Telemedicine at Sage Physical Therapy

We are now over two years into this pandemic, and we have learned a lot of new skills: some of us have learned how to bake bread, make new cocktails, or switched out all our jeans for comfortable pants! One enormous thing we’ve learned at Sage Physical Therapy is the value of telemedicine. 

Telemedicine is an incredible virtual tool to continue your physical therapy rehabilitation from the safety of your own home. As we enter this next COVID wave, as well as, cold/flu season, we understand that many of you may choose to stay home and stay safe and that does not mean your physical therapy has to stop!  

Telemedicine is a great option if you have a long commute, there are snow closures, or if childcare/other obligations necessitate staying at home. Our physical therapy professional association, the APTA, also strongly advocates for incorporating telemedicine as a more regular physical therapy practice.  

Benefits to Telemedicine at Sage Physical Therapy:

• Your physical therapist gets to see your home set up: There is valuable information your physical therapist can collect when they get to see how you perform your physical therapy exercises in your home environment and how you perform activities of everyday living: How is your posture while nursing your baby? How do you lift your dog food? How is your workstation set up to optimize your health? 
• Telemedicine empowers self-management: The goal at Sage Physical Therapy is to empower patient independence. We accomplish this by giving our patients tools to connect to their body so they can facilitate a self-assessment when discomfort arises. Because we are communicating through screens during a telemedicine session, our physical therapists see this as the perfect opportunity for our patients to practice building the intuitive skillset of “when I feel X, I need to do Y”. 
• You can keep your scheduled appointment if an unforeseen event occurs. Virtual physical therapy is convenient! Whether there is heavy traffic, you aren’t feeling well, or there’s extreme weather conditions – telehealth provides the option of keeping your scheduled appointment from the comfort of your home. 
• We get to see your pets!: We love it when your pets crash your physical therapy visit. We always hear about how your pets climb all over you when you get on your yoga mat at home, but now we get to see it! 
• Telehealth is reimbursed by insurance: If you are paying out-of-pocket, telehealth is still available at the same cost as our in office visits. 

How to Optimize Telemedicine at Sage Physical Therapy: 

• Use a tablet or laptop so that you can be hands-free during our visit. This will allow you to move freely and optimize your individualized session.  
• Get a yoga mat, pillow, and any exercise equipment ready (TheraBands, weights, etc.) that we may use during the session.  
• Make sure your camera is in a place where we can see you from head to toe. Your physical therapist may want to perform movement screen tests or guided exercise. 
• Don’t wear black pants! This is something we learned when we started virtual PT. It is harder to see joints and body positioning with black clothing, so if you can, wear something colorful instead 😊.  

*Unsure of whether you feel safe coming into the clinic? See the latest CDC guidelines here.  

Written by Johanna Leader DPT, PT at Sage Physical Therapy.