The Ultimate Guide to Greenville Physical Therapy

What is Physical Therapy 

According to the American Physical Therapy Association - Physical Therapy is “treatment provided that helps people improve their movement and physical function, manage pain and other chronic conditions, and recover from and prevent injury and chronic disease.” 

Physical therapists are trained movement specialists who help you get out of pain and overcome injury. 

The general narrative we hear from people is that their doctor referred them or a family member to physical therapy because of an injury, increasing pain, or a surgery that has limited their ability to participate in daily life or work activities. Usually they will finish with their Physical Therapy stent after 14-20 visits, either because their insurance would only cover a certain number of visits or they felt they were out of pain. The most common frustrations we hear are that people feel they weren’t having enough 1-on-1 time with their therapist, sessions were too short, or the exercises they were doing got too easy. 

Our Greenville Physical Therapy clinic is a little different. Because South Carolina is a direct access state, you can make an appointment with our Doctors of Physical Therapy without needing a referral. Meaning you don’t need to go through the same hurdles with insurance companies that you would with other clinics. 

With that, working with our Greenville Physical Therapy team you know you are getting expert level care from the top clinicians in the state. There are only 266 Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist physical therapists in South Carolina, and even fewer who are residency trained.

And we are one of the only Physical Therapists in Greenville who are residency training Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialists. 

For you this means if you are looking for the best possible results, we are some of the best equipped to get you there. 

Physical Therapy with our Greenville team is about being proactive, not just reactive. Yes, first things first we want to get you out of pain. But from there our goal is to keep out of pain and give you the tools to [re]claim your active lifestyle. 

We do that with our 3 step process. We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, we are excelling at what has been proven in the research to give you the best possible outcomes. 

Step 1: [re]set and take a step back and hear your story, how your injury is affecting you, and find the root cause of why your having pain

Step 2: [re]solve your pain by treating the root cause. 

Step 3: [re]live your active lifestyle with personalized tools to continue to improve and get even stronger when you finish your plan. 

What do Physical Therapists Do?

The first, and most important step is the evaluation. Your first visit is 60 minutes of undivided attention to find the root cause of why you’re having pain or keep having those injuries pop up. 

We do this through a few different ways.

We look at your movement patterns, mobility, and strength. But we do this in a more specialized way to give you objective data to see progress. Pushing against someone’s hand gives you a general idea of how strong a muscle is. But having a specific way to see how strong your right thigh is compared to your left gives you clear goals on what needs to be worked on. 

We do this through an innovative device called the Tindeq. This takes the guesswork out of creating your plan and gives us clear goals for your program.

Once we know the cause, then we work on [re]solving the pain.

There’s a lot of different ways to do this, and to be honest they are all great. The research proves that using a combination of methods gives you the best results.

One method that has been proven to help with pain is Dry Needling.

Dry Needling is the use of a small monofilament needle that we use for trigger points or muscle knots.

The goal is to help alleviate those trigger points which can:

• Help lower pain

• Improve your range of motion

• Improve muscle function

Manual Therapy is another big component of getting out of pain. Joint mobilizations and manipulations are a great way to help those angry joints calm down, promote blood flow, and improve your mobility. 

Think of it as hitting the “reset” button.

Dry needling and manual therapy are great tools BUT they are not the end-all-be-all. They give us a window of improved mobility and decreased pain that lets YOU do more, and that is what helps keep you out of pain. 

The bread and butter of keeping you out of pain comes through exercise. No questions asked, being stronger will help you be able to perform all the activities you want with less pain and discomfort. Strength training helps build muscle, stronger bones, and tendon resiliency. 

If you ask any of our clients they will tell you a session of Physical Therapy with Reliving Performance is not your average Physical Therapy. 

Your session will look and feel like a workout. This is how we change the game of Physical Therapy in Greenville. Gone are the days of feeling like your exercises are too easy and you aren’t having the guidance you need. And gone are the days of “go warm up on the bike for 10 minutes” and “we will end with ice and stim.”

Every session is 60 minutes long, and one-on one. You can be assured that you will be consistently pushed to progress toward your goals. 

Who do Physical Therapists work with?

At Reliving Performance we work with all orthopedic injuries. Whether your having back pain reaching to pick up your kids or looking to hit a new personal best marathon time. Bone, joint, and muscle issues are what we excel at.

Before we start working together we have a FREE 20 minute phone consultation talking with you about your injury and goals to be sure we are the right fit. If we believe we can help you we will get you in for an evaluation right away, and if we think you may need another provider's help before us we help get you in contact with the right people.  

You won’t have to worry about long wait times with us. Which is great because countless research shows that the quicker you get Physical Therapy the quicker you can recovery from an injury. 

Benefits and Drawbacks of Physical Therapy

With your typical in-network insurance clinic you may see your physical therapist for 10-15 minutes before working with an aide or tech for the rest of the session. And you may not see the same provider at every visit, feeling like you have to re-explain your story to someone new.

Being able to see you directly in our Greenville clinic, without going through the normal insurance hurdles provides a lot more value to you, and puts you first. 

There’s over a decade of research that demonstrates getting into Physical Therapy earlier vs delayed will get you out of pain quicker and save you money in the long run. 

Not only that, but with Reliving Performance Physical Therapy you are with a Physical Therapist for 60 minutes of 1-on-1 time every visit. We will know your story and your goals and make sure you are progressing toward them, and you will learn Matt loves to talk about food and his dogs. 

Take the 1st Step to [re]claiming your active lifestyle