frequently asked questions

What types of patients do you see?

Outlive Physical Therapy specializes in helping individuals from their 30’s to 60’s maintain and improve their strength and wellness as they age. Our holistic approach supports a wide range of clients, from weekend warriors and competitive athletes to those seeking to alleviate pain or stay active.

We are particularly passionate about guiding clients in their 30s, 40s, and 50s on how to work ahead of injuries and sickness and to develop sustainable strength and health practices, ensuring they remain vital and resilient well into their later decades.

We also enjoy helping youth athletes prevent and treat injuries by giving them the tools they need to stay healthy, and ultimately, helping them achieve peak physical performance.

What can I expect at my first session?

At your first session, we will always start with a conversation to get to know you, why you’re in the office to see us, what your goals are, what your previous experience is with PT or pain, injury, strength training, exercises and fitness.  

We will then guide you through a comprehensive movement assessment in which we will look at your ability to perform basic functional movement patterns. We will determine where you may have dysfunctional movement which may be the cause of your pain or mobility issue, and we will break that down further in order to determine the root cause of your dysfunction.  

Treatments may include corrective exercise, functional dry needling, manual therapy techniques, or exercise prescription. We will begin to develop a treatment plan focused on you becoming pain-free, moving well, and ultimately achieving whatever goals you may have. We will always wrap up with educating you on our assessment findings and the next steps in your plan of care.

Physical therapy didn’t work before. Why should this work for me?

We tend to see a lot of people who have “failed” the traditional PT model. We’re not just looking at your injury, we are looking at you as a whole. We understand that getting better is a complex process, so we make sure to spend the time with you to figure out an individualized approach to helping you feel better. We aim to address the underlying cause of pain, not just treat the symptoms, so that we keep you out of pain long term. 

We want you, as the client, to take an active role in your care. We place a great deal of focus on educating you so that you can feel independent in taking an active approach outside of the PT office – which is why our visits tend to be less frequent than traditional PT. 

We offer a progressive and individualized approach to your treatment. When you are no longer in need of in-person care, our online program options help to continue bridging the gap between why you came to us and getting you back to the active lifestyle you love. We not only want to get you out of pain, but we also want you to move better, get stronger, and become more functional along the way.

Do I have to be in pain to see you?

No! We want our clients to be the best possible version of themselves. We see people for movement screens, check-ins, well visits, injury reduction assessments, and exercise and/or mobility programming consultations. If you did have pain, saw us, and no longer have pain, you can still be appropriate for regular check-ins throughout the year to ensure you’re staying on the right path. Think of us as your musculoskeletal Doctors, with visits serving as your regular wellness check-ups. Whether your goal is to perform better in the gym, reduce injury risk, or just move better to be able to play with your kids – we can develop a program to fit your needs.

What happens when I don't need to come into the office anymore? Do you offer any ongoing support?

We have several options for continuing care, We offer options for remote programming, which will allow you to continue your PT plan at home or at the gym. We are always available should you need us via phone or email. We recommend scheduling regular check-ins even after you are pain-free for “maintenance”. But, should something pop up even after you’re done with in-office visits, just reach out!

What if I need to come back in the future? How does that work?

You always have direct access to us. If you need us, please reach out. Since you don’t need a referral to see us, you can simply come see us first to save you time and money! We are trained to make a referral out to a different specialist if more testing is needed

You are always welcome to schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation with us so we can help you determine if you will be appropriate to come back to us in the office.

What is Functional Dry Needling (FDN)?

FDN is the use of small needles inserted into tissue to stimulate blood flow, promote healing process, and decrease pain. We perform a clinical examination of the nervous system, functional movement patterns, and soft tissue in the body to determine the dysfunctional tissue. The needles are placed directly into the dysfunctional tissue in order to elicit a "twitch response" in the muscle or to facilitate/inhibit the central/peripheral nervous system. This trigger point dry needling is partnered with a functional movement pattern corrective program in order to maintain the improvements that we are able to make with the needle itself (something you will rarely, if ever, see in an acupuncture clinic). FDN does not replace physical therapy by any means; however, it is a great tool to help you speed along your recovery and, ultimately, help you spend less time in therapy.

Do you take insurance?

After years of working under the insurance model of physical therapy, we found that a high quality of care is not sustainable under that model. Working under time-based fees allows us to always provide only one-on-one treatment with our clients, so when you pay for 45-minutes or 60-minutes with us, you get exactly that without interruptions. 

Many times in a "traditional PT" setting, you will be splitting time with 2, maybe 3, other patients within that same time slot. Many times, the cumulative co-pay to see a physical therapist at the “traditional” frequency is very close to what we charge for our visits which are generally more spaced out. However, we are happy to provide you with a reimbursement form that you can submit with your insurance company for any "out-of-network" reimbursement they are able to provide for you.  You are also able to use your HSA/FSA/HRA to see us!