Many people are unsure if or when they should begin medical treatment. Unless you know exactly what you need, it can be stressful trying to find which provider can best treat your condition. So when you are experiencing pain or a lack of mobility, it can be difficult to decide who you should seek out.

Sometimes in life, you need more specialized care. If you have arthritis, you might see a rheumatologist. If you need braces, you go to an orthodontist. Indeed, in the general practice of medicine, there are many directions an aspiring practitioner can take, whether they want to treat a specific audience or a particular condition.

There are age restrictions on many things in life, like purchasing alcohol, qualifying for certain insurance benefits, and driving a car. You may think that physical therapy has an age limit, that the treatment only applies to athletes improving performance or recovering from an injury. If you feel this way, and either your child or your parent seems to need physical therapy, you may not even investigate it as an option due to their age. But the truth is that regardless of age, physical therapy may be the best treatment available for their condition.

If you’re anything like me, when you make dinner plans with friends, and you decide to go to a new restaurant, you are that person who researches the menu before you go. Whenever you buy anything on Amazon, you read every possible review you can before you click “add to cart.” If you enjoy researching new things before starting or buying, then you have come to the right place.

If you’re anything like me, you enjoy supporting local small businesses in your area. You would much rather visit a local coffee shop than Starbucks, and you would visit family-owned restaurants over a national fast food chain any day. On the other hand, it is sometimes much more convenient to pick up your fresh produce from Trader Joe’s than to wait for the Saturday morning farmer’s market.

Making a lifestyle change can feel like a daunting task, especially when it comes to your health. If you have been doing things the same way for a long time, any change, positive or negative, can be difficult. When your lifestyle change involves getting physical therapy for a chronic condition, you may worry about how it will affect different areas of your life. Even though physical therapy can be a positive change for your health and wellbeing, some worries are completely normal.

If you’re anything like me, you enjoy checklists. Lists allow you to free up room in your brain and make sure that you have all of your ducks in a row, as the saying goes. Checking an item off one of your lists, especially your to-do lists, is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. You probably find yourself wishing you had a checklist or guide whenever you go to a new doctor or medical professional. It can be intimidating walking into a new practice unsure of whether you have all the correct information for the doctor. If you are starting a physical therapy journey, this intimidation may ring true for you as well. You may wonder if you wore the right clothes or have the paperwork filled out correctly, along with the usual nerves that come with meeting someone for the first time.

For someone wanting to begin physical therapy, the new vocabulary can be confusing. One phrase that is probably new to most people is “manual therapy”. The terminology can cause many to ask questions such as, “What is manual therapy?” “Will my treatment include manual therapy?” “Is manual therapy distinct from physical therapy?” “How do I find a manual therapist?”

Trying anything for the first time can be daunting, especially a new medical treatment. If you have a chronic condition, it can be a trial-and-error process to find the treatment that really works for you and your symptoms, which can feel frustrating and endless.

Your health, time, and money are three of your most valuable resources, but money can be a huge influence on the other two. Investing in yourself is one of the best decisions you can make, but it can get expensive, especially if you need physical therapy. There are many people who live with daily chronic pain because they cannot afford the means by which they can feel better, and the pain causes stress not only on their physical health, but also on their mental health.