Frequently Asked Questions

Most of the people we work with are active adults who value their health, time, and performance. Whether they’re lifting weights, chasing their kids, or staying consistent with their workouts — they want to feel strong, move well, and stay pain-free.

When an injury or nagging pain starts getting in the way, they want expert care that’s effective, personalized, and respectful of their busy lives. They’re not looking to spend hours a week in a traditional clinic doing exercises they could easily do at home — they want real answers, hands-on treatment, and a clear path forward.

At Elevate Physical Therapy Leander, we treat most pain and injuries related to muscles, joints, and nerves — without surgery or medication. If it hurts to move, chances are we can help.

We commonly treat:

• Neck & shoulder pain

• Back pain & sciatica

• Hip, knee, and ankle injuries

• Tendonitis & joint stiffness

• Sports injuries & performance limitations

• Post-surgical recovery

• Mobility, strength, and stability issues

If you’re unsure whether we can help, just reach out — we’re happy to chat and point you in the right direction.

After an injury, most people head to an orthopedic specialist or their primary care provider. If surgery isn’t needed, the standard approach often includes rest, medications for pain or inflammation, and a referral to traditional physical therapy.

While medications can play a role, they usually treat the symptoms — not the root cause of the problem.

Traditional PT often leans on passive treatments like ice, heat, and machines, along with general exercises. These can support healing, but they don’t always address what’s actually causing the pain or dysfunction — and recovery can be slow.

At Elevate Physical Therapy Leander, we take a more strategic approach. Your entire session is spent 1-on-1 with a Doctor of Physical Therapy who’s focused on getting to the source of the issue — not just chasing symptoms.

We combine hands-on treatment, advanced movement assessments, and personalized plans to accelerate healing and help you get back to doing what you love — in fewer visits and with better long-term results.

The Sooner You Start, the Sooner You Heal

The longer an injury goes untreated, the harder it can be to fully recover. Over time, your body adapts to pain or dysfunction by creating movement compensations — which can lead to more strain, more discomfort, and even new injuries in other areas.

Addressing the problem early gives you the best chance at a faster recovery and fewer overall sessions. It helps us restore proper movement and reduce inflammation before those compensation patterns become harder to undo.

That said, it’s never too late to start. We’ve helped plenty of clients who’ve been dealing with pain for years — even decades — finally get real relief. Whether your injury is new or ongoing, we’re here to help you move better, feel stronger, and get back to the life you love.

This is always a tricky question, because it varies with every patient and is dependent on a large number of factors. What we can say is that because you are getting one on one individualized care for the entire hour, you will usually need far fewer treatments at Vitality Therapy and Performance than you might need elsewhere.

Pain and dysfunction that has been present for a long time will usually, but not always, take longer to fix than more recent/acute problems. Certain conditions like herniated spinal disks and frozen shoulders will take longer to resolve than something like an ankle sprain. And though notoriously ‘stubborn’ conditions like tennis elbow and plantar fasciitis can sometimes be fixed in just a few treatments, conditions like these also have a tendency to need multiple treatments.

In general, 5-7 treatments may be all that is required. In an industry where 2-3 treatments/week for 1-2 months is the norm, that’s quite good. But again, factors like age, severity of injury, other health issues, and how long you’ve been in pain can occasionally make the path to 100% somewhat lengthy.

Without performing a full in depth evaluation, it’s hard to say exactly how long it will take. Contact us today so we can talk about a game plan to get you back to doing what you love.

In many ways, insurance companies dictate, or strongly influence, the treatment that patients receive at “in-network” clinics, and we refuse to allow that to be the case at Elevate Physical Therapy.

While we do not bill your insurance company, you can still submit an “Out of Network” claim to your health insurance carrier on your own. We are considered an out-of-network practice because we do not keep a contract with any health insurance companies.

Due to progressively worsening reimbursement rates and pressure from insurance companies, the therapists at in-network clinics have to see at least 2 patients per hour (usually more), and they often use technicians and assistance to provide much of the actual patient care. This results in less high-level professional focus on the patient, and often causes an increase in the number of weekly appointments needed to promote healing.

All of our patients receive one-on-one care and hands-on treatment from a Doctor of Physical Therapy in every session. With our one-on-one treatment approach, the plan of care for the vast majority of our patients only involves one appointment per week.

On top of that, the out-of-pocket expense for our treatment sessions is sometimes less than a patient would pay at a clinic that accepts and bills their insurance.

How is that possible?

As deductibles and PT copays have skyrocketed in recent years, many of our patients who have high PT copays or have not met their deductible pay less out of pocket for our treatments than they would if they went to a clinic that “takes their insurance.”

So before deciding on where to get PT based solely on which clinics “take your insurance,” make sure you know how much you’ll be paying at your in-network options versus an out-of-network clinic like ours.

Some insurance plans provide zero coverage for PT visits or require copays of over $50/visit. And if you have a deductible to meet, you’ll likely end up paying the full bill for your PT sessions until you meet the deductible (and these bills are often $200+ per session). However, you usually won’t start receiving those $200+ bills until after you’ve been getting care for 6-8 weeks and have racked up an enormous total balance (again, often being asked to attend PT 2-3 times per week).

And guess what else… just because you’re paying $200+ per session at a clinic that is in-network with your insurance, does not mean that your insurance is applying that full amount towards your deductible! They often only apply the amount that they have agreed is reasonable for your PT sessions which is, of course, far less than the amount the PT clinic actually charges.

Most people are quite unaware of the mechanics involved in health insurance contracts and pressure from stockholders to maximize their profits.