What Can I Expect at my Physiotherapy Appointment? Top Three Patient Questions Answered!

Considering physiotherapy? Not sure what to expect? It’s common to feel anxious or a little stressed with the idea of starting physiotherapy treatments! Discomfort can leave you feeling uneasy or slightly vulnerable so the idea of therapy can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. The information below will help you ease into this entire process of receiving care for your pain. We’ve broken this resource down into three of the most common questions asked by our patients when arriving here at Body Works Physiotherapy. Those questions are:

1. What should I expect during my first physiotherapy session?
2. Does insurance cover physio, and how does that work?
3. Do you need a referral to see a physiotherapist in Ontario?

Click on any of these questions to bump directly down to the question on this page. If you have any other questions, please reach out to us. We are here to help!

What Should I Expect During My Physiotherapy Session?

From medical procedures to job interviews, we all want to know the same thing: what can you expect? The same goes for rehabilitation sessions with a Body Works physiotherapist! What can you expect?

What should you receive?

Munira Palitanawala, our physiotherapist at Body Works McNicoll, is outlining what happens during a physiotherapy session. Is every visit the same when a patient comes for physiotherapy?

Every patient is very unique and they need tailor-made solutions. 

At Body Works Physiotherapy Clinics we work with you to provide the best treatment options to our patients based on their needs.

For example, let’s say we have two patients coming in with shoulder pain, and both are experiencing the same level of pain intensity. Perhaps one is having tendonitis in their shoulder, and the other one is experiencing frozen shoulder. Will their plans be the same because they have the same level of pain? No! Each treatment plan is based on the activity limitation at work and at home, pain level, individual injury and health history.

Where do we start? With a physiotherapy assessment!

When you first come in for an assessment, we take a detailed history of your pain or injury. We have a conversation with you about your routine and daily activities. How is your pain stopping you from living your best life? This way we can understand your limitations and bring trust and understanding to our treatment sessions together. We then move on to a physical assessment, where we check the range of motion, muscle strength and do some diagnostic tests for the area of injury. These tests help us to reach a working diagnosis and then plan out care and treatment.

At the end of our assessment, our most important question is, “What is your goal at the end of the treatment? What are your expectations from the treatment?”. We want to know what to aim for! This helps us to plan out the short-term and the long-term goals of your treatment plan. We then move on to educating every patient about their condition and how physiotherapy can help them to recover from their pain. We customize your Plan of Care to meet your goals.

A Plan of Care consists of the details of your treatment sessions, recommended complementary therapies, session frequency, and some home exercise advice that can help us improve the efficiency of our treatment. We send you home with this Plan of Care folder so that you can remember everything we covered in your assessment and what our shared goals are for your treatment. Your Plan of Care will also help us schedule the follow-up appointments outlined in your assessment. Most importantly, we give you lots of information about your injury or condition and the rehabilitation you can expect ahead.

That a lot that happens in that first assessment! Are your follow-up sessions different from the assessment?

Yes! When you come in for your follow-up session, we will have a quick chat with you about what has changed since your assessment. How are you feeling? What are your main concerns? Are you able to get back to your regular activities at all? Have you been following your home exercise plan? This gives us an idea of the compliance the patient is having towards the treatment and how far we  have progressed in achieving our goals?

We then quickly check your range of motion. Doing so helps you to see the physical change in movement, thereby showing our progress. We then move onto giving patients a thirty minute follow-up treatment that includes pain-relieving modalities, some manual therapy, exercise therapy, and other complementary techniques. We then review the exercises, adding or progressing as needed. At Body Works you will always get a copy of your exercise plan to take and continue at home.

Next step?  Now that you know what to expect at your physiotherapy session, it’s time to get some help! Looking to find the right fit for you? Body Works is here to help! You can check out our contact us page to find a location near you.

Does Insurance Cover Physio?

Did you know, the number one reason patients stopped seeking out physiotherapy is inability to understand their insurance coverage? Navigating the paperwork and the requirements can be a nightmare! Where do you even begin? Rani Poothullil, our physiotherapist at Bodyworks Ellesmere is here to tell us more.

To start with, 99% of the extended health care insurance plans have physiotherapy coverage.

Oftentimes a medical prescription or referral from your family doctor is required by your insurance in order for physiotherapy to be covered.

This referral can sometimes have a specific clinic named on it, suggesting that this referral is only good for that location. In reality, any referral from any doctor is valid at any clinic in Ontario for coverage through your insurance plan.

Our patients regularly tell us that they looked over their massive 50+ page insurance company guide and couldn’t find the word ‘physiotherapy’. This does not necessarily mean that you do not have insurance coverage for physiotherapy. Some plans have a bulk fund for all paramedical services. Paramedical services are defined as any health services that have the potential to reduce stress, improve sleep, reduce pain, and provide personal support. They include physiotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture and more!

