Is your in-network insurance going to cost you more for physical therapy than going out of network?

health-insurance

When you decide to go to a physical therapist, you have taken the first step toward feeling better. Admitting you need help with your body from a professional is a big decision — but then what?

You ask Google who the best therapist is. You turn to friends and family for suggestions. Maybe you even call a few places to see if your insurance covers treatment there. Sooner or later you find the great divide in our healthcare system. Do I stay in network or do I go out of network?

When most people hear “out of network” there is a cringe response followed by dollar signs fading into the distance. This gut reaction exists because information on how insurance companies can dictate your treatment is largely swept under the carpet, leaving the consumer undereducated and under-served.

Continue reading “Is your in-network insurance going to cost you more for physical therapy than going out of network?”

Treating wrists and forearms hurt from playing the violin

violinist-treatment

Tatz醫生的醫式好像中西醫運合的。他好像中醫會用全面的方法，但他也會用現代的機器而不會只是依靠傳統。

我是由於拉小提琴傷了手腕及前臂。我看了西醫物理治料而感到它們慣例的伸展活動和超聲波沒有效， 而Tatz醫生這樣完全明白。他第一眼見到我已經說我整身體緊。這個我已經知道，而我都下意識知道這個問題對我平常一舉一動有挺大的影響。可是，從來都沒有人(過去的物理治料師，健身教練等等)跟我應對過這個全面的問題。

Tatz 醫生會動生幫你按摩及鬆解你的肌肉。第一天他沒有對我的手腕或前臂做任何東西，他跟我說不想一天醫好我，而他只按了我的腰和背部。他也教我一些超輕柔的“運動”，是很微細的整體左右擺動。每次最後的15-20分鐘，他會放你在一部磁性機器下“睡覺”。下來的預約，他有按鬆我超繄的肩膀，腿等等，及教我多些擺動的運動。第三個預約，他按了我的手腕(不是無痛的!)，而我的手腕這大半年沒感到過這樣好。但是， Tatz 醫生也說，“We have a big project” (我們有一個大工程)。他要我用八星期，二十次見他。

Tatz 醫生是一個好人，也想醫好你。 他會多說，人愈用腦多，身體就愈繄。他多強調，我們的身體自然懂得動。他也說，身體放鬆“loose”,比強的身體好。

Dr Tatz’s style seems like a mix of Eastern and Western philosophies. He takes a holistic approach like Chinese doctors, but he also uses modern technology and doesn’t rely on tradition totally.

I hurt my wrists and forearms from playing the violin. I had been to a physical therapist and found that their prescriptive methods of stretching and ultrasound useless, and Dr Tatz understood completely. The moment he looked at me he already said that my whole body was tight. I was already aware of this, and I already had a suspicion that this affected a lot of what I did in life. But, no one (including previous physical therapists, fitness instructor etc) had ever addressed this for me.

Dr Tatz heals you hands-on, massaging you out and loosening your muscles. Our first appointment he didn’t do anything to my wrists or forearms; he said he didn’t want to heal me in a day, and he worked on my core, front and back. He also taught me some super mild “exercises”, which were sort of micro movements that involved shaking/twisting left and right fairly quickly. The last 15-20 minutes, you are almost always put under some magnetic machine to “sleep”. Our next appointments, he loosened my shoulders which are super tight, and my legs, etc, and gave me more similar exercises .On our third appointment, he massaged out my wrists (it wasn’t painless), and over the last 6 months my wrists haven’t felt better. But, as Dr Tatz says, “We have a big project.” He wants me to come for 20 sessions over 8 weeks.

Dr Tatz is a nice man, and he wants to get you better. He says often, that the more you use your brain, the tighter your body. He emphasizes that our body naturally knows how to move. And, he also says, that a loose body is better than a strong body.

Physical Therapy: The Ancient Practice and Overlooked Modalities of Insurance Companies

greek-body

It was the Ancient Greek Doctor and Founder of Western Medicine, Hippocrates, who first introduced Physical Therapy as a form of healing. But it wasn’t until the 1970’s that Western Medicine would formally allow Physical Therapists to have their own practices. Before then, most Physical Therapy was done in hospitals.

