Just a funny aside about the physical therapist I was seeing through my local hospital previously. She is a "farm gal" in her sixties, aka tough as nails. You know the type, used to birthing calves by yanking them out by hand, able to skin and harvest an elk, chop a cord of firewood, etc.
I was so fragile at the time I was anxious that she might break me, but no, she was gentle enough.
And strong, real strong.
It's too spendy to see her through the hospital now that I have insurance that doesn't cover it, so I need to find someone in private practice. Just another reason why I fell off the PT wagon (EXCUSES).
I personally only see my physio a few times a year, so I don't really care what it costs to see a great one.
How much in-person PT do you actually need?
My only experience was twice a month, and after six visits my insurance wouldn't pay for more. I continued doing some of the exercises I learned at the pool until covid shut the pool down.
I was attending "gentle yoga" once a week.
So for ongoing PT, you don't go that often. You learn the exercises, learn how they are supposed to produce results, and then just go for follow ups to monitor and adjust your routine as needed.
I literally haven't seen my PT in nearly a year, now that's a bit longer than normal, but I wasn't living here for half the year.
My point is, if you don't find a PT who is as good, it may still be worthwhile to just pay out of pocket for a really good one less often.
IMO, PT should always be ongoing unless you get to a point where there's really nothing wrong with your function.
I just ignore what insurance pays for and consider it a bonus. Otherwise, I just pay what I have to for my body to function optimally.
I never had extended insurance until my mid 30s, so I've always just paid out of pocket for extended healthcare (I'm in Canada, allied healthcare isn't covered under universal insurance), and even then, they only reimburse a few hundred a year, which is nowhere near enough for the average person to get enough benefit.
My PT and I talk about this all the time. People use up their insurance, then stop going. When really, they just need to invest once in getting to a place where they no longer need frequent visits and then they can go indefinitely just checking in a few times a year.
But because they all stop when the insurance runs out, they always get worse and then come back a year later for another brief spurt and no real progress gets made. Then they say things like "PT didn't work for me."
It's very frustrating that insurance companies don't pay enough for people to actually get good results.
