Does Physical Therapy Hurt?

For nearly a century, trained professionals have been using physical therapy to help others correct problems in their bodies and recover from injuries. Physical therapy can help you get back to your normal daily activities faster while helping you avoid reinjury in the future. 

Even with the benefits, we know that some people have concerns about discomfort during physical therapy. At Northern Virginia Orthopaedic Specialists, we prioritize your safety and comfort whenever you’re in our office. 

Our experts — including Megan Friend, MD, Christopher Highfill, MD, W. Bartley Hosick, MD, John Kim, MD, and Kevin Peltier, MD — are always listening. If anything hurts, we’ll stop it. That said, physical therapy can be challenging. 

Here’s what you should expect when you work with our physical therapists. 

Discomfort during and after physical therapy

At our office, our physical therapists tailor your physical therapy to your body’s unique needs. During any given session, you might do some stretching or strength-training exercises or receive hands-on manipulation or massage therapy. 

Ultimately, we design your physical therapy to be as comfortable as possible for you. If you ever feel any pain at all during a session, tell your therapist right away so they can adapt what you’re doing to what’s right for your body. 

We never want you to feel pain, but sometimes your physical therapy will be uncomfortable and challenging, and you might be sore afterwards. That soreness is a sign that new, stronger muscle tissue is developing in the area we worked. 

The benefits of physical therapy

If physical therapy can be hard sometimes, is it worth it? If your pain or injury is currently getting in the way of your quality of life, and you have an injury or suffer from one of these common conditions, the answer is almost always yes. 

Through physical therapy, you can potentially:

• Manage pain
• Improve muscle strength
• Heal faster
• Improve balance
• Avoid surgery
• Avoid reinjury
• Improve your range of motion

Again, our physical therapists tailor your treatment plan to what your body needs. So if a particular issue is plaguing you, talk to our team about the possibility of physical therapy. If it could make a difference for you, we can let you know how this medication-free, safe healing option would work for your specific case. 

If you want to learn more about what to expect during physical therapy, we’re here. Don’t hesitate to reach out to our physical therapists by calling one of our offices in Manassas or Haymarket, Virginia, or scheduling an appointment online today.