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Sam Pitcairn
Stuck in the PT Loop? Why 12 Weeks Is Your Limit.
Training
By Sam Pitcairn
It is the most common story I hear during an assessment in Pittsburgh:
"I’ve been going to Physical Therapy for 6 months. I go three times a week. I get a heat pack, I do some clam shells with a yellow band, and I get a massage. But my back still hurts."
If this is you, I have hard news: You aren't a patient anymore. You are a customer.
You are stuck in the "PT Loop." You are paying a copay to hang out with a nice person who is managing your pain, not fixing it.
Here is the industry secret they won't tell you: If you haven't seen significant results in 12 weeks, your therapy isn't working. In fact, you might have healed just as fast by doing nothing at all.
In medical research, we study something called the "Natural History" of an injury. This is how long it takes the body to heal if you stay home and watch Netflix.
Here is the uncomfortable truth: Most research shows that for non-traumatic pain (like lower back pain), long-term Physical Therapy often has outcomes no better than the natural history.
If you are in Week 16 of PT for a "strained back" and you still have pain, the PT isn't fixing you. Your body healed the tissue damage 4 weeks ago. The pain that remains is neurological or mechanical.
And you cannot fix mechanics with a heat pack.
Why does this happen? Because the insurance model rewards Passive Modalities.
Ultrasound, TENS units, heat packs, and massage feel good. They lower your pain for about 2 hours. But they do zero to change the structure of your body.
Wolff’s Law states that tissue only remodels in response to Force.
To get out of pain permanently, you need to be Stronger. You need to force the tissue to adapt to a load greater than what it experiences in daily life.
If the tissue has healed (12+ weeks) but the pain remains, you are missing the Root Cause.
The PT is likely treating the site of the pain, not the source.
You are stuck in the loop because you are putting a bucket under the leak instead of fixing the roof.
It is time to fire your therapist and hire a coach.
You need to stop "doing rehab" and start Training. We need to expose your body to progressive overload to build Structural Balance.
Here is a superset we use to break clients out of the "Chronic Back Pain" loop. It forces the glutes to do their job so the back can finally relax.
Perform this twice a week. Put the yellow bands in the trash.
A1. Trap Bar Deadlift (The King of Mechanics)
A2. Seated Piriformis Stretch (Active)
12 weeks is the cutoff.
If you have been in therapy for longer than that and you aren't 100%, you are wasting your time. Your body has likely already done all the healing it can do on its own. Now it needs Strength.
Stop being a patient. Stop managing the decline.
If you are in Pittsburgh and are ready to exit the loop, come to Essential Strength. We don't bill insurance; we build results.
After you submit this form we will be in contact within 24 hrs to set up an appointment to come into our East Liberty location for a performance assessment.
