Quote:
Originally Posted by antonina
I too have serious imbalance and leg weakness issues and plan to start PT in 2011. I have Medicare and was going to a hospital outpatient PT a few years ago. I believe that if you have PT in a hospital setting there are fewer limitations on the # of visits Medicare will cover. If you use a private PT facility, there are more Medicare restrictions.
I'd love to hear specifics about your treatment, especially the use of infrared therapy. Would you please post what IT is and how it helps? TIA.
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Hi antonina,
I'm quite new to this site and still finding my way around. I assume you can view my earlier response to malawigirl (?) which provides a good bit of detail. But, just in case you can't view it: the physical therapist had me do 30 minutes +/- of exercise with a variety of balancing maneuvers, leg/muscle strengthening activities which were performed with a sort of rubber band wrapped around the ankles along with some stretching and walking activities. A fairly strenuous and somewhat tiring activity (something akin to "no pain, no gain". All followed by 30 minutes (sometimes 45 if their patient load allowed) on the ReVitaMed unit. You can see this unit at their website. Basically both feet and ankles are wrapped in a strap-on type boot and a smaller patch like piece is placed on the leg just below the knee during the treatment. It is painless and I felt refreshed afterwards.
It seems to have helped me and I intend to pursue it further.
As for doing it in a hospital, sounds expensive even if it doesn't come directly out of my pocket. I try hard to to do things as conservatively as I can. I don't waste my own money and I try to apply that to Medicare and my supplemental insurance as well. That's why I am interested in buying a used ReVitaMed unit if I can find one.
I hope this is of some help. Good luck.
Richard HS