Why is being seen for a full hour with your PT so important?

Why do most specialty pelvic health clinics see patients for a full hour, 1:1 with the therapist?Ultimately it’s so we have time to ‘find the why’ for actual relief.  If you aren’t working with a qualified pelvic PT to ‘find the why’, one of three things happens:You don’t improve at allYou see little, temporary improvements that don't 'stick' Symptoms do improve, but end up cropping up somewhere elseFor most patients in pelvic floor physical therapy, internal evaluation and treatment of the pelvic floor muscles is extremely important.  This takes time and can’t (or shouldn’t be) rushed.Then we have to evaluate and treat the external contributing factors.  In fact, most of the time the ‘why’ is found outside the pelvic floor.  So we have to have time to treat externally in each session as well.  This could be treating the low back, mid-back, neck, hips, knees or ankles, depending on where the issue is coming from.If your PT is only looking internally at the pelvic floor, or only looking externally at the orthopedic issues, they are missing half the picture.The reason many physical therapy clinics don’t see you for a full hour is so they can make more money from the insurance company.  Financially, it doubles the clinic's revenue to have a PT seeing two (or more) patients per hour.  They do this by using aides, having someone watch you exercise or adding billable time with ice or e-stim at the end of your session.  Most specialty clinics reject this model.  It might be helpful for simple orthopedic issues, but it certainly doesn’t benefit patients with complex pelvic floor dysfunction.  And even though it might be more lucrative to rush patients through the door every half hour, most experts aren’t willing to compromise on the quality of care.So if you’ve been seen at a clinic for less than an hour, or had your PT seeing multiple patients at the same time, don’t give up on pelvic floor physical therapy!  Local to Southern California?If you're local to SoCal, give our team a call and let us help you find lasting relief!  And if you aren't, we offer a remote consultation program to get a second opinion on your case.About UsDr. Nicole and Jesse Cozean are the founders of PelvicSanity Physical Therapy (www.pelvicsanity.com) in Southern California. The clinic has helped thousands of patients in the Orange County, CA area and hundreds from around the world with a remote consultation and Out of Town Program.They co-authored The IC Solution and Nicole created The IC Roadmap online course to provide the most accurate, up-to-date information for those with interstitial cystitis. They run the Finding Pelvic Sanity Facebook group for a supportive online community for anyone dealing with pelvic health issues.Nicole has also created courses and trained thousands of pelvic PTs to provide better care through her work with Pelvic PT Rising (www.pelvicptrising.com). Subscribe to the podcast Follow @pelvicsanity for great info! Join the Finding PelvicSanity support group Check out www.pelvicsanity.com for additional help! And as always, we hope this has helped you find just a bit of pelvic sanity!