Your insurance plan covers physical therapy, which means you don’t have to pay anything for your appointment, right? Well, in most cases, you will need to pay your deductible and coinsurance or pay a copay. So, what do these terms mean and what does the cost look like?
What is a deductible? The deductible is the amount you must pay each calendar year before your insurance plan begins to pay. Deductible amounts vary from plan to plan. For example, if your deductible is $500, then your insurance plan will not pay anything until you have paid $500 for services subject to the deductible. What services are subject to the deductible? This varies from plan to plan. Consult your plan benefit booklet for more details. What is a coinsurance? Coinsurance is calculated as the percentage of costs of the allowed amount for a covered service that you pay after you've satisfied your deductible. Percentages vary by insurance plan usually ranging from 10% to 50% of covered services. What is a copay? Copays are a fixed dollar amount that you pay for a covered service. Copays vary for different plans and types of services. Copays for physical therapy may range from $10 to $50. Since copay amounts are fixed, you will always pay the same amount at each appointment, regardless of visit length. In most cases, copays accrue toward your Out of Pocket Maximum. What is Out of Pocket Maximum? The Out of Pocket (OOP) is the maximum amount you would pay out-of-pocket in a calendar year. Once you have met your OOP, your insurance plan pays 100% of the claims for the rest of the calendar year. What is an “allowed amount”? The allowed amount is the reimbursement rate set by each insurance company for a particular service code. These rates vary from company to company. What if I have a secondary insurance plan? If you have a secondary insurance, the secondary payer usually covers the deductible, coinsurance or copay amount of the primary plan. However, in some cases, the secondary insurance plan also charges a copay, coinsurance, or deductible, so you may still be financially responsible for a portion of the bill. Consult your secondary insurance plan’s benefit booklet for more information. How much will I owe for each appointment? Example: Say you are covered by Health Insurance Company A. Company A’s allowed amount for an average health care visit* is $120 and your coinsurance is 20%. If you've already met your deductible, you pay 20% of $120, or $24. The insurance company pays the rest. If you haven't met your deductible, you pay the full allowed amount, $120. * The total amount billed to your insurance company will vary from visit to visit, depending on the length of your appointment and which type of service codes your physical therapist bills. Example: Now, let’s say you are covered by Health Insurance Company B. Company B’s allowed amount for the same health care visit is $132 and your coinsurance is 20%. If you've already met your deductible, you pay 20% of $132, or $26.40. The insurance company pays the rest. If you haven't met your deductible, you pay the full allowed amount, $132. What if I cannot afford to make my payment at each appointment? Our office is happy to arrange a payment plan that works within your budget! That way, you can make payments for your treatment over a timeframe that works for you. To set up a payment plan, please ask to meet with our billing specialist. Staszak Physical Therapy & Wellness Center is located in downtown Eugene and offers appointments Monday through Saturday. Give us a call today to schedule an appointment or if you have any questions. 541-505-8180
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by Eric Ottenbreit, D.PT
Stress can eat away at you. We’ve all been there. Your life may be going along as fine as it can be. Your job, your home, your family they all require attention and care. Daily stresses add up but you’re able to find a few peaceful moments within the fray. Then one day, the unexpected can happen -insert unforeseen and difficult life event here-. Suddenly, life has turned you on your head. The icy grip of anxiety sinks into your chest. You can't eat, you can't sleep, even breathing is difficult. Life has a way of being a roller coaster with many harrowing twists and loops that violently disrupt your emotions and ability to function minute to minute. Before life can be rebuilt, before deadlines can be met, before difficulties can be overcome you have to take care of yourself. Make your wellbeing a priority. The good news is, no matter how difficult life gets, we can still be proactive on our own behalf. At Staszak Physical Therapy & Wellness Center, we not only help reduce and manage pain in order to restore your function, we also encourage our clients to consider making positive choices throughout the day that may have an overall positive effect on mood, lifestyle, and ability to move forward from wherever you may be. Proactive ways to reduce stress at home: Meditation: Meditation has been used for centuries as a way of calming the mind and body. Psychology Today reports that research continues to develop about the positive effects of meditating for as little as 15 minutes daily can create “a pattern indicative of greater positive, approach-oriented emotional states” that can profoundly reduce daily stress. Dietary Changes: What we eat and the way we eat can contribute greatly to the body’s overall inflammation levels and body weight composition. “Stress Eating” is often used as a quick means of trying to deal with some perturbance to the flow of daily life. Quick snacks, processed convenience