Can’t find the insurance booklet from your company plan? Don’t worry! There are four other ways you can find your insurance coverage:

1. Ask us! – Our patient experience coordinators are well versed and practiced in dealing with extended health insurance companies. We are happy to put a call into them with you to navigate the details and watch for loopholes and hidden deductibles that patients aren’t aware of until after their insurance claim comes back partially paid.
2. There’s an app for that – Most of the major insurance companies in Canada have an app for your phone where you can log in with your plan details and view your full plan requirements. Check Google Play Store or the App Store! Manulife and SunLife have apps available that can be super helpful!
3. Call the 1-800 number – All insurance companies have a help line specifically for helping their clients ask questions. Not sure what questions to ask your insurance? Ask your Body Works patient experience coordinator for help or have them join in a three way call to ask all the questions.
4. Surf on over – To the web, that is! Insurance companies that haven’t gotten an app yet likely have a patient portal website instead where you can log in with your plan details and peruse your full benefit plan.

Now that you know the four different ways to reach your insurance company, what can you expect to find in your benefit package? What does paramedical insurance coverage look like? Coverage does vary depending on the company you work for and the insurance company that your company has chosen to provide coverage through. Some key coverage factors include:

• Yearly limits can run anywhere from $300 to $1000;
• Partial coverage per session, sometimes at 75%, 80% or 90% of the session cost;
• Dollar max per session, such as some insurance companies will cover only $25 max per session, and others will cover $150 per session;
• Yearly deductibles that the patient is responsible for before coverage kicks in, ranging from $25 to $50 or more.

We highly recommend on your first visit to Body Works Clinics that you and your patient experience coordinator call your insurance company together and find out the insurance details, so every patient has the knowledge they need to navigate their insurance.

Our patient experience coordinators deal with insurance companies every day, all day!

They are well-versed in the different ways your insurance can describe or define the paperwork they need in order to pay claims. One insurance company may say they need a ‘prescription’, whereas another will say they need a ‘referral’.  Another insurance company may ask for a ‘claim form’, but another could ask for a ‘submission form’.

All of our Body Works patient experience coordinators are trained to provide every single piece of paperwork that your insurance could require to pay the claim on the first attempt. Some insurance companies will even allow us to do an online submission for the patient, to save you the hassle of mailing the paperwork. Each insurance company and each individual plan with an insurance company is different, and it’s important to know all of your details to ensure you are not hit with any hidden fees or deductibles by your insurance.

Ready to find out what your insurance covers? Want to understand your plan better? Body Works is here to help! Body Works has four locations to serve you better. You can check out our contact page, to find a location near you.

Do You Need a Referral to See a Physiotherapist in Ontario?

Did you know that physiotherapists are primary health care practitioners in Ontario?

They treat musculoskeletal conditions, motor vehicle accident injuries, sports injuries, and as well as sprains and strains. But do I need a referral from my doctor to see my Body Works physiotherapist? Rani Poothullil, our Body Works Ellesmere physiotherapist, will be taking us through how important that referral really is.

So, do you need a referral to see a physiotherapist in Ontario?

The short answer to this question is, “No.”

In Ontario, physiotherapists are considered primary health care practitioners. This means they can be the first point of care for patients experiencing pain. Physiotherapists are also regulated health professionals in Ontario. There is a regulating body, called the College of Physiotherapist of Ontario, that protects the interests of the public and of the physiotherapist by ensuring there are standard care practices and training across the board. Think of it this way: anyone can practice physiotherapy, but only a licensed person may call themselves a physiotherapist.

When would you actually need that referral, then? Why are there such things as referrals?

If you have physiotherapy or paramedical coverage under your Extended Health Care insurance, some insurance company may require a doctor’s referral. We regularly have patients who have never considered physiotherapy before, which is the other reason referrals exist: to guide patients through the complicated health care system in Ontario and find the best care possible. Primary care physicians refer to physiotherapy to help their patients avoid more extreme forms of medical intervention such as heavy duty medications or surgeries.

We regularly get asked, do you need to have imaging done before you come in to see your physiotherapist? Not necessarily! When you come to physiotherapy first, we will complete a full assessment on your first day to check for any concerns that might require intervention beyond our care. If your ankle injury looks like it’s more than a sprain, we will send you to your doctor immediately for an xray to rule out fractures. Back pain looking to be less structural and more internal? We’ll recommend your doctor for checking that everything is A-OK before pushing ahead in treatment!

Are there benefits to seeing your doctor first for a referral? Absolutely! If you’ve met with some serious injuries, such as a fall or sports injury, your doctor can refer you for x-rays and ultrasounds. These key imaging services can help your doctor and your physiotherapist get a better idea about which treatment options are best for you! Another benefit of seeing your doctor before your physiotherapist might be to request additional referrals you may be needing for your insurance. For instance, if you are experiencing back pain, we would recommend getting a referral for massage therapy too! Ankle pain? Consider orthotics!

Our patients often ask us if they need to go back and  tell your doctor that you went to physio. We wouldn’t recommend an appointment just for that, as your Body Works team will have taken care of that for you already! After your first few treatment sessions with us, we send a progress note to your family doctor. In it, we’ll outline our working diagnosis of what is going on, what treatment options we recommend on trying in the clinic, and how often we have recommended you to come for treatment. This plan of care is added to your patient file with your family doctor so that they are aware of your health care plan. We’re also happy to provide updated reports and letters to your family doctor if you have further concerns.

Next step?  A referral isn’t required for you to get pain relief NOW! Looking to find the right fit for you? Body Works Physiotherapy is here to help! You can check out our contact us page, or you can give us a call at any one of our four locations found at the top of this page.  We are conveniently located in Scarborough and Pickering!