Benefits of just one physical therapy session can help start a journey of healing

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) - Physical therapy can be used to help treat issues such as limited mobility, pain, and other physical aspects of life, according to Jake Kretschmar, a physical therapist with Foundation Health Partners in Fairbanks.

However, some Alaskans face barriers to accessing such services, which include geographical or financial.

“A lot can be accomplished in one visit,” Kretschmar said.

Whether it’s a single inpatient visit before a person is discharged from a hospital or a free clinic, such as those put on by the American Physical Therapy Association Alaska (APTA), just getting started can be “quite beneficial,” Kretschmar said.

He said that during the first or only visit, a physical therapist assesses the patient to “hone in on the dysfunction that’s present during the evaluation.”

This allows physical therapists to prescribe exercises “to restore mobility, improve range of motion, decrease pain, improve strength and physical function,” Kretschmar explained. “Exercise can be a lot like medicine. Medicine helps heal the body, exercise helps heal the body.”

That also means finding the right intensity for a patient, which can be done on the first visit, too.

“We’ll give that to the patient and then we can teach them how to do those exercises, how to modify those exercises, how to make them harder or easier based on a given day and then that patient can start to take ownership of their program since the physical therapy was able to help help them together find the right exercises for them,” he said.

He added that it’s important for those patients doing exercise on their own to only do what they can tolerate as well.

“If a patient is exercising and they’re gritting their teeth to get through the exercise, I would argue that they can’t tolerate it,” Kretschmar said. “I tell them to be in control of whatever movement that they’re doing, and more often than not, if a patient does those two things while following the program, they’re in a pretty safe area to continue exercising without getting any adverse effects.”

For those who can’t acquire equipment specialized to their exercises, Kretschmar said simply staying mobile can be helpful too.

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