Physical therapy can be used for a wide variety of problems and issues. People will use it after an injury, and both before and after someone has orthopedic surgery. Many people go to physical therapy centers around the country to help them with pain management. Regardless of the reason you want to go to a physical therapist, there are things you can do to make the most of your experience.

1. The better able you are to describe your pain, the more the people at physical therapy centers can help you. It is easy to go in for physical therapy treatment and expect the person who will be working with you to just be able to get to work. they cannot really help you without understanding what kind of pain you are in and where it is. Pain is not a “one size fits all” kind of thing. It can be burning, achey, sharp, stabbing, or something else completely. Unless you can really explain it, you will have a hard time getting help for it from your orthopaedic surgeon or your physical therapist.
2. When it comes to physical therapy, consistency is king. You should try to make your appointments with one of the physical therapy centers in your area for around the same time of the day. Wear comfortable clothing that allows you to move. Make sure you have the right shoes. Be prepared when your appointment is set to start so you can use all of your time with the expert on your physical therapy exercises and work.
3. Make sure your therapist takes notes. A lot of physical therapists will want to ask you a lot of questions. This is to help develop a plan that can really help you deal with your injury. The problem is that if they do not write down your answers, you may have to go through the process all over again. If they ask you questions, ask them to take good notes from your answers.
4. Take your own notes. When you get help from one of the physical therapy centers in your area, you need to get your questions answers. There are some exercises that you will be given to do that they will give you a handout to help you do them right when you are at home. Take notes of the instructions they give you. You can also take pictures of the way you are supposed to position yourself during the exercises. Also, take down notes about how many reps and sets you should do.
5. Be religious about doing the exercises they tell you to do. You have to do the work to get the benefit from the physical therapy treatments you are getting. In order to get the most from your physical therapy treatment, you have to be very disciplined about how you do your exercises. If you are told to do them every day, you should do them every day. If you are told to do them every other day, that should be your schedule. This is very important.
6. If you really miss an activity you love, find something that is similar. if you have hurt your knee and cannot run, there are things that you can do which are similar. Some people jog in a pool, which can give you the same kind of workout that you get when you are running but does not have the same impact on your knees. Even if it is not like the activity you like to do, find something you enjoy that can take the place of the exercise you miss.
7. Ease back into that fun activity, do not leap back in. Once you are on the mend and you are starting to feel better, it can be easy to just want to leap back in. If you liked to run every day, you may be tempted to start where you left off. This is a recipe for disaster. By going slowly, you can avoid reinjuring yourself.

People all over the United States are helped every day by staff at physical therapy centers. If you put in the time and effort, you can be one of them.