Urology Austin Physical Therapy Department: We Really Get to Know Our Patients
The dedicated team at Urology Austin Physical Therapy educates and treats patients who are dealing with some of the most intense, emotional issues and symptoms. The treatment team consists of four physical therapists and one occupational therapist, all specially trained in pelvic floor dysfunction therapy. They treat patients referred by Urology Austin and other physicians and practices in the area. The team provides therapy services for men and women who have pelvic floor dysfunction and other problems related to urologic and bowel symptoms.
Alisa Patel PT, DPT, has worked at Urology Austin for the past two years, and she is proud of the rapport she and the other therapists build with their patients. Symptoms such as urinary incontinence, bowel issues or sexual function sometimes embarrass patients. Therapists need to build trust in order to get patients to talk about their problems and provide vital information about their lives and their symptoms.
“It can be very emotional experiencing some of these symptoms,” Patel says. “I can’t tell you how many times patients become emotional in our sessions because they are finally getting to talk about their problems and how much they affect their daily lives. Our skill set includes the ability to help them deal with these intimate health issues. We try to make our patients feel comfortable talking about everything under the sun because it’s important for their health. We tell them that everything they say is safe with us.”
Pre-op and post-op visits help educate patients and deal with symptoms
Prior to surgery, physicians refer patients to physical therapy so that they can learn what to expect before and after surgery, as well as the role that pelvic floor therapy can play in their recovery. After procedures such as a prostatectomy or HoLEP, patients begin therapy to deal with symptoms such as urinary incontinence or pelvic pain.
“Pelvic pain is an umbrella term for any bladder, bowel, or sexual dysfunction amongst all genders,” Patel notes.
One-hour sessions and frequent therapy benefit both patients and therapists
Each therapy session is one hour long, and patients usually have therapy once a week. This allows the therapist and the patient to develop a trusting relationship and gives the therapist time to get to know the patient and his or her health needs.
“Our one-hour sessions, usually once a week, allow us to unpack a lot of things with our patients, learning what may be contributing to their pain, including stress, relationship issues and more,” Patel says. “If we pick up on things that we feel the patients could use extra help with, we guide them and sometimes refer them to other providers like psychotherapists or nutritionists.”
Urology Austin Physical Therapy is popular with patients and physicians
Urology Austin Physical Therapy has a waiting list because the team provides excellent therapy, particularly specialized therapy for pelvic floor dysfunction.
“Despite the fact that we try to see patients in a timely manner, we do have a wait list because we are so popular,” Patel says. “That just goes to show that we are very good at what we do. We know what we’re doing, and we do a thorough job.”
Learn more about our physical therapy department at https://urologyaustin.com/physical-therapy/.
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