The 3 Stages of Healing in Physical Therapy

As Physical Therapists, most of the patients that come to us are in a lot of pain. The biggest part of our job is to bring that pain level down but contrary to popular belief, it doesn't end there. Relieving the patient’s pain is only step one. In reality the healing process has three different steps the patient must go through to complete their Physical Therapy.

Now, I’m not going to go through the physiological part of healing, that's a whole lot of class that we don’t have time for. Regardless, these three stages of healing are very important. Patients may end up missing out on some of the benefits Physical Therapy when they are not completed.

So first off in the process like I had said before, is bringing that pain level down. 

While reducing pain we also work on maintaining, and even gaining some range of motion and flexibility. A lot of times after a patient completes this first stage they think they are better and done with therapy, but this is far from the truth. They think “my pain is gone, do I really still need Physical Therapy?” This is when we start seeing patients drop out or show up less which can cause more harm than they are aware of. We want our patients to be completely recovered. Not just having less pain or being pain free, but really fully recovered and able to go back to their normal life without the risk of injury.

So now that the patient is pain free we can begin the second phase.

This is where we really start working on improving their range of motion, improving their flexibility, and working on strengthening. All through exercises tailored to their specific needs. We show them how to properly perform their exercises and provide a home program for them to follow as well. Little by little we progress the patient and their exercises so they can continue to grow stronger and feel better. I think other Physical Therapists will agree with me when I say this is a very important part of the recovery process.

We need to properly educate our patients; yes their pain is better but restoring range of motion, flexibility, and strength is just as important for their recovery.

This last phase I feel is often forgotten, even by some Physical Therapists. In my opinion this is where the fun really begins.

The third stage is all about getting the patient back to doing the things they love. For some that may be playing sports, carrying their groceries, playing golf, even lifting their grandchildren. Whatever their pain has been keeping them from doing, we want to get them back to. This is when we come up with fun exercises beyond the straight leg raises and things of that nature that are specific to what the patient is trying to accomplish.
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Want to be able to golf with your buddies again? Let’s bring in your golf club and see what we need to do to get your swing back and make it even better.

We can get creative with our treatment to really engage the patient and make sure they are meeting their goals. We want patients to leave us feeling proud of their achievements and happy with our care; but they have to go through all three stages to get to that point.

For any other Physical Therapists or Doctors out there, make sure you educate your patients on these three stages of healing. And for any patient out there, make sure you successfully go through them all and get the care you deserve! All patients deserve to feel fully confident in doing what they love without hurting themselves. With these steps, we hope to accomplish that with every single patient that crosses our path.

- Harry Koster, PT, Cert. MDT