A lot of people in different age ranges go to physical therapy. According to Gitnux, 80% of those patients range from 18 to 64 years of age. There are some who try to avoid it, though. They likely have fallen for one of the seven myths that we have listed here.

1. You Can Only Do Physical Therapy for Injuries or an Accident

People go to see a physical therapist for far more than just doing stretches, range of motion exercises, or physical exercise to recover from an accident or an injury. They also see them for things like pain management, chronic headache relief, carpal tunnel syndrome, musculoskeletal conditions, lower back pain, and even frozen shoulders. The physical therapists will list the conditions that they help with on their website and if yours matches one of them, you can go see them to feel better.

2. It Will Be a Painful Experience

Physical therapists strive to make this the opposite for their patients. Of course, there might be some minimal pain or discomfort when you first start, but that will stop as you progress through your sessions. The physical therapist will see what your pain threshold is and then work around that so that you continue to improve. There will be times you might need to push your way through some discomfort, but you will never be put in a situation where you could be reinjuring yourself or worsening your condition.

3. You're Required to Get a Doctor's Referral

This one is partly true, because it depends on what state you're living in. If you live in New York, for example, you don't need a referral. You can contact the physical therapy office on your own and set things up. How many visits you'll have is up to your insurance. Other states do require you to get a referral, so be sure to check first before you go ahead with any visits. Otherwise, you could wind up having to pay more out of pocket. Generally though, you can just work directly with the physical therapist.

4. You Can Have All the Physical Therapy Done at Home

While there are some cases when a physical therapist will come see you at your place, you will usually go to an office, since they may have certain equipment that they can't take with them. They will also diagnose you in the office and come up with the best treatment plan to help you get back on the right track. You will get some in-home exercises to do to help keep you on track, but you will likely need to go to the office for all of your visits.

5. You Can't Avoid Surgery by Doing Physical Therapy

Once people have certain injuries or conditions, they may think that they are going to have to undergo surgery on the affected area. That's not necessarily true. A physical therapist can treat certain conditions like muscle tears, osteoarthritis, degenerative disk disease, and even rotator cuff tears. They can work with you to help keep you off the surgical table. If it does turn out that you need surgery, you can go in knowing that you made it the absolute last resort, not the first option.

6. Physical Therapy Is Expensive

This is pretty far from the truth. If you compare the price tag of surgery, even with insurance, you'll find that you come out much further ahead with physical therapy. Insurance also covers a good portion of this treatment, so you might only have to shell out a tiny amount as a co-pay for each session. That's much cheaper. Plus, if physical therapy can keep you from having to have the surgery in the first place, then you will have a lot more money in your bank account.

7. You're All Set Once You Finish Your Physical Therapy

This isn't like graduating from school. You won't be tossing any caps in the air and forgetting about everything you learned. No, you'll be given exercises and stretches to do at home or in your gym to keep you on a healthy track. Otherwise, you're going to risk being hurt again. Follow the instructions they give you and you should be fine.

There are plenty of other myths about this therapeutic treatment that have been debunked. If you're worried that you might be falling for one, don't hesitate to talk to a professional. Then you'll feel good about going regularly. Do you need to do physical therapy? If so, reach out to Onofray Physical Therapy today!