12 Things your physical therapist wishes you knew

Note: This started out as a list of 10 things, but you can see it has expanded.

There have been many lists like this lately.  I have seen them for pastors, airline pilots, waiters/waitresses, and hair stylists.  Why not throw in PTs.  As a point of reference, most of my career has been in outpatient orthopaedics.  That is where I'm coming from.  With that said, let's begin.

1. Attitude is everything.  If you come to see your physical therapist and you have already decided that this isn't going to help or that you are going to need surgery, then you won't get better.  You can think of it as a self-fulfilling prophecy.  On the flip side, if you are determined to avoid surgery or you strongly believe your physical therapist is going to help you, it is truly amazing the good things that can happen.
2. We don't use off-the-shelf exercise programs (I hope).  We tailor our treatment for the individual and we always have a reason for why we are doing what we are doing.  So, please don't ask for "shoulder exercises" or "back exercises".  It's not that simple.  We don't know what to do until we know you.
3. Please don't wear tight jeans to your therapy sessions.  I mean seriously, what are you supposed to do in those things?
4. Be honest with us.  We are very understanding people and we hear it all.  Not much will surprise us.  The more information we have, the better we will be able to treat you.  Even if that info is a smidge embarrassing.
5. On that same note, if you haven't been doing your home exercise program, we will know it.  We always know.  You can't really hide it from us.  Also, referring back to #1 on this list, if you haven't been doing your home exercises you probably won't be improving.  That is your fault.  We can show you the door.  You must walk through it.
6. Yes, therapy might hurt some.  Sorry about that.  It has to happen.  Just remember, pain never killed anyone.
7. On the other hand, therapy doesn't have to be painful all the time.  The effectiveness of a physical therapist is not measured in the pain he or she can create.  Some pain will often have to be tolerated but it should always be that, tolerable.
8. Please show up on time for your appointment.  We often don't have as much time as we would like with each patient.  If you reduce that amount of time by 5-10 minutes you are only hurting yourself.
9. Also, please show up for your appointment!  This one seems pretty obvious, a no-brainer, but people often seem to think attendance is optional.  No, it is not.  We can't help you if we don't see you.
10. Progress might not be immediate.  You might not leave from your first visit feeling any better.  This is normal.  Your problem didn't start today so it won't go away today.  Be patient.
11. There are no magical cures.  We cannot "fix" you.  We can help show you the path you need to walk but we cannot "fix" anything.  People who offer "fixes" are lying to you.
12. We really, really, really want to help you.  We take pride in what we do and the skills we have.  We want to use those to make your life better.  If we work together, we can do really wonderful things.  Who doesn't want that?

The list could probably be longer if I really spent a lot of time thinking about it but we will just leave it as it is.