Have you been putting off getting your aches and pains looked at? Do you think your pain is too mild to be anything that needs therapy? Are you worried about wasting someone’s time, or having your time wasted, because your condition is more of an annoyance than a real problem?
Physical therapists are musculoskeletal experts. We specialize in treating pain or injuries to muscles, tendons, cartilage, and ligaments. Our education is designed to identify the source of pain and injuries and help people resolve their conditions in a timely manner.
Too often, people wait in the hopes that their condition will suddenly get better. People describe how their pain is here one day and gone the next. They are likely overlooking the fact that their pain disappeared in line with the expected time it takes the body to heal.
Our goal is to help you in your home environment so you are comfortable and can get the care you deserve. At (practice name) in (town), we offer at-home physical therapy services to help your body recover and get back to doing what you love!
Request an appointment today, and let us come right to your home and help you figure out what is causing your pain and/or limitations and guide you back to health!
How long does it take to get better?
The length of time it takes to heal depends on the tissues involved and the severity of the injury. In addition, the general guidelines for the stages of healing are based on acute conditions and do not include the action or inaction of the individual. Other factors such as age, nutritional state, obesity, separate medical issues, and previous injuries influence the healing process.
Generally speaking, healing is like a roller coaster, meaning it is an up-and-down process. No matter what you have heard, “speeding up healing” exaggerates what happens. Your body heals steadily, and making that go faster is not actually possible. Unfortunately, you can make it go slower. Pushing too far too fast or not doing enough can delay healing and your overall recovery.
Understanding the healing times can help you understand why it is so important to get help if you have a condition that persists for more than a couple of weeks.
Tendons: Tendon injuries are categorized as strains ranging from mild (grade 1) to complete rupture (grade 3). A mild strain can feel better quickly, but it needs weeks or months to be healed. Unfortunately, people often assume that their condition is fully healed/resolved because they start to feel better, only to re-injure or exacerbate it.
Under ideal conditions, a mild injury will take 6-8 weeks to resolve. More severe and/or chronic conditions take longer to heal and may take up to one year before completion.
Muscles: When a muscle is overstressed or injured, it is categorized as a grade 1 to 3 type injury. Minor injuries (grade 1) often take about two weeks to heal, while severe injuries need three months (12 weeks) or longer.
A specialized muscle pain category is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) which is felt after strenuous or new activity. This is the soreness felt by weight lifters within 24-48 hours of a hard workout and with people that get in their garden after a long winter and work all day. The pain will vary in intensity and duration but will never last more than a few days.
Ligaments: Ligaments help maintain a joint’s integrity and function to help guide movements. Ligament injuries are categorized from grade 1 (mild) to grade 3 (rupture) based on the severity of the injury/damage.
Mild ligament sprains usually take two to four weeks to heal, and moderate sprains may take more than 10-12 weeks. The healing time of complete tears that require surgery to repair increases from six months to one year or more.
Cartilage: Injury to cartilage ranges from mild trauma to severe injuries. Unfortunately, the cartilage is inefficient at regenerating (healing) due to a lack of blood flow. This lack of blood flow is the primary reason any injury to cartilage takes so long to heal, if at all.
Minor cartilage damage may improve within a few days or weeks, depending on where the cartilage was injured. More severe cartilage damage does not typically improve and, if left untreated, can eventually lead to more damage and wear down the joint.
Using the stages of healing help to provide boundaries for the recovery process, and knowing how to interpret the clues your body sends is essential for complete recovery.
What to expect at your home physical therapy sessions
Physical therapy should start immediately following most injuries to ensure the fastest recovery possible. Taking care of a problem early on has been shown to help it resolve faster. Waiting to see or hoping it goes away can complicate things and make a small problem become bigger and/or several different problems. Our team at (practice name) in (town) is ready and willing to help in any way we can!
We will start with an at-home evaluation to identify all the factors contributing to your pain/injury. We will use this information to develop a comprehensive program that includes targeted manual techniques, mobility work, strengthening, and appropriate pain relief techniques for the fastest possible recovery.
Our goal is to guide you through the complete healing process. We can help interpret the clues your body is giving you and provide clearly defined instructions on dealing with the ups and downs of healing.
Request an appointment today!
At (practice name) in (town), our at-home physical therapists are experts at treating all musculoskeletal-related injuries and have proven success treating mild and severe injuries.
Call today to schedule an appointment with one of our at-home physical therapy specialists!