Alternative therapies these days are referred to as just about anything outside Western Medicine and hospitals, such as Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic Medicine, Naturopathic, Chiropractic. The list goes on. But lost somewhere between medicine and alterative is Physical Therapy: PT shouldn’t be overlooked, as it is one of the true and natural modalities there is.

A skilled Physical Therapist can examine, evaluate and treat patients from chronic illnesses to severe and mild injuries. Physical Therapists are known to reduce or eliminate pain. Benefits of PT can include recovering from falls, injuries and fractures; recovering from strokes; managing vascular conditions including diabetes; heart and lung problems; headaches and migraines; age related limitations including arthritis, facial nerve paresis, fibromyalgia, gastritis, insomnia; as well as ankle, knee, back, disc, shoulder, neck and TMJ pain. The list goes on and on.

Continue reading “Physical Therapy: The Ancient Practice and Overlooked Modalities of Insurance Companies”

Holistic Mind Body Treatment: Relieving Head, Knee and Hip Pain

My aches and pains have been steadily diminishing since seeing Shmuel Tatz, PT, PhD for the first time but they hadn’t vanished completely – yet. Only because it’s been a long and winding road of minor injuries over the decades. This being my tenth visit, I didn’t know what to expect since there are a variety of problem areas in my small frame. Tatz, usually a man of little words, surprised me when he sat down and spoke at length before my treatment began. He was insistent that I understand, “People don’t always want to hear what their real problem is.” I was a little worried he had something unpleasant to tell me about my own health, but I listened.

First he told me that sometimes people have psychological problems and not physical problems. “I always tells my patients the truth but sometimes they get upset with me.” Very recently, he told one of his patients that she might want to consider talking to a professional about her emotional problems; she left in tears. He explained in cases of the mind, doctors such as bestselling author Dr. John Sarno are very good at helping people understand that they can heal themselves by addressing underlying emotional issues. He also noted that can only happen if there is not an underlying physical problem. He was very concerned about this patient of his.

Continue reading “Holistic Mind Body Treatment: Relieving Head, Knee and Hip Pain”

Alternative Physical Therapy Treatment for Dislocated Elbow

Bonnie had been a regular patient of Shmuel Tatz, PT, PhD for twenty-plus years. She has enjoyed an active life of dance, hiking and yoga and only used to go see Tatz for tweaking her aches and pains away. Always successfully. She recommended Tatz to her friends for years. It wasn’t until Bonnie was injured that she fully appreciated just how truly gifted Tatz is.

It was a typical snowy, icy, New York City afternoon. Bonnie was carrying too many heavy bags, going back to her office, when she tripped over a pothole in the sidewalk. She tried to regain her balance, but the bags made her into a twirling top and she spiraled into a terrible fall dislocating her elbow. She was in excruciating pain and her arm swelled up two times its normal size.

Bonnie immediately went by ambulance to the emergency room, where her orthopedic doctor took x-rays. He told her to gently move her arm up and down, then to go see him again when he returned from traveling in two weeks time. Nothing more, no physical therapy other than his suggestion to move her arm up and down. That turned out to be laughable as her arm was so swollen and so tender, she really couldn’t move it all.

Continue reading “Alternative Physical Therapy Treatment for Dislocated Elbow”

Headache Follow Up Treatment on Neck and Jaw

I arrived a bit early for my eighth visit with Shmuel Tatz, PT, PhD. His waiting room is a constant, relaxing oasis. There are three red velvet orchestra seats to choose from, numbered 13, 15 & 17. Or, there’s also a comfortable piano bench to sit on. Prominently placed in the waiting area is a beautiful bronze sculpture of healing hands. His two assistants are always kind, smart and soft-spoken. I’d had success with Tatz’ previous treatment, in essence with all his treatments, but last time Tatz had made a leap with my headaches. The head pain had disappeared for a few days and it hadn’t come back in its usual way. This time, my head was sore versus piercing.

Tatz whisked me into one of his private rooms, had me lie face up, and immediately placed cold laser therapy instruments on both sides of my neck and disappeared for at least twenty minutes or so. I’d become accustomed to the cold laser treatments from Tatz. From my understanding, the cold laser was first developed in Europe: A noninvasive form of light amplification. On this particular treatment I fell fast asleep.

