Questions people actually ask.

Getting started

Do I need a referral from my doctor? No. Louisiana has allowed direct access to physical therapy since 2016, so you can be evaluated and treated here without a physician’s referral. Care without a referral runs for up to 30 days. If you are not measurably better in that window, we refer you on rather than keep you in a plan that is not working. If you already have a referral, bring it and we will add it to your chart.

One exception worth knowing: direct access does not change the rules for workers’ compensation claims. Those are governed by their own statutes, and we handle that paperwork with you.

Do I need to know what is wrong before I come in? No. Bring the symptom, not the label. “It hurts when I reach into the top cabinet” is a perfectly good place to start. Sorting out what is actually driving that is the whole point of the evaluation.

Can my therapist give me a diagnosis? A physical therapist does not make a medical diagnosis of disease. Your physician does that. What a physical therapist can do is identify the movement problem behind your pain and treat it. If we find something that belongs with a physician, we tell you plainly and help you get there.

Why physical therapy instead of waiting it out? Physical therapists are trained in movement and in the muscles, joints and nerves that produce it. Pain usually travels with a movement problem. Correct the movement problem and the pain has less to stand on. Waiting rarely fixes the mechanism, it just gives you more time to build habits around it.

Why do doctors refer people to physical therapy? Almost always because a movement problem has started costing you something real: bending at the sink, sleeping on that shoulder, getting out of a low chair, walking the dog without paying for it later. Physical therapy treats the movement problem, and the daily activities come back with it.

Why choose an independent private practice? Alpha is one clinic in Slidell, owned and directed by Dr. Ryan Spano, PT, DPT. Nobody upstream sets a visit quota. In most cases your case is managed by the same physical therapist from your first visit to your last, which is the part their reviews keep coming back to. You can read about Dr. Spano and our team on our staff page.

Can I go to any physical therapy clinic I want? In most cases the choice is yours, even when a referral names somewhere else. We are in network with many plans. The list is on our insurance page, and if you do not see yours, call us and we will check it.

How should I choose a clinic? A few things worth asking anyone, including us:

• Is the therapist licensed in Louisiana?
• Does the first visit include a real history and hands-on examination before any treatment starts?
• Are your goals discussed in detail, and written into the plan?
• Does care include hands-on work and exercise, not just machines?
• Do they actually treat your problem?
• Do they take your insurance, or will they work with you if they do not?
• Is the drive short? Sitting and driving aggravate most orthopedic problems.
• Do the hours fit your work?
• Does the therapist provide the treatment, or hand you off?
• Can you talk to the therapist before you commit?

Who will actually see me? A licensed physical therapist evaluates you and stays with your case. The plan never changes hands even when the day does. You will not meet a different stranger every visit.

Is my therapist licensed? Yes. Physical therapists are licensed by the state they practice in. Our team is licensed in Louisiana.

Your first visit

What happens on the first visit? Plan on about an hour. Paperwork and your insurance card first, then the part that matters: a conversation. Your history, what hurts, how bad it gets, what makes it worse and what eases it, what it is stopping you from doing, and what you want back. Medications, tests and imaging related to it. Then your goals, in your words.

After that comes the hands-on examination. Depending on the problem it may include palpation of the painful area, range of motion testing, muscle strength testing, a neurological screen of how the nerves are communicating, special tests to rule other things in or out, and a look at your posture.

Then your therapist builds the problem list and the plan, with your input: how often you come, roughly how long, what you do at home, what changes first, and what happens after you are discharged. You can request a visit here.

What should I bring? Keep it simple:

• Photo ID and your insurance card, if you are using insurance.
• Your referral, if a doctor gave you one. You do not need one to be seen.
• For a work injury: your claim number and your case manager’s contact information.
• For a car accident: your auto insurance information, and your attorney’s details if there is a lien.
• A list of medications, and any imaging or test results you have.

What should I wear? Loose clothing that lets us get to the area we are treating. Shorts for a knee. A tank top for a shoulder. A loose shirt and loose pants for a low back. If you come straight from work in boots and coveralls, we will work around it.

Can I do anything to prepare? Come rested, so you have the energy to give the evaluation your attention. It also helps to know what pain medication you have taken that day, because your therapist will adjust how hard the session goes accordingly.

What treatment is like

What happens in a typical session? A quick check of where you are that day, hands-on work to restore mobility, then exercise aimed at the cause rather than the sore spot. Along the way you get taught what to do differently: posture, body mechanics, how to lift, how to sleep, how to get through a work shift without paying for it that night.

