National Physical Therapy Month is being observed during October as an entity in Dallas County highlights the potential risks associated with prolonged injuries.

21st Century Rehab has a clinic within Dallas County Hospital in Perry that helps people struggling with tender areas with the body. Doctor of Physical Therapy Clint Lutterman tells Raccoon Valley Radio that many of the patients he sees explain that they are dealing with elongated pains. He uses a case of examining a recent sprained ankle, saying that the issue is more straightforward compared to chronic pain that goes untouched for multiple months or years.

“It becomes more of a puzzle sometimes with the longer term ones because usually one issue turns into multiple. You compensate, you move differently and then we have to kind of work backwards from there. We try to explain to people though, we live in a world that is very fast, that’s not how the body works. The body takes its time. Sometimes things just have to heal, tissues have to heal and that can take longer than people want.”

Lutterman emphasizes that he tries to get ahead of patients by mapping out some sort of a timeline of the healing process for their particular injury.