Frequently Asked Questions

In most cases, no. Kansas direct access lets you start physical therapy without a physician referral, so you can call us today and be evaluated. Some insurance plans do still require a referral for coverage, so we verify your specific plan before your first visit and tell you exactly where you stand. You will never find out about a requirement after the fact.

Wear loose, comfortable clothing that lets us see and move the area we are treating. If your knee or hip is the problem, bring shorts. If it is your shoulder or neck, a tank top or a loose shirt works well. Supportive shoes matter too, because a good share of what we do involves standing, walking and balance work. If you come straight from a job site and your clothes are not ideal, tell the front desk when you arrive. We would rather work around it than have you reschedule.

Yes, and it saves you time at the front desk. Bring your prescription if a physician wrote you one. Bring a photo ID or driver's licence. Bring a list of your medications with the dosage and how often you take each. Bring your personal calendar so we can schedule your visits before you leave. Bring your insurance cards, or your Worker's Comp or auto claim information if that is what your case involves. If you have had imaging, bring copies of any X-ray, MRI or CT reports. Then write down the questions you actually want answered, because people forget them in the room.

Long enough to do the work properly. What matters more than the clock is who is with you while it happens. You are one on one with your therapist, start to finish. You are not handed off to an aide, and you are not one of several people being run through the same circuit across a gym floor. Your schedule is set around your plan of care, so the time you spend here reflects what your plan calls for that day, whether that is hands on work, a movement retest, or progressing your home program. Your therapist tells you at your evaluation what your visits will look like.

Almost always, and your home program is a real part of your plan, not a photocopied handout. Your therapist picks exercises that match where you are in your recovery, teaches each one here in the clinic, watches your form, and changes them as you get stronger. Doing them matters more than most people expect. The hours between visits are where a lot of the change happens, because tissue adapts to what you ask of it regularly. If something in the program hurts in a way that feels wrong, stop that exercise and tell us, and we will adjust it.

Call the clinic. Abilene is (785) 263-3646 and Chapman is (785) 922-4016, and the front desk will get your question to your therapist. You do not have to wait until your next appointment to ask whether a new ache is normal, whether you should keep going with an exercise, or what to do about a flare up over the weekend. We would much rather answer a quick question than have you guess and lose ground. Bring written questions to your visits too. Nobody here thinks you are asking too much.

Almost certainly, and we file the claim for you. We accept Medicare, RR Medicare, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Aetna Better Health KanCare, most network plans, Worker's Compensation and auto insurance. We are currently out of network with UHC. If you do not see your plan listed, call us at (785) 263-3646 and we will check your benefits before you commit to anything.

It depends on the problem, how long you have had it, and what you need to get back to. A fresh injury that is still irritable often needs a closer schedule at the start so we can settle it down. A long standing issue that mainly needs strength and load tolerance can be spaced further apart. Your therapist sets your frequency at the evaluation, explains the reasoning, and adjusts it as you progress. As you improve and take over more of your own program, visits taper. We will tell you plainly when it is time to space them out.

That depends on what is driving your symptoms and how long it has been going on, and any clinic that promises you a number before examining you is guessing. What we will do is measure where you are on day one, re-measure as we go, and tell you honestly what the numbers say. Most people notice the direction change well before they reach the finish.

Yes, and you should ask. Your therapist is a licensed physical therapist trained to evaluate how you move and to explain what is going on in plain language. If you want to know what your imaging report means for your daily life, why your knee hurts on stairs but not on flat ground, or what your recovery realistically looks like, ask. If a question belongs with your physician, or sits outside what physical therapy can answer, we will say so honestly and help you get it to the right person instead of guessing at it in front of you.

Say so immediately. Do not push through it quietly to be a good patient. Your therapist will adjust the intensity, change the position, or switch to something else entirely, and that adjustment is part of treatment, not a setback. Some of this work is uncomfortable. Restoring range to a stiff shoulder or loading a tendon that has been avoided for months will be felt. But there is a difference between productive discomfort and pain that signals damage, and nothing here should ever be pushed through as damage. You control the session. If you want to stop, we stop.

Because we measure, and the measurements tell us. At your evaluation we record where you are: your range of motion, your strength, your balance, and what you can and cannot do without symptoms. We retest as we go. When you are hitting the goals you set with your therapist, moving without the limitation that brought you in, and confident running your own program, that is the finish. We will tell you when we get there and send you out with a plan to hold the progress. We do not keep people on the schedule for the sake of it.

The evaluation tells you, and that is the honest answer. Physical therapy works by finding the mechanical reason a body part hurts, whether that is a joint that will not move, a muscle not doing its share, or a movement pattern loading the wrong tissue every single day. When your problem has a cause like that, we can usually change it. If your evaluation points somewhere physical therapy is not the right tool, we will tell you and help you get to the right provider. You have probably been told to rest it. If rest was going to fix this, it would have by now.

Your evaluation decides that, not a template. Your plan may include hands on manual therapy for stiff joints and guarded muscles, targeted strength and mobility work, balance and gait training, and clear instruction on what to do between visits. We also offer dry needling, ASTYM, cupping, blood flow restriction, LSVT BIG, vestibular therapy and pelvic floor therapy when a case calls for them. Your therapist explains what has been chosen and why before doing it, and changes the approach when your retests say something else would serve you better.

Yes. In most cases a patient can choose their own physical therapy provider, even when a physician suggests somewhere else or a hospital hands you a name on a slip of paper. It is your care and your choice. Worker's Compensation cases and certain insurance situations can carry their own rules about which providers are approved, and those rules vary. Call us before you assume you are locked in. We will check your specific plan or claim, tell you exactly what applies to you, and if we are not able to see you we will say so straight away.