I will never go back to him.
Two main problems:
A) They started me off with one therapist for 2 weeks (Sam) because the regular therapist that they were going to assign me to (Joe Rizza) was on vacation. If they had told me this from the beginning, I would have waited two weeks to start with Joe. However, *no one told me*. Sam, who I wasn't so sure I liked, mentioned that he lived in CO, but I thought he was only living there in the summer or something.
When they did the switch to Joe, I was pretty upset. I've had pain for most of my life, and I know from experience that I can't just work with just anyone. I had just gotten in sync with Sam, and then they just swapped out who I was working with - no warning. Joe claimed that he and Sam would do the same things, which was bullshit. Joe was now the fourth therapist I've worked with, and the only who who never tried doing any type of active release work on my spine for my lower back pain.
Essentially, my insurance & I paid for me to come in and do the basic exercises in front of him, and then have electro-stim on my lower back. I can exercise at home. I don't have anyone to do active release techniques on me at home.
B) On top of that, I got a "If you don't do exactly as I say, I can't work with you" lecture from Joe. That was the last day before my scrip ran out. Powertripping with me never works. Neither does my therapist not partnering with me to understand what works with my particular case. My case is going to be different from the next person's case, etc. There will be some similarities; however, there are also going to be differences you need to tailor your therapy to.
I'm sure Joe expected my scrip to be renewed and I would be back. Instead, my back doctor & I decided after this it would be best for me to do home PT for 6 weeks and see how that went. Once I left OSSRC and Joe Rizza's 2x/week care, my back pain diminished much more quickly than it had when I was working with him. Even if we do decide to renew my PT scrip, I will be going elsewhere. read more