You’re 4 months out from your surgery. You’ve been going to your local insurance-based physical therapy clinic for 30 minute sessions, 3 times per week for the past 16 weeks. Out of nowhere, you hear those dreaded 5 words, “You are out of visits.” You think to yourself, “What am I supposed to do now? I don’t feel ready to go back to my sport. I still have work left to do!”. This can be one of the most frustrating things to go through and can leave you feeling down about your potential to get back to doing the things you love. 

There are so many complexities to this topic, and while it’s impossible to cover everything in one blog, it’s important to highlight a few of the biggest things to consider. As we covered in the first part of this series, most people should be in a formalized ACL rehabilitation program for AT LEAST 9 months after surgery. Returning to your sport before 9 months SIGNIFICANTLY increases your risk of re-injuring your knee and can prove to be costly in more ways than one. If your insurance will only cover 4 months worth of treatment, how are you supposed to feel ready, confident, and prepared to return to sport? Additionally, it’s important to reflect on what kind of testing your provider gave you in order to determine that you’re “ready”. If your provider put you through 10 single leg squats, a few hops, and then cleared you to return to all activities, I have some unfortunate news. You likely have some more work to do and should be going through a more extensive battery of testing including specific objectively measured muscle strength tests, hop/jump tests, psychological testing, agility/change of direction testing, and more. And this would likely be closer to the 9 month mark at minimum. So what can you do if you’re in this situation?

That’s where a cash-based physical therapy clinic like Inside Out Strength and Performance can help. The cash-based model allows us to see you for as many visits as you need to feel ready to return to your sport and does not require us to be confined by the rules and regulations of insurance companies. Oftentimes these rules and regulations do not have the patient’s best interest in mind and can be detrimental to your progress. In addition to the ability to see you for as many visits as you require, the cash-based model allows us to see you for a full hour, working one on one with a Doctor of Physical Therapy who can provide the right cues, assessments, and treatments to get you back to doing what you love. This allows us the time and space to create an individualized program that best suits YOUR needs and allows us the resources to provide you with the proper return to sport testing that will help reduce your risk of re-injury. 

Need Help?

If you’ve found yourself in the situation where you’ve run out of visits or where you have been prematurely discharged and you don’t quite feel ready to go back to your sport/activity, reach out to us at anytime at (760) 301-6566 or at [email protected] . We’d love to help in any way we can!