What Can I Expect in “Intense Physical Therapy” After a Car Accident?

Published August 5, 2012

Question by Lou: What can I expect in “intense physical therapy” after a car accident?
Im 24. I was in a bad car accident 3 months ago. I was T boned by a semi truck in my driver door. I am lucky to be alive! I have already done my first consolation visit with my therapist. Most of my damage is in my neck (sub cranial area) shoulders, upper back and left arm. Monday begins my intense physical therapy 3x’s a week. What can I expect to happen?

How long does one session take?
What type of exercises will i do?
How many months can i expect to be in therapy?
Will the pain be really bad after each session? for how long?
Am I allowed to be lifting (at home)?

Best answer:

Answer by ROD S
You need to ask your therapist! After-all, I expect he or she is better qualified to answer any queries you may have!

Answer by Richard C
Lou, great questions!
1. A session can last as little as 30 minutes and last as long as 2 hours. All of this is dependent upon what the therapist wants to accomplish and how you are reacting to this. On average most sessions are about 45 minutes to an hour. Again this is going to depend upon the therapist and what they are doing.
2. Your sessions may include the use of modalities, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, or some other devices that they wish to use to reduce muscle irritation. As for the exercises again this is going to depend upon what the therapist has found and their approach to the problem. I like exercises that work the entire body and in the beginning are using only the weight of a limb or the body. These movements can be strenuous at times so the therapist should be asking you for your response to them as well as by feeling your muscles. Each therapist can approach this differently and some just like stretching at the beginning feeling this will help to lengthen tightened muscles. My approach is to use those muscles to get them functioning in a more normal pattern than they have adopted since the trauma.
2. This is going to depend on a number of factors. One is how you are responding to the treatment. Look for somewhere between 3 to 6 months. This can change by different factors including how you are reacting to this, your insurance coverage, your lawyer, and how the therapist feels about working with these types of cases. If the therapist is the type that is not going to fight the insurance companies then you are really going to be in the window of 3 to 6 months. Remember that the insurance company is going to tell you that their studies show that muscle tissue heals in about 6 to 8 weeks. That is not true and unless your therapist is willing to hash it out with them then they will discharge you.
3. The pain might increase a little after each initial session but in most cases this shouldn’t be the case. Again this is going to depend upon the techniques that are employed. In most cases this is done in a relatively short time frame of a week or at most two.
4. You are constantly lifting now so there is no reason that you cannot lift. Remember that every time that you get out of a chair or bed you are lifting your body weight. Now if you are talking about resumption of weight lifting this would be an area of concern to me. Strengthening of the muscles is extremely important but should be done in a specific manner. To do this you have to determine which muscle group is the stronger. By this I mean if you were to test your biceps in each arm you are going to find that one is slightly stronger. You want to always start lifting using the stronger muscle group first. Doing it this way will actually increase the strength and performance of the weaker muscle. By checking all of the muscles involved you are going to develop a pattern of what has to be strengthened more so than by just working both sides at once or just working the injured side. If by lifting at home you are talking about housework then you should be able to do this but just make sure that your lifting form is correct. This should be covered in your therapy sessions early on.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Physical Therapy for a Frozen Shoulder – This is a great example of how to treat a frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis). This is an actual patient. She presents with limited ability to lift her arm completely. Manual therapy is used to on her rotator cuff. After the treatment she shows an improvement in ROM of about 30 degrees of flexion, abduction and internal rotation. These techniques are much less painful than “traditional” therapy. For more infomation regarding these techniques, contact Don Ostdiek at Physical Therapy Works in Omaha, NE.

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