The Advantages of One on One Physical Therapy
Many health centers and clinics have long offered group physical therapy sessions as a standard of care.
Two or more patients are treated by one therapist during these sessions, who divides his or her time between them. It indicates that each patient receives only a small portion of the therapist’s attention.
It’s evident that this isn’t the ideal strategy for achieving the best results. Thankfully, this paradigm is losing favor, and many clinics are focusing on one-on-one physical therapy, which is more patient-centered.
Individualized physical therapy sessions provide the best individual care and attention, as well as a number of other advantages.
Let’s take a closer look at the advantages of one-on-one physical therapy.
What is one-on-one physical therapy, and how does it work?
The one-on-one therapy model focuses on private, individualized treatment sessions between the therapist and the patient, which are usually an hour long.
These sessions are far more effective than group sessions, and they are the best option for a comprehensive, effective treatment program.
One-to-one physical therapy has a lot of advantages.
Care Tailored to the Individual
For starters, during a one-on-one physical therapy session, there are no distractions; instead, you have complete privacy to talk, ask questions, and suggest ideas. Click here for a list of more crucial questions to ask your therapist.
The patient gains a thorough understanding of the treatment, its side effects, and the treatment’s overall process.
The therapist can devote their time and attention to providing the essential hands-on treatments and assessing the entire body.
It’s also good for the treatment’s physical exercise component. The therapist can show and adapt the exercises as needed, ensuring that the patient performs them correctly for the best results.
Finally, because of the personalized treatment plans, patients can set their own treatment objectives and track them with the therapist while maintaining realistic expectations.
Building trust and a relationship between the physical therapist and the patient is another significant advantage of one-on-one sessions.
It generates a degree of comfort that a group session cannot, and it allows the therapist to address the patient as a whole, noticing small changes, progress, and possible concerns.
Due to a shortage of time, this is not possible in a group situation.
The one-to-one model typically involves the patient working with the same physical therapist who develops and implements the treatment plan. It implies that they are familiar with your background, problems, and progress.
Finally, because the therapist focuses on one patient at a time, you may require fewer sessions because the treatment is more successful. You’ll better comprehend the work you need to perform at home and improve faster since you’ll get direct in-person instructions about home exercises.
Injury avoidance
During one-on-one physical therapy sessions, therapists can spot various body imbalances and risk factors that need to be addressed in order to avoid injury.
The therapists can thoroughly study, assess, and address all of these factors because they only work with one person.
For example, a physical therapist may observe a patient’s limited range of motion or a pain spot and use manual therapy to address that area.
Learn more about how unpleasant physical therapy may be in this other article.
Many activities for physical exercises in group settings are delegated to assistants and aides who may lack the requisite knowledge to spot possible problems and rectify or adjust them. If a physical therapist uses an aide in a private session (which is uncommon), they are always well supervised.
Finally, injury prevention requires muscle strengthening and balance training. The physical therapist will work with you one-on-one to strengthen your body, develop core strength, and enhance your balance.
You’ll have improved stability, balance, and flexibility after the program, making injuries and falls less likely.
Improve your muscle strength and balance.
It takes time to improve balance and muscle strength, but it is essential for addressing concerns like improper posture, limited mobility, and muscle complaints like shoulder soreness.
Physical therapy increases a patient’s mobility by increasing range of motion and strengthening muscles, especially when done one-to-one.
During these sessions, you’ll do muscle-strengthening exercises under the direct supervision of your therapist. They’ll be able to show the exercises, watch you do them, and make adjustments as needed.
You’ll be able to work on improving your balance once you’ve strengthened your muscles.
This includes workouts like walking with various head motions, standing on one leg, changing your visual system while moving to stress your balance, and using specific pieces of exercise equipment to challenge your balance.
Putting yourself in situations that test your balance can lead to falls during the exercise. Working together with your physical therapist will ensure that you are doing the proper exercises to challenge your balance while remaining safe.
Health and well-being
Despite the fact that physical therapy is largely focused on treating the specific illness or injury, only a comprehensive program can ensure progress and possibly avoid future health issues.
During one-on-one physical therapy sessions, the therapist can evaluate the patient, their pain, and daily challenges from both an injury and a whole-body standpoint. Due to time limits, group therapy sessions are less effective because this technique concentrates on the fundamental cause, which takes time to establish.
In addition, the physical therapist can help patients improve their quality of life by advising and teaching them about the lifestyle changes they need to make.
Aside from physical exercise recommendations, therapists are frequently trained in nutrition and weight control, as well as sleep and stress management.
The therapist can positively contribute to these improvements in their patient’s life because there is ample time during the one-on-one physical therapy session.
Last Thoughts
When given a choice, it is strongly advised that the client choose a one-to-one physical therapy treatment program over group sessions for a variety of reasons.
Patients receive specialized care, develop trust with their therapist, and have their therapy progress regularly monitored in this setting. They also receive the necessary training and attention for injury avoidance, balance improvement, and muscle strength development.
Finally, private physical therapy sessions can help with general health and wellness by providing guidance on nutrition, weight, and stress management, as well as sleep and bad habits.
Book your one-to-one therapy session with the best team of specialists at 1on1 Physical Therapy in Asheville, NC. (828) 785-8388