I sustained an injury to my left knee in June. Upon request from my Orthopedic I started physical therapy at NovaCare Rehabilitation.in July I attended NovaCare at their Thorndale location. Here, I was told that I had muscle atrophy and that my kneecap turned slightly to the outside. My PT told me that with proper exercises the problem would be fixed by strengthening the muscles in my quadriceps. The PT suggested that I buy a knee brace that would help keep my kneecap in place. So I bought the one that he recommended for $30. He also attempted to convince me to buy a muscle stimulator claiming that this machine would, without a doubt, help fix my knee. Thankfully, I did not buy the muscle stimulator. I received PT from Thorndale for a month and a half. I never saw any real improvement and my knee continued to hurt, varying in pain from day to day.
In August I had to return to college so I has to leave PT at Thorndale. I asked my PT multiple times if he knew anywhere near my college, Kutztown University, that I could continue receiving physical therapy. A few weeks into school I researched various physical therapy facilities that I could attend. Low and behold there were 2 NovaCare Rehabilitation Centers 20 minutes from Kutztown.
I made an appointment with NovaCare at their West Reading location. I was not very impressed with the set up that they had there. The machines were outdated and it wasnt very clean. When the PT saw me I was even less enthused. Even though I was already in the computer system the PT did not know which exercises that I had been doing, let alone what was wrong with my knee. After I told her what I thought was wrong, she taped my kneecap up. She also had me do new exercises that I had never done before and failed to specify the amount of reps and sets to do of each new exercise.
Nothing that I was told by NovaCare was consistent. Skeptical, I revisited my Orthopedic where he informed me that my knee problem was not due to muscle atrophy or a kneecap that was out of place. I understand that physical therapists are not doctors but they should have some kind of knowledge about injuries and the amount of time that is should take for a specific issue to be resolved.
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