At your first visit, your physical therapist will greet you and ask you questions about what you’ve been dealing with, your history, and your goals. Next, they’ll do an assessment of your muscles, joints, strength, mobility, etc. Your physical therapist will tell you what tests would be most beneficial, and you can decide which you want to do. Next, we’ll use that information to provide some initial treatment and give you one or two things to practice at home.

Each visit is about 50 minutes in length, one-on-one with a doctor of physical therapy. Every appointment starts in a private treatment room, and then we sometimes will move to the shared exercise space depending on your needs and comfort level.

We can work with just about anything you’re comfortable in! Wear something that you can move easily in. The only things we’ve found that absolutely don’t work are mini skirts and high heels.

We don’t like being in the gym either, that’s why we stay active in other ways! Our clinic has private treatment rooms, and our shared exercise area doesn’t feel like a traditional gym. We don’t have any mirrors on the walls, but we have a rolling mirror if you find it helpful to see yourself.

Our clinic has two physical therapists, so the most people who are here at once would be you, another client, and two physical therapists.

We wish we could give you a definitive answer here, but everyone is different. It depends on the type of issue you’re dealing with, how long you’ve been dealing with it, and how consistent you are practicing things at home.

To make the quickest progress possible, be honest with your physical therapist, let them know what’s actually feasible for you to do at home, and do your best to stick with that plan.

We are an out-of-network clinic, which allows us to provide the best quality care (check out our blog for the specific reasons why).

We have a flat rate for every appointment. Some people choose to pay for this with an HSA/FSA card, and some choose to use a regular credit card. We do provide superbills, which you can submit to your health insurance for reimbursement per your out-of-network coverage. Most PPO plans reimburse between 40-70% of the cost after meeting your deductible, but you must check with your insurance plan to know what reimbursement would look like for you.

Unfortunately, most Medicare plans do not allow for out-of-network treatment.

Pelvic physical therapy is a highly specialized type of physical therapy. Unlike some pelvic PTs who have only taken one specialized class, Dr. Sarah Joy has spent years taking high-level courses in pelvic health and holds several advanced pelvic certifications.

At its core, pelvic physical therapy looks like any other type. We talk with you to learn about you, your symptoms, and your goals. We test your muscles, joints, etc. And then we make a care plan with you and provide treatment (hands-on manual therapy, education, and/or exercises).

The main thing that makes pelvic physical therapy different is that your pelvic muscles aren’t easy to see. To test every aspect of your pelvic floor health, your physical therapist would do an internal exam (vaginal or rectal). This isn’t the same as a gynecologist pelvic exam, as we use no stirrups and no speculums, just a single gloved finger. But we can get some good information about the pelvic floor from external tests, and you always get to choose what tests you’re comfortable with. External pelvic physical therapy can still be really helpful!

Bendy bodies require a more specific approach! We are very familiar with hypermobility and the unique challenges it presents. We will not give you long static stretches for muscle tension, and exercises will be increased gradually. We focus on technique over high reps/weight to avoid flaring your symptoms.

If you’ve tried physical therapy in the past and it didn’t help (or even hurt), our approach is different and we’d love to help.

We offer telehealth appointments on a case-by-case basis for people in Washington state. If you want to schedule a telehealth session, please book a discovery call and we can discuss!

Yes, you can come in while on your period! It doesn’t change the options of what we can do, but we may adapt the session based on what your body needs that day or what you’re comfortable with.

We welcome your child to come with you, as long as you trust they won’t pull things off shelves. We don’t want them to get injured.

Some people prefer to leave their children at home so they can focus just on themselves during PT. Some people prefer to bring their child with them because of their schedule, or they want to practice lifting/nursing their child. Either way, we support you!

We understand that sometimes it’s more comfortable to have someone with you for an appointment, and that’s fine! Sometimes we can help explain what you’re going through to them, or even teach them some ways to help support you. We recommend bringing only one person with you though, as our rooms can feel a bit cramped with more people.

While we’re not a pediatric-specific clinic, we do work with kids, especially for pelvic health concerns. We do require that a parent or guardian stays in the clinic throughout the appointment, for everyone’s comfort. There will likely be times during the appointment that we need you to be present and involved, and other times where you need to be in the clinic but can focus on other things.