Brief Answer:
Really depends on severity of problem, type of problem, other variables

Detailed Answer:
Good evening. My name is Dr. Saghafi and I am a neurologist from the XXXXXXX Ohio region of the world. Since you haven't really given much information about your SPECIFIC problem nor other factors which are important such as weekly number of sessions contemplated for PT, duration of each session, other medical conditions you may have that could limit your participation in PT, and so forth...it would be impossible for any physician to hazard a guess.

Not only that but physicians themselves typically do not make the decision on exactly how many sessions a person should get or will get. There are so many variables these days such as insurance allotments, therapy evaluations which necessarily occur along a time line to gauge progress, etc. that giving any kind of specific answer to your question would be difficult if not impossible for anybody. What we typically do is send patients to PT with an order that says, "Evaluate and Treat" such and such a problem. It then, comes to the discretion of the PT therapist to put the patient through an evaluation or intake session to determine everything I've just listed above followed by their decision on # of sessions, types of exercises, etc. They will then, usually send back an evaluation report to the doctor for their approval where they outline the plan. 99% of the time the doctor will approve the plan of care and then, away you go to therapy.

I can tell y0u that most of my patients with neck problems (all types) will receive an average of once weekly sessions that last anywhere from 30-45 minutes and depending on their progress, the extent of the injury, and insurance coverage they will receive anywhere from 6-10 sessions. Often times the physical therapist will extend the # of sessions because the patient is doing so well and making such good strides in their classes that they are willing to fight with the insurance companies to give more sessions.....that's a rarity. Most of the time patients are not as compliant as therapists would want them to be and so whatever the number of sessions the insurance allow is what they will offer and no more.

So if you want to get the MOST number of sessions possible for your condition then, be a great participant by going to all your programmed sessions. If you have to miss, call AHEAD OF TIME and reschedule. Don't just stop going on your own (some people are allotted 10 sessions and then, stop after 5 without any explanation to the therapist and that creates problems for them with scheduling, etc.). Make sure you do LOTS OF OUTSIDE work that the therapist tells you to do such as exercises, stretches, and so forth and you will both maximize your benefits from each session AND you will gain an advocate in the therapist who will really look forward to working with you and even carry the torch for you against the insurance companies in order to get you more sessions if they feel you can benefit from extra sessions, or more frequent sessions, or longer durations, or if they think you could use a device, etc.

Thank you for the chance to help out. Happy New Year to you and Good luck!

If this information has been helpful would you do me the favor of some written feedback and a STAR RATING of the answer? STAR RATINGS are very helpful to the doctors because patients pay a lot of attention to a doctor's rating by his patients when deciding to ask a specific question or to return to him/her for service.

Should you have no further questions or comments to place- CLOSING THE QUERY would be greatly appreciated as well.

And of course, in the future I'm happy to answer more items for you personally by going to the following website and writing to me:

bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi

This query has required 27 minutes of physician specific review, research, and final draft documentation for envoy to this patient.

---