Best Place for Physical Therapy in Ahwatukee 11 years running!

We appreciate all the support from our patients and community who took the time to vote us a Best Place for Physical in Ahwatukee (according to Ahwatukee Foothills News). We consider this our standard since opening our doors in 2009.

Over the years we have grown in size and have added more service options to compliment our physical therapy services. These services include: Personal Training, Sports Performance Training, Massage Therapy, Pilates, and most recently Dance. We are looking forward to our continued growth in serving the Ahwatukee area with the build-out of our 2nd office that will be located next to the ACE Hardware in the Desert Foothills area!

We are also happy to announce that Sarah Thompson, PT, DPT is also returning to be the Clinical Director of our new location! While the new location is being built out, Dr. Thompson will be seeing patients at our Warner office. Call us to learn more (480) 785-5415.

Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for treating chronic Low Back Pain

Many people tout the benefits of Yoga for reducing chronic back pain and many studies have shown that physical therapy is more effective than taking pain medication.  So which is more effective, Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain?

A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine  finds that yoga was just as good as physical therapy for reducing pain and increasing mobility. While clinical guidelines and many large-scale randomized controlled trials endorse yoga as a reasonable first line approach, physical therapy still remains the most common reimbursable, evidence-based, non-pharmacologic therapy prescribed by doctors.

Yoga is a great way to maintain pain relief once the initial phase of back pain has been addressed.  But caution should be practiced when considering Yoga as a primary method for treating chronic low back pain.  First, the cause of low back pain is different for everyone and needs to be addressed individually.  Secondly, Yoga instructors are not medical providers, so they aren’t trained to recognize potential risks when performing certain movements.

Physical Therapy is great to help address increased bouts of pain and help educate the patient about what precautions they should take with any exercise program, including Yoga.  Also Physical Therapy, is covered under most insurance plans, while Yoga is not.

Most people would benefit from practicing Yoga as a maintenance program between physical therapy services in treating chronic low back pain.  Pritchette Physical Therapy utilizes our Therapeutic Yoga Services as an aftercare program to help our patients maintain a healthy back.