foods, and calorie dense drinks are often the likely go-to to get us through those tough moments. Instead, consider switching to an anti-stress eating pattern. Discussing and considering various strategies for including foods with greater nutrient density and meal prepping may reduce those moments of weakness. Choosing foods that reduce inflammation and start moving our bodies toward the ideal body composition can have a tremendous effect on stress and overall health and wellness. Water Intake: This is a simple one. In our current culture of ever-increasing productivity demands, we often reach for that next cup of coffee or tea instead of water. Our organs, brain included, require copious amounts of water to help with metabolic demands and nutrient bathing. Various hormones, including the stress hormone cortisol, can be better regulated with proper hydration. Increasing your water intake to the recommended ½ to 1 fluid ounce per pound body weight daily can take that stress down another notch. Caffeine Reduction: Caffeine reduction ties in closely with water intake and retention. Caffeine is a known diuretic, meaning it can cause in increase in urination when consumed. Knowing that we generally don’t drink enough pure water, increased caffeine ingestion can promote further levels of chronic dehydration. Not drinking enough water can cause undue and unwanted stress to our bodies and our mind. Exercise: I can never say enough about the positive benefits of movement and exercise. Something as simple as a daily walk may greatly improve the body’s ability to cope with stress. Improving blood flow, strength, flexibility, and body composition can all have profoundly positive effects on health and stress. If you’re unsure of where to start just know that there is no “one size fits all” approach to movement and exercise. Considerations to keep in mind when choosing a movement program include, different body types, muscle density types, strength profiles, fitness goals, age, mental state and motivations, and many more. When you decide to begin or are continuing your movement and fitness journey, if you’re experiencing pain or difficulty let us at Staszak Physical Therapy thoroughly evaluate your injury or issue and provide guidance, help, and healing. Let us help you learn to reclaim your movement potential, discuss strategies for dealing with stress, and returning you to doing the things you love. *Disclaimer. This blog should not be used as medical advice or diagnosis. If you plan on making changes in your lifestyle, diet, and exercise, please consult your physician to see these any of these changes are appropriate for you. by Eric Ottenbreit, D.PT
Ahhhhhh… Time for bed. Time to unwind, get comfy, close the eyes, and drift off into peaceful slumber. Or is it? Many of us don't get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep regularly. The importance or regular, adequate, and quality sleep cannot be emphasized enough. Not sleeping enough can have negative effects that go beyond needing an extra cup of coffee, being grumpy, and craving a nap. Inadequate sleep can increase or lead to pain, depression, anxiety, physical stress, and mental health concerns. Sleep quality and even our ability to fall asleep can be affected by many factors. Life stress, worry, thoughts just spinning in the mind can making sleeping difficult. Pain or discomfort may also delay or interrupt sleeping. There may be many factors that interfere with our ability to sleep. Many of those may be out of our immediate control. However, there are many factors that are within our control. Making a few good choices daily may greatly improve your overall quality of sleep and health. Our sleep cycles are linked to both our behaviors and our natural circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms are, basically put, our natural body rhythms. They are affected internally by the hypothalamus in the brain, hormone cycles, light-dark cycles, and other factors. External behaviors that can affect circadian rhythms and sleep include our exposure to electronic blue light that is emitted by our electronic devices, caffeine late in the day, thought patterns, life stresses. Some examples of how to improve your quality of sleep from the National Sleep Foundation:
Try to aim for 7-8 hours or deep quality sleep tonight as you head into the week. Good Night! References: http://www.sciencedirect.com/…/article/pii/S1389945704001078 https://sleepfoundation.org/…/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-n… https://www.nigms.nih.gov/…/pages/Factsheet_CircadianRhythm… https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-top…/what-circadian-rhythm https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/sleep-hygiene/…/0/1 by Kari Lake, LMT
