All of our sessions are 1-on-1 and a full hour. You will only work with a doctor of physical therapy (no assistants or techs). But most importantly, we specialize in finding and addressing the ROOT CAUSE of your pain and injury. We don’t just treat the symptoms that you experience, but rather focus on treating the root of the issue so that you not only get out of pain, but STAY out of pain. This leads to long term success.
The answer is it depends. More often than not, however, a conservative approach can in fact get your pain and injuries to 100%. Oftentimes, medical doctors will recommend surgery based on imaging (x-ray or MRI), which is exactly what it sounds like, drawling a conclusion based off a picture. In those scenarios, what they haven’t taken into account, is how you move, natural degenerative (normal) findings, and what could be contributing to your pain outside of your specific pain location. If you were to undergo surgery, but fail to change how you move or address what led to your injury in the first place, your pain may come back. In many cases, surgery can be avoided!
If you have a body, you’re an athlete! We treat all ages and experience levels. Some examples include teens, those new to working out, experienced competitors, weekend warriors, moms, dads, and even active older adults. We meet you where you’re at and come up with a game plan together that works toward achieving your goals, no matter what they are!
Yes! Since physical therapy services, like those provided at The Charlotte Athlete, fall under a medical expense that treats structures and functions of the body, you are able to use your HSA/FSA funds to pay for sessions for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents.
Nope! In the state of North Carolina, we now have what’s called “direct access”. This allows you to be evaluated and treated by a physical therapist without needing a referral from a MD so YOU are in charge of your care.
We believe if you have a body, you’re an athlete! While we specialize in athletes, we also work with active adults, busy professionals, and youth athletes. Here at The Charlotte Athlete, all of our sessions are 1-on-1 and an hour long with the same Doctor of Physical Therapy each visit.
Where we treat each patient like family and friends.
Wearing comfortable loose-fitting clothing that helps expose the area that we will be evaluating and treating is best practiced. For example, if you have a knee problem, it is best to wear shorts. For a shoulder problem, a tank top is a good option. For low back problems, wear a loose-fitting shirt and pants.
You can come directly to us before seeing your physician, or any other healthcare provider. We specialize in being the first point of care for patients suffering from acute or chronic pain issues and we are trained in screening for pathology that may not make you amenable to physical therapy. We are trained to assess the whole body and can begin helping to correct your problem immediately. This makes it very easy for patients to begin feeling better sooner, as they are not subjected to the lengthy process of being passed around from one specialist to another.
Yes! This allows more convenience to you and your care. While we always recommend in-person visits, we recognize that this isn’t always feasible (whether you’re out of state or traveling for work). Telehealth allows us to still offer you 1 on 1 care from the comfort of your home or gym so your treatment doesn’t have to suffer. With all of our doctors of physical therapy being movement trained specialists, we can still offer effective treatment via telehealth. We can analyze how you move and prescribe exercise based upon your movement patterns.
All of our Physical Therapists are Dry Needling Certified — never tried it? You’re going to want to.
Yes! Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) is honestly a strength training cheat code. We have state of the art cuffs for flawless training sessions.
Dress athletically and come prepared to move! During your initial session, we want to not only hear everything about you and your story, but we want to watch and see how you move. We have an entire hour dedicated to you and will be able to examine how each structure of the body is contributing to your area of pain. This is what allows us to see the whole picture so we can come up with a game plan together in order to give you the best chance at success.
It depends! After your initial evaluation, your doctor of physical therapy will take into account your history, how long you’ve been in pain, your current activity level, your goals and what you want to get back to, how involved your injury is, your daily life, etc. to come up with the best plan of action. This will dictate how many sessions are needed for you to get back to being the best version of you!
Performance Enhancement is about FULLY recovering and reaching new heights. Whether a nagging pain is holding you back, your recovering from surgery, or you want to take your athletism to the next level, we’re here to solve those barriers and help you crush your performance goals
Yes! All our programs and customize to the athlete based on their individual goals and needs. Many patients pair this with in-person sessions for the ultimate plateau busting experience!