Best method to find a physical therapist?

After years of excruciating pain, outrageous misdiagnoses, and other assorted medical mishaps, I finally located a doctor who provided a credible diagnosis and treatment plan for me. Part of that treatment involves physical therapy, and I’m at a loss as to how to find a therapist, and what questions to ask to ensure that I’ve found someone practicing the right specialty to treat me. The hospital where I was diagnosed is well outside a reasonable travel distance for someone in my condition, and they can’t help much on the PT front for the same reason.

No one I know has experienced a similar problem, so I can’t go by personal recommendations. One PT I used years ago was terrific, but the practice she’s involved with … isn’t somewhere I particularly want my money going. Besides, they expect her to handle up to five patients at a time, and while I’m not the most high maintenance patient, I need more personalized attention than what they’ll permit her to give me. I’m uninsured, so I can’t get recommendations from an insurance company, and even though I pay up front, in full, many practices don’t want to serve me anyway.

I’ve tried physical therapy association web sites, but the ones I’ve located provide less information that the local phone directory (and that’s not much). The only other thing I could think to do was call the local hospitals, but I suspect they’re not going to provide more than name, rank, and serial number either.

Any suggestions?

Can’t your doctor refer to you somebody local to you? (Granted, they might just give you the list of board certified professionals or something, but at least it would be a starting place). I know when I went to school in Atlanta and needed to continue something over the summer, they referred me to somebody here in my home town. No idea how they got the name, though - either through colleagues locally or by picking somebody with the correct affiliations, I imagine. Still, it’s a start, and maybe you can interview people to see if you hate them?

In my observation, all physical therapists in a given geographical area tend to know one another. Ask your doctor who he’d recommend in his area, then call that PT and ask who they would recommend in YOUR area.

Moved to IMHO.

-xash
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