they might receive a manual therapy certification or some other certification. They might also pursue a "clinical specialist" designation from the APTA.

While not entirely complete (I have to bring my daughter to school shortly) these are my initial thoughts ...