Does physical therapy hurt? For most of what we treat, relief is the point, and it comes from hands-on techniques, movement, and sometimes heat, ice or electrical stimulation. Some things are genuinely uncomfortable for a while. Getting range of motion back after a knee replacement or a shoulder repair is hard work. Nothing here is done to you without your say. Tell your therapist how intense it is, how often it happens and how long it lasts, because without that they are guessing.

What if the pain is too much during a session? Say so in the moment, not in the parking lot. The technique, the intensity, or the exercise gets changed on the spot. That is a normal part of the visit, not a complaint.

What kinds of treatment might I get? Depending on your problem: manual therapy, joint mobilization, spinal manipulation, functional dry needling, instrument assisted soft tissue work, therapeutic exercise, gait and posture training, balance and vestibular work, spinal traction, laser therapy, and modalities such as heat, ice, ultrasound and electrical stimulation. All of it is listed on our services page.

Will I get a massage? Soft tissue work is often part of treatment, but it has a job: relaxing a tight muscle, moving swelling out of an area, or relieving pain so you can move enough to progress. It is a tool inside a plan, not the plan.

Will I have exercises to do at home? Yes, and they are chosen to be doable. A short home program is what keeps the progress you make in the clinic from leaking away between visits. If an exercise hurts in a new way, stop and ask before your next visit. Check with your therapist before adding anything new on your own.

What if I have questions after my session? Ask your therapist before or after any visit, or call the clinic at (985) 326-7260. Nobody here thinks you are being difficult for wanting to understand your own body.

How long it takes, and how it ends

How many visits will I need? This genuinely varies. Some people need one visit. Some need months. It depends on your diagnosis, how severe the impairments are, and your history. You are re-evaluated as you go, and when you see your doctor we send a progress report with our recommendations. You will hear a real number and a real timeline at the evaluation, not a vague “we will see.”

How often will I come in? Your plan names a frequency and a length, and you get both in writing at the evaluation. It is built around what your problem needs and what your week can actually hold.

When will I feel a difference? Nobody honest can promise you a date. What we can do is tell you what should change first and roughly when to expect it, so you have a way to judge whether this is working instead of just hoping.

How will I know when I am done? Because it was defined before you started. Care here runs in four phases: Pain, Prime, Perform, Prevent. Each phase has a job and a way to know you have earned the next one. Discharge is a decision you make with your therapist, at a point you both saw coming.

What happens after physical therapy? Some people keep a home program. Some move into a gym routine. Some just go back to their lives and never think about it again. Tell your therapist which of those you want, because the last few visits get built around it.

What if the pain comes back? Flare ups happen, and they are not a failure. Call us. Depending on what we hear, we may bring you back in, send you to your doctor, or simply adjust your activity and your exercises for a stretch.

Insurance and cost

Will my insurance cover physical therapy? Most plans cover some or all of it, but the details vary plan by plan, which is why we check yours before your first visit instead of after. We are in network with Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealthcare, TRICARE, TriWest and Peoples Health. Full details are on our insurance page.

Who pays for the treatment? In most cases your health plan does, minus whatever your plan leaves to you. Work injuries are billed to workers’ compensation. Car accidents are billed to auto insurance, or handled through an attorney lien. If you have no coverage or choose not to use it, you can pay directly and we will put the expected cost in writing first.

How does billing work? Much like your doctor’s office. Your visit is coded using standard procedure codes, those codes go to your insurer or the claim adjuster, the payer processes them against an agreed fee schedule, and an Explanation of Benefits goes to both you and us showing what was paid and what is left. You pay the balance, if there is one.

There are more small steps than that, and any of them can stall if information is missing or misread on the payer’s end. Claims can take a while to finish settling. If a statement does not make sense to you, bring it in. We will read it with you rather than tell you to call your insurer.

Your right to a Good Faith Estimate

Under the No Surprises Act, you have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate explaining how much your medical care will cost. Health care providers are required to give patients who do not have insurance, or who are not using their insurance, an estimate of the bill for medical items and services.

• You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency items or services. This includes related costs such as medical tests, prescription drugs, equipment and hospital fees.
• Make sure your health care provider gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing at least 1 business day before your medical service or item. You can also ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service.
• If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill.
• Make sure to save a copy or a picture of your Good Faith Estimate.

For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises or call us at (985) 326-7260.

Privacy and your records

How is my health information handled? Under our Notice of Privacy Practices, which explains what we collect, how it is used and disclosed, and how to see or correct your own records. You can read it on our privacy page.

Something we did not answer

Call (985) 326-7260, email scheduling@alphaptgroup.com, or request an appointment and ask us on the phone. The people who wait longest are usually the ones holding everything together for everybody else. You are allowed to take an hour for this.