410-884-9080 | Columbia, MD
ASSESS. EXECUTE. RECOVER.
ASSESSMENT
Pain and injury are unpleasant and stressful, but Catalyst PT will help make your recovery journey comfortable and efficient. Whether you are in need of injury recovery, surgical rehabilitation, or relief from chronic pain, Catalyst is here to help!
Many area orthopedic surgeons refer their patients to us because they trust and appreciate our judgement, methodology, communication, and most importantly….RESULTS!
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You may schedule a free pain assessment with us which includes taking your history, cause of injury (if known), symptoms, and complaints. Next, a Catalyst physical therapist will assess your posture, soft tissue, range of motion, strength, sensation, balance, and functional ability. Finally, the therapist will perform any necessary special tests to derive a diagnosis for your presentation. This is a 15-30 minute quick assessment to see if physical therapy is the right option for you. It does not include and in-depth analysis, exercises, or manual treatment.
We may identify a problem that should be evaluated by a physician or an orthopedist, in which case we help you identify the right specialist for your condition. Many times, however, patients are candidate for physical therapy services without a doctor’s referral.
In Maryland, you have the option of seeing a physical therapist without a doctor referral, though your insurance may require it if you are going through insurance. At Catalyst, you always have self-pay options available, as well. If your insurance coverage has run out, we will match what they paid if you continue as a self-pay patient.
Should physical therapy be the option for you, we will do a formal evaluation in which we will record specific baseline measures, perform special diagnostic tests, create a comprehensive plan of care to address your needs and resolve your symptoms, educate you on the anatomy of your injury, answer your questions, prescribe home exercises, and begin to manually treat the areas of concern. Formal evaluations can be paid for out of pocket or through insurance. Insurance requires a formal evaluation, as do we prior to beginning services.
Depending on your condition, your plan will include a schedule of 2-3 weekly sessions with your physical therapist, plus an at-home exercise program to speed your recovery. Initial home exercises will be reviewed over your first few sessions and evolve as you progress throughout your time here. Every patient is different, so frequencies and durations of treatment may vary. Research shows that 3x/week achieves the most efficient results and less than 2x/week does not achieve efficient results. Catalyst typically only prescribes sessions 1x/week as they are weaning patients off treatment in preparation for discharge with their advanced Home Exercise Program and return to play.
Your therapist will:
Review the findings of your evaluation
Explain the associated anatomy of your injury
Explain the ideology behind your treatment plan
Answer any questions you may have
NON-SURGICAL INJURIES
Muscle strains and pulls are often reactions of a bigger problem that, if left untreated, may cause much worse conditions such as torn rotator cuffs, torn ligaments or cartilage, disc injuries, or broken bones. When you are assessed for a sprain or strain it is common to learn there was an underlying imbalance that resulted in a compensation which ultimately caused the actual injury.
We not only evaluate your injury, but we seek to help you understand and address the underlying problem that may have contributed to it. We do not just treat the pain, we focus on resolving the problem. This is the key to injury prevention and optimal performance.
Our goal is to help you regain and improve your balance, symmetry, mobility, stability, and strength, addressing the underlying biomechanics. Unfortunately, the harder we work and play, injuries will always be a possibility. Catalyst PT will always be here for you when you need us, but we aspire to empower you with knowledge and tools so you can prevent that need!
Some common non-surgical injuries include:
Sports and overuse injuries
Planter fasciitis
Neck and back pain
Sciatica
Patello- femoral pain syndrome
Hip and shoulder impingement syndrome
SURGICAL INJURIES
Recovering from surgery is physically and emotionally draining, and let’s not ignore it can make you cranky. We get it! We’ve all been there and we understand. Our whole team has experienced the journey you are on, so we are extra committed to making your journey the best it can be.
Once your physician clears you for physical therapy, we review their post-operative orders and rehab protocol, perform our comprehensive examination to establish your baseline, review and educate you on our findings, establish short and long term rehab goals based upon your own goals, and then we get right to work!
SURGERY? WE'VE BEEN THERE! WE GET IT!
In the beginning, surgical rehab patients may require crutches, a boot, sling, and other assistive devices for managing the injury. These patients may also have post-operative precautions making a dynamic warm-up impossible, so we get your muscles warmed up with a heating pad. As you progress, you’ll be able to go to your warm-up machine without assistance.
Every surgical patient experiences joy at being able to do something they couldn’t do in a long time, but the journey includes peaks and valleys of progress, frustration, and sometimes discomfort. Everyone on our team has been there and is here to support you through the process. The entire team of catalyst plus the other patients are rooting for you, cheering you on when you need it!
Surgical rehab is tiring. Your body is healing. You’ve been through a trauma and it takes time, but if you do the prescribed exercises as well as you can, and as often as prescribed, our clients often heal and return even better than you were before the injury!
Common surgeries we work with:
Ankle instability reconstruction
Spinal Surgery
Joint replacements
Ligament reconstruction (ACL, UCL, or "Tommy John")
Rotator cuffs repair
Hip and shoulder labral repairs
Patellar re-alignment reconstruction
Tendon rupture repairs (Achilles, quadriceps, biceps, pectoral)
CHRONIC PAIN
If you’ve got pain keeping you from the activities you love, Catalyst PT’s approach could be the missing piece to getting you back in action. We want to help you perform well at a level your body can handle. We’ve all been sidelined from sports or activities we love and our goal is to get you back to yours!
Many people come to us with chronic pain they’ve lived with for a long time, or that have been told to simply stop doing what they love if they want their pain to stop. But pain is the body’s way of getting your attention that something is wrong. The sooner you address the source of your pain, the more likely you’ll return to your sport or activities at your previous level, or possibly even better!
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Among other things, chronic pain may stem from overuse, poor biomechanics, compensation, and old injuries. During your assessment, we’ll help you understand what can be done to improve your strength, flexibility, balance, stability, and functional movement quality.
During your care here, you will be given corrective functional exercises to produce targeted responses in the body. Your exercise program is specifically designed to address your noted deficits and restore efficient movement patterns, effectively resolving your pain as a result. Once pain is relieved and your body is stronger, you’ll be better able to do the things you love.
At Catalyst PT, it is our last resort to limit or order a hold on doing what you love. Only if treatment, activity modification, or reduction of volume and intensity do not sufficiently reduce pain and inflammation and impede on your recovery, will we order a hold on your activity. And that is only temporary while we work to address the underlying issues and work to restore you back to pain-free function! Our goal is to help you achieve yours!
DON'T LET PAIN KEEP YOU FROM LIFE OR YOUR SPORT!
Pain that may be helped with physical therapy:
Posture-related pain
Neck and back pain
Joint pain
Running pain
Sports-related pain
Radicular Nerve pain
