Telehealth
What Is Telehealth Physical Therapy?
Telehealth uses technology to deliver an in-person experience from a distance. Telehealth Physical Therapy can be compared to out-patient physical therapy in delivery as well as the breadth of conditions that your physical therapist can treat. This means that conditions such as vestibular dysfunction, pelvic floor dysfunction, orthopedic conditions can be treated without having to visit our clinic.
Our goals for your Telehealth Physical Therapy Session are the same as any other outpatient physical therapy at FYZICAL Roanoke.
We strive to assist you in:
- Getting out of pain
- Getting out of pain
- Optimizing your physical functioning
- Improving your strength, flexibility, and range of motion
- Our patient-centered Telehealth program focuses on outcomes for individuals who might have a compromised immune system, cannot travel, or need a convenient home-based appointment. Telehealth is also for those who are traveling or are seasonally away from FYZICAL Roanoke.
Telehealth is very similar to the outpatient Physical Therapy you normally receive, except that you can enjoy the session from the comfort of your own home, in your office, or while traveling.
Your physical therapists are experts in movement and musculoskeletal dysfunction. They can remotely guide you through your stretching, exercise program, and even modalities that can improve your overall physical well-being. The only limitation to optimizing our outcome using Telehealth Physical Therapy is the creativity of you and your therapist.
Telehealth physical therapy may require a slightly different approach to your session. When undergoing a telehealth session for physical therapy, your therapist won't be able to use their hands. Physical therapy is often focused on the use of manual therapy, when this is not possible you must have a physical therapist who is an expert in treating your condition.
How is a Telehealth Session Conducted?
There are a variety of Telehealth or teleconferencing platforms including popular consumer solutions like Skype, FaceTime, and zoom. FYZICAL Therapy and Balance Centers have chosen to use a secure, HIPAA-compliant platform that allows you to participate in a Telehealth Physical Therapy session in front of a computer, on a tablet, or even from your smartphone with the highest security and privacy features.
Your Telehealth physical therapy session will be very similar to a standard physical therapy session. First, your physical therapist is going to ask you questions related to your goals, your current condition, and any limitations you may currently be facing that prevent you from achieving those goals.
Obviously, a physical examination cannot be done in quite the same manner as in-person. For example, manual muscle testing won't be done by a physical therapist restricting your movement, rather necessary vocal feedback about movement that improves or worsens pain and dysfunction.
Is It Effective?
Advances in Telehealth Physical Therapy allows us at FYZICAL Roanoke to deliver safe and effective methods of treating pain, dizziness, even musculoskeletal dysfunction. Telehealth PT has recently been shown to provide very similar results diagnostically to those results observed in the standard outpatient clinical setting for those who have suffered a stroke.
In cases where patients need a very hands-on approach we recommend our patients consider our hybrid telehealth physical therapy services that include occasional in-person visits to our clinic.
Your physical therapist must be a skilled practitioner to deliver your plan of care via Telehealth. Due to the rising costs of healthcare, many physical therapists have had to become experts at guiding their patients through implementing a home exercise program.
Telehealth physical therapy is here to stay. A part of that is incorporating an effective home exercise program with regular follow-up visits that provide safe and effective relief of your pain, dizziness, or other physical dysfunction.
Telehealth Physical Therapy can be very effective in a variety of situations.