Healing touch: find the right PT.

When dancers get injured, a physical therapist can play a key role in their recovery, but not all have the same approach or skills. How do you find one who can help?

Some health insurance plans allow self-referral; others require a prescription from a medical doctor. In either case, you should get a medical diagnosis before seeking a therapist, and your doctor may be able to recommend someone who has experience with your type of injury. So may fellow dancers, your dance company, or studio. You can also log on to the websites of organizations such as the American Physical Therapy Association (www.apta.org). Once you have some candidates, how can you tell which one is a good fit for you?

Dance Magazine asked several PTs who work with dancers for their advice on how to evaluate a therapist. They suggested some basic ground to cover: How much has the therapist worked with athletes or dancers? What experience do they have in evaluating dance technique as a factor in recurrent injury? Are they well-versed in motor control and therapeutic exercises, especially core stabilizers? Our experts also suggested some other factors to explore that could outweigh these considerations.

Look for an open mind. A dance injury is like a puzzle, and a careful assessment is essential to solving it. "Gone are the days when someone would come in with hip pain and that would automatically set off a predetermined menu of exercises," says Marika Molnar, director of physical therapy services for New York City Ballet. Look for a PT who is intuitive and creative in her (or his) detective work. An initial discussion can give you a sense of someone's approach, as can word of mouth from teachers or fellow dancers. If you know of someone who had a similar injury, ask which therapist they liked, and why.

Is experience treating dancers a must? Finding a therapist who has worked with dancers before is not essential. "If you have to choose between previous dancer experience and experience in manual physical therapy, go with the latter," says Boyd Bender, a physical therapist with Pacific Northwest Ballet. "Dancers' injuries are usually more biomechanically complex than others. For instance, the dancer's foot and ankle pain might really be due to a lumbar spine injury. Someone with strong manual assessment and treatment skills might get good results."

How do you evaluate someone's training? All licensed physical therapists have graduated from a certificate or bachelor degree program and passed a licensing test. Nowadays, newly trained PTs have at least a master's degree. Many universities offer a three-year post baccalaureate program for a doctorate in physical therapy (a DPT). Some therapists undergo more training in a specialty and earn an additional designation like an OCS (orthopedic clinical specialty), or a Fellow in Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy.

Ultimately, you should have a good feeling about working with your therapist. He or she needs to be a good listener, but you also have to be honest. You have to tell them the whole story--holding back information could stymie your recovery. They, in turn, need to explain what they plan to do, help you understand how your problem occurred, and what you need to do to resolve it.

Sometimes during treament you reach a plateau. You're still in pain and not getting any better. Your therapist should be willing to refer you to a complementary practitioner. As Glenna Batson, who has been on the American Dance Festival faculty, puts it, "Especially for dancers, body movement is expressed and understood through many languages: artistic, somatic, medical, and more. I believe that the more languages you know that will help interpret the body's mysteries, the better."

You may need to see a massage therapist for persisting tightness or an orthotics specialist for a special shoe. You may also need further medical evaluation, and the therapist should be ready to discuss your condition with your doctor and suggest other tests. Keep in mind that if you're not making steady progress, it may be time to find another PT.

The best physical therapists are like coaches. "You're hiring them to help you do something you can't do on your own," says John McWilliams, a physical therapist who works with dancers and athletes in Bellingham, WA. "The therapist's job is to give you the tools to take care of your body and help heal it. You're the person ultimately responsible for your body." Onstage and off.

Gigi Berardi is the author of Finding Balance: Fitness, Training, and Health for a Lifetime in Dance (Routledge, 2005).