Unfortunately, I had a terrible experience here. I want to be very transparent that this was my…read morefirst time going to physical therapy and the only reason I know it was that bad is because I now have a basis for comparison.
I broke my elbow on Labor Day, had surgery, then my Orthopedist recommended that I start a course of physical therapy to progress my healing. Most physical therapy offices in the neighborhood couldn't get me in for at least a month, so I went on Yelp and started calling around and made an appointment at two different offices this week. The place I just went to today was leaps and bounds better than this place.
I know physical therapy is supposed to be hard, but this particular practice made it so much harder than necessary. I actually left in tears and sobbed the entire way home. And I'm not a cryer. I'll attempt to explain what I hope will be constructive feedback below.
Administration:
- The staff was pretty friendly over the phone and even offered to help me with the insurance process (they are out-of-network for me).
- When I arrived, I was asked to wait about 10 minutes while they restarted their iPad to fill out the intake forms. I spent another 10 minutes filling out the forms, only for the iPad to stop working again. They said this had been happening all day.
- When I asked if they could send me the intake form via email, they said yes and then did so after I left. My recommendation would be to email all patients the intake form before their appointment. Also, if the office had been having iPad issues all day, it would have been great if they could proactively email the intake form to everyone that was on the schedule for that day.
- Finally, this office is not fully vaccinated and some members of the staff were walking around with their masks below their nose.
Communication:
- I saw Francis Reyes. His communication skills left a lot to be desired.
- I explained to him that I had never been to PT before and that I would prefer if he explain everything to me in full detail: what's going on with me from a medical perspective, what's going on during the treatment, and what to expect. He did not, even after asking several times.
- We had a few awkward exchanges. The first one was when he asked me "What type of surgery did you have?" I was confused by this question, since he was already aware the I fractured my left humerus. He couldn't elaborate.
- He then said to me "the only way for you to heal is through aggressive stretching." I asked him why that was the only way and he replied, "Because it is." Again, no medical rationale was given. I then asked, "Would gradual stretching be possible?" and he responded "Oh! It will be gradual!" Those are two different things.
The treatment:
- In this facility, the Physical Therapist takes multiple patients at a time. The therapy takes place in back where a series of tables are lined up separated by a curtain - kind of like an emergency room.
- For treatment, the first 15 minutes consisted of heat and electro stim where they left me in the room to lay by myself. Then a DEEP DEEP (painful) massage by Francis, then a few seconds of aggressive stretching at the end (ridiculously painful).
- A few times I asked Francis to explain to me what was going on. Instead, he gave me dad jokes and asked me about my weekend. I'm usually not one for small talk, especially when I'm in so much pain that I can't speak. I asked him why he was asking me this and he said to get my mind off of it.
- My feedback here is that, if a patient tells you how they prefer to communicate, you should listen to them. For some, taking their mind off things might work better for them, but for me, knowing what is going on calms my mind.
- I also jokingly asked him a couple of times if this was supposed to be torture and he matter-of-factly said yes.
- During the stretching, it only lasted a few seconds, but again, Francis didn't explain this beforehand. I probably would have been less scared if I knew the stretching would only last a few seconds.
- At the end, I was sobbing. Francis didn't ask me if I was okay. Instead he said "make an appointment for Friday" and walked away. I asked for a few minutes before I left, which I took sitting in that little room sobbing. He gave me no exercises to do at home.
Francis' approach to communication seems to be: as long as he knows everything will be fine, he doesn't feel he needs to communicate this to the patient. He will simply allow the patient to go through the experience and learn for themselves. If you are a Doctor of Physical Therapy, I would expect a certain level of communication, bedside manner, and sympathy. A little coaching, cheerleading, and positive reinforcement would have gone a long way. I got none of this.
I am not coming back and if you are curious to hear about the excellent experience I had at the other place, please check my reviews.
