Physical Therapy Questions, Answered in Palm Desert
These are the questions people ask before they book: referrals, insurance, what actually happens in the first hour, and whether pelvic work is going to hurt. They are answered here the way Dr. Hare answers them in the room, which is plainly. If your question is not on this page, call (760) 239-9177 and ask before you commit to anything.
The questions people ask before the first visit.
You get a full hour, one on one with Dr. Hare. No aide, no second patient in the next room. The hour starts with your history and a movement assessment, because the spot that hurts is not always the spot causing it. From there you get hands-on treatment the same visit, not a follow-up scheduled for it. You leave with a plan you understand: what is driving your symptoms, what we are doing about it, and what to do between now and next time.
No. California is a direct access state, which means you can book physical therapy directly without a physician referral. This is a self-pay practice, so there is no insurance authorization to wait on either. You can start as soon as you are ready.
Wear comfortable clothes you can move in. For anything from the hips down, shorts or loose trousers help, since Dr. Hare needs to see how the joint moves. Bring a photo ID and your insurance card, a list of the medications you take, and any relevant imaging or surgical notes if you happen to have them. If you cannot find the paperwork, come anyway. Nothing on that list is a reason to postpone your first visit.
Nothing is required. If you want to make the hour count, arrive hydrated, notice when your symptoms are worst and what you were doing at the time, and write down the questions you actually want answered. That is it. If you are coming in for pelvic health, there is no special preparation, nothing to cleanse, and nothing you need to do to your body beforehand. The first visit is conversation and assessment, so there is nothing here to be nervous about.
A full hour, every visit. Not fifteen minutes with an aide, and not an hour on paper that turns into a shared room in practice. It is Dr. Hare's whole hour, and you are the only patient in it. That matters more than it sounds. An hour is long enough to assess, treat, retest and then teach you what to do next, which is why your plan can change the same day instead of waiting until the following appointment.
Yes, and deliberately few. You leave with a short list, not a stapled printout you abandon by Thursday. The exercises are chosen because they target what the assessment actually found, and the whole point is that you will do them. Every visit, Dr. Hare checks what you did, what felt wrong, and what changed, then adjusts from there. If something does not fit your real week, say so and it gets swapped for something that does.
You call or email and you reach Dr. Hare, not a front desk that takes a message and passes it along. The number is (760) 239-9177 and the address is info@inclusivepelvicwellness.com. Questions between visits are normal, especially in the first couple of weeks while you are learning what a flare means and what it does not. Ask. It is faster to answer a question this week than to have you sit on it and guess until the next appointment.
No. This is a self-pay practice, so no insurance is billed. You get your rate in writing before your first visit, so there is nothing to guess at and no bill that shows up later with a different number on it.
Usually once or twice a week at the start, while things are still irritable and you are learning the plan. As you improve, visits taper, because the goal is for you to need less of this rather than more. Frequency is set with you at your evaluation and revisited as you go. It is not sold to you as a package, and you are not asked to commit to a block of visits up front. If once a week is what your life allows, the plan is built around that.
Most people notice something change in the first few visits, often less pain or a little more control. Whether the plan is working is usually clear within two to three weeks. Your progress is measured out loud at each visit, so you are never guessing, and if something is not moving we change the plan rather than repeating it.
Yes, and explaining it is part of the treatment rather than an extra. Dr. Hare will tell you which tissue is involved, why it hurts where it hurts, and what the plan is meant to change. Ask about anything: your imaging, a term a surgeon used, whether an exercise is supposed to feel like that. A patient who understands the mechanism follows the plan better and panics less when symptoms flare, so the explaining is never a detour from the hour.
Say so immediately and it stops or it changes. Nothing gets pushed through, and nothing is done to you that you have not agreed to first. Consent here is ongoing, not a signature you gave at the door: you can ask what is about to happen, ask for less pressure, or ask to stop at any point in the hour. That is especially true of pelvic floor work, internal or external, which can always be paused, modified, or skipped. Effective treatment does not require you to endure anything.
Because progress is measured out loud. At your evaluation you set goals in your own terms: sit through a movie, lift your toddler, walk the trail without leaking. Each visit those goals get checked against where you are, so you can see how far along you are instead of waiting to be told. Discharge is planned rather than open-ended, and when you get there you leave with a maintenance plan: what to keep doing, what to watch for, and when to come back if something shifts.