Continue reading “Headache Follow Up Treatment on Neck and Jaw”

Physical Therapy for Severe Headaches

headache

When I went in for my seventh visit with Shmuel Tatz, PT, PhD, I was in pretty bad shape. Without exaggeration I was coming out of a three-day migraine, had been unable to keep food or water down, plus had heart palpitations on the right side of my chest which sent me into my local MD’s office – although the EKG checked out fine. During these dark hours of what I call a level nine headache, where communing with the outside world is not an option, I obsessed on what to do about these headaches and migraines that have high jacked my life. I was considering surgery as a possibility, for a previously diagnosed hiatal hernia, since some experts say that the GI tract can cause all sorts of headaches, dizziness and palpitations. For the record, my MD was not recommending it, more like I was desperate.

Tatz was, as ever, attentive and went straight to the problem that day: My head. He asked me to lie in the most comfortable position, in which I chose to be face up. His hands gravitated first to the crown of my head, in particular the top of my forehead. His fingers lightly massaged these areas as well as my temples. Then with the grip of his two hands he cradled the left and right side of my brain: the two hemispheres. He held them and massaged them in opposite directions. After awhile, he moved back to the temples, touching more firmly, then the neck and below the neck. Probing, and shaking and attempting to liberate the pent up tension. Then his touch become stronger across the surface of my entire head, especially the right jaw. Then he asked that I open, close and contort my jaw in constant motions while simultaneously his technique became more intense across all these areas of head and neck.

Continue reading “Physical Therapy for Severe Headaches”

Everything in One’s Body is Interconnected

interconnected

On my fourth visit with Shmuel Tatz, PT, PhD he asked where was I experiencing the most pain. Once again, since I had so many variables in my body’s dis-comfort range, and since I now understood how everything in one’s body is interconnected, I felt much safer that day asking Tatz to please decide which area of my body needed the most focus.

For the record that day, I had the following symptoms which I did not mention to Tatz before his treatment: A lingering headache on the right side of head, the hiatal hernia that continued to keep my stomach bloated and my left trick-knee was still experiencing discomfort. Plus my lower back was acting up, an on again/off again scenario for the past twenty years, which I had never disclosed to Tatz.

First Tatz had me lie face up on his treatment table, then concentrated on my feet. With his expert hands, he pressed on acupuncture points on each foot and then began to rotate my feet and ankles to the left and right and forward and backward. Then he turned his attention to my legs ranging from acupressure points to shaking out each leg to deep tissue massage. Then he gave complete focus on the left knee – the original reason I went to see Tatz in the first place. His hands manipulated my knee in many different directions, pressing on different points of the knee – cartilage and meniscus areas.

Continue reading “Everything in One’s Body is Interconnected”

Treatment of Trumpet Player’s Swollen and Stiff Right Hand Fingers

trumpet-hands

Bud is professional trumpet player. His strong hands have been crucial to his successful life as a musician. While his wife has spoken about Shmuel Tatz, PT, PhD since the time they met, Bud has been quietly skeptical about what a physical therapist can really do. Meanwhile, Tatz has taken care of three generations of his wife’s family: First his wife’s father, then his wife and now their son.

Bud continued to be a skeptic until his right hand started giving him grief. The right hand being responsible for a trumpet player’s three musical buttons (valves) responsible for placing the instrument’s notes. It wasn’t an accident per se, but probably Bud’s life-long playing that caused his right hand fingers to become swollen and stiff. This was not only affecting his trumpet-playing technique, but had the potential to interfere with his career, not to mention his gift as a musician. He was concerned.

First, Bud went to an MD who diagnosed his condition to be polymyalgia rheumatica. He received a series of steroid shots plus medication. While Bud received some relief, it really hadn’t solved his problem – his fingers were not healing. His entire hand was in pain. As the weeks went on, he became continually worried about his right hand and the consequences it could have on his life-long career.

Bud’s wife suggested, “Why not go see Tatz? What do you have to lose?” So, he eventually he did.

Continue reading “Treatment of Trumpet Player’s Swollen and Stiff Right Hand Fingers”