Can Physical Therapy Make an Injury Worse?

Find out if physical therapy can make an injury worse or if it's designed to help you recover from your injuries instead of making them worse.

Can Physical Therapy Make an Injury Worse?

We all know that many patients are afraid of physical therapy, assuming it will make them feel worse than they already do. This is not the case, as physical therapy is designed to strengthen the muscles surrounding the injury or medical condition, so you can feel better over time. The expression “no pain, no gain” may be familiar to you, but it can contribute to a harmful mindset and cause people to hesitate or stop physical health changes due to fear of discomfort. Interestingly, while it may lead to a traumatic experience, physical therapy is much more likely to worsen injuries and prolong the discomfort and pain if you avoid care at a physical therapy center.

The quick and simple answer is “No” - during physical treatment, there should be no pain. The primary goal of physical therapy is to help you recover from your injuries instead of making them worse. Physical therapists monitor your condition very closely to ensure that none of the exercises you are doing in your therapy sessions are further damaging your health in any way. Your therapist will find the fastest route to your recovery by strengthening your muscles and joints while increasing the mobility of the injured area.

However, your safety is always your priority. If your doctor or surgeon is prescribing physical therapy, you should entrust your rehabilitation and recovery to the best physical therapists. Physical therapy patients often fear that their discomfort will worsen as a result of treatment. Another thing to keep in mind about physical therapy is that what works for one patient may not work for another.

I had my first physical therapy session and the therapist pressed very hard on the bottom of my rib cage on the right side with his finger. Although the incidence of medical negligence in physical therapy is low (approximately 2.5 cases per 10,000 active therapists each year), errors sometimes occur that can result in more injuries. One of the excuses people often make to avoid physical therapy (PT) after an injury or surgical procedure is the fear that making an effort will only cause more pain and injury. Endeavor Physical Therapy is an outpatient physical therapy and manual therapy clinic that offers a first-rate physical therapy intervention to patients who suffer musculoskeletal injuries before or after surgery.

When a person seeks a physical therapist, it's usually because they already have a medical problem and are looking for some kind of relief and healing. Physical therapy is of great help to many people, but it also has the potential to cause additional injury to the patient. In these cases, both the doctor and the therapist can be held liable for damages related to the additional injury. However, as long as you and your physical therapist are in agreement, there should never be any painful or incontinental treatment.

Sometimes, the doctor who originally treated the patient makes an incorrect diagnosis of the injury and recommends physical therapy, which consequently causes more harm.It's important to remember that physical therapy should never cause pain or discomfort - it's designed to help you recover from your injuries instead of making them worse. Your safety should always be your priority when undergoing physical therapy treatment.