As a massage therapist in a busy physical therapy office, I occasionally see patients with recent injuries or surgery to a hand, leg, foot or arm, and they ask me how long it will take until I can safely massage directly on the injured body part, increasing circulation, promoting muscle growth, and decreasing fascial restrictions. This is especially true in the case of an immobilizing injury where a cast prevents body contact for six weeks or longer. However, the benefits of massage can start immediately — patients are usually surprised to hear about the "cross-over effect" of working on the uninjured (contralateral) side having significant benefits to even immobilized limbs, as outlined in a 2017 study in the Journal of Physiology. Researchers from Colorado State University and the University of Kentucky found that immobilized laboratory rats showed an 18% improvement in leg muscle growth when regular massage was applied; and here was the surprise: Even in the leg that was not massaged they noted a 17% improvement in muscle growth! A very good summary of the study, in layman's terms, can be found on Dr. Joe Muscolino's blog on the Art and Science of Kinesiology website. He outlines the implications for the study not just specifically for acute injuries, but also for preventing muscle loss associated with aging. I love to have the opportunity to educate patients on human physiology and the mechanics of massage, and I have always felt that I'm not a healer, I'm a facilitator — the healing comes from within the patient, and all I do is figure out a way to unlock their own path to wellness. The human body's capacity to return to homeostasis — a state of balanced health — never ceases to amaze me, and the "cross-over effect" is just one more example we can put in our educational toolbox to explain our methods to our patients. If you would like to schedule a massage therapy session with Kari in our downtown Eugene location, please give us a call at 541-505-8180. Oftentimes when we think about physical therapy, we typically think of rehabilitation for adults who have an injury or who need post-surgical care. But did you know physical therapy can be quite helpful for children, too? Pediatric orthopedic physical therapy is designed to keep your child doing what they do best — playing. We can help address any head or neck asymmetries in infants as well as sports injuries in children of all ages.
We can help with:
The typical evaluation process includes assessing skeletal alignment, muscle length, strength, and coordination. Your child's treatment plan will be tailored to any imbalances found in the evaluation process. No matter what the issue is, the goal is always to facilitate typical infant and child development to decrease future injury risk, promote the enhancement of gross motor skills, and keep your child moving. To schedule an examination for your child, please give our clinic a call at 541-505-8180. The therapists at Staszak Physical Therapy & Wellness Center are here to help. Stenosis is a term that describes the narrowing of a space. When we're talking about your back, stenosis is when there is a narrowing of the space around the nerve roots that come out from the spinal cord.
What causes stenosis? One common cause is from a disc bulge or herniation. This is when one of the discs between your vertebrae bulges out from where it belongs and if the bulge is bad enough, ruptures allowing the shock-absorbing material to come out from the disc into the nerve canal. Another common cause of stenosis is from arthritic changes, like bone spurs and degeneration, that form over several years of wear and tear on your back. If we trace the cause back even further, the main cause for stenosis really stems from having a weak abdominal core. When your core is weak, you are more prone to overarching your lower back while sitting or standing. This excessive force, over time, creates the perfect storm for developing disc bulges, herniations, and arthritic changes. It doesn't take much pressure at all for the nerve to get irritated which is why stenosis can be problematic. What can you do? One of the best things you can do if you suffer from stenosis is to see a physical therapist. After conducting a thorough examination, a physical therapist can develop a treatment plan to help you work on your posture, core strength, and relearn proper body mechanics. These conservative measures help you achieve relief and, if surgery is warranted, recover more successfully. At Staszak Physical Therapy & Wellness Center, located in downtown Eugene, we are deeply knowledgeable in working with people who suffer from lower back pain and stenosis. Give us a call today to schedule an assessment with one of our physical therapists at 541-505-8180. If you're watching your carbs but want a filling, satisfying breakfast, this recipe will do the trick.
Fill a shallow pan with at least 3 inches of water. Add the white vinegar; bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Equally divide the microgreens among 4 small plates. Squeeze a touch of lemon juice on each pile of greens. Lay 2 ounces of the smoked salmon on top of the greens. Cut the avocado in half lengthwise. Remove the pit from the avocado and discard. Remove the avocado from the skin, place the avocado on a cutting board, and cut into thin slices. Put the avocado slices on top of the smoked salmon and add another squeeze of lemon juice. Crack an egg into a small prep bowl. Carefully slip the egg from the prep bowl into the poaching water. With a spoon, nudge the egg white together so the egg remains as close together as possible. Repeat this for the remaining 3 eggs. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and turn off the heat. Let the eggs cook for 3 to 4 minutes, then carefully remove each egg with a slotted spoon, letting any excess water drip off. Transfer the egg to the top of the avocado and smoked salmon. Season with salt and pepper, and serve immediately. Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 5 minutes Yields: 4 servings Source: https://www.cookincanuck.com/poached-eggs-over-avocado-smoked-salmon-giveaway/ When you ask most people to describe the diagnosis for their lower back pain, a lot of people would say disc herniation. However, when we look at the number of patients we see, disc herniation is a much less frequent cause compared to the majority of people who present with lower back pain.
The herniated disc is when the very strong outer layer of the disc starts wearing away and eventually tears, allowing the more gelatinous substance to seep out. The tearing of the outer surface, the annulus, is painful in itself, but the real problem is when the disc material that comes out, starts pressing against the nerve. Causes for disc herniations are usually related to long-term wear and tear, rather than one specific injury or incident. Poor posture and bad body mechanics are one of the biggest culprits here, too, which results in repetitive pressure and forces on the disc material. Disc bulges are when the outer disc material does not completely tear. This diagnosis is often not even the cause of a person's symptoms. Many people have disc bulges and no symptoms at all. In fact, there was a study* in the early 2000’s that on a group of individuals who had MRIs, 87.6% of people had disc bulges but were asymptomatic, meaning the bulges were not causing pain. To properly diagnose the cause of your back pain, it is best to have an evaluation with a physical therapist. He or she can evaluate your posture, joint motion, strength and flexibility along with your health history, current symptoms, and any aggravating factors. To schedule an evaluation with our office, please call 541-505-8180. *Source: https://www.healio.com/spine-surgery/imaging/news/online/%7Ba1a2db19-b77a-4ec2-97cf-66f382d4527c%7D/disc-bulging-most-prevalent-abnormal-finding-on-mri-in-asymptomatic-patients We've all heard that a sedentary lifestyle is not good for us and sitting at a job for 6-8 hours a day doesn't help turn that around for the better. But why is sitting so bad and what does it do to our bodies?
There are several health issues that come from sitting hours on end. However, one that we'll focus on here is the impact on your hip flexors. Your hip flexors are a group of muscles that connect your upper leg to your hip and are involved in just about every kind of movement that deals with the lower body: exercises like the squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench press, etc. When it comes to muscles, the best way to keep them strong and healthy is with movement. When muscles expand and contract, blood and oxygen can move throughout your body. However, sitting keeps your hip flexors in a contracted (shortened) state which turns into tightness. Won't a good stretch fix the problem? Yes and no. While we always encourage stretching, and there are some really awesome stretches you can do for your hip flexors, the long-term effects of prolonged sitting can be more significant. For instance, when you have tight hip flexors from sitting, typically you will see weakened core muscles because you're not engaging them with standing. When you combine tight hip flexors and a weakened core, now you're looking at posture issues which lead to additional concerns, i.e., upper and lower back pain, neck pain, misalignment of the spine, etc. So what can you do to fix tight hip flexors?
At Staszak Physical Therapy & Wellness Center, located in downtown Eugene, Oregon, our team of physical therapists and PT aides are here to help. Give us a call today to schedule a consult. 541-505-8180 Many patients who have never experienced physical therapy before tend to think physical therapy is just exercise programs and hot and cold pack regimens. While these both can be utilized in a physical therapy treatment program, manual therapy is proven to reduce recovery times and increase a patient’s range of motion and strength.
Manual therapy is the use of a physical therapist’s hands to relieve pain and restore mobility. While this might sound like a massage, manual therapy includes kneading and manipulating soft tissue such as muscles to increase circulation, reduce scar tissue, and relax muscles to reduce pain. Manual therapy can also include joint mobilization and manipulation, where the physical therapist uses measured movements at different speeds and forces to move bones and joints. This action loosens tight tissue around joints and helps with flexibility, mobility, and pain. When used in conjunction with an individualized exercise program, manual therapy can help restore function in the treated area. Does Manual Therapy Hurt? Manual therapy doesn’t have to hurt, although there can be some discomfort since physical therapists are actively manipulating a painful or tight area. Before beginning manual therapy, a physical therapist will have a consultation with you to understand your unique condition and baseline your current range of motion, strength, and flexibility. Physical therapists will modify the amount of force they use depending on the injury and if the pain is chronic, acute, or post-surgical. After treatment, you may experience some soreness for a day or two, but usually, you'll see an immediate increase in your range of motion and experience reduced pain levels. |
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