Key Takeaways
- Initial evaluations last 60 to 90 minutes and include medical history, hands-on testing, and a custom treatment plan
- A sports PT evaluation goes beyond standard testing to assess how you actually move under sport-specific demands
- Athletes who complete their full plan of care see significantly better outcomes than those who drop out early
- Your PT should record objective baselines on day one so every future session has something real to measure against
- What you wear, bring, and ask at your first visit directly shapes how fast your recovery moves
Introduction
About 30% of physical therapy patients drop out before completing their plan of care, and a lot of that comes down to not knowing what to expect (PMC, 2022). Athletes are especially prone to this. You show up for your first appointment not sure if you're going to spend an hour filling out forms, or if someone is actually going to look at your knee. Nobody told you what to wear. Nobody told you what to ask. And by session three, you're wondering if this is even working because nobody gave you a clear picture of what "working" looks like.
That's a fixable problem. We designed our orthopedic physical therapy program so that athletes leave their very first session with objective numbers, a clear plan, and a timeline tied to measurable benchmarks rather than guesswork. Whether you're post-op from ACL reconstruction, dealing with a shoulder that won't cooperate, or trying to figure out why your hamstring keeps flaring up, your first appointment is where the foundation gets built. Here's what actually happens so you can walk in prepared.
How Long Does a First Physical Therapy Visit Take?
Plan for 60 to 90 minutes. That's roughly double a typical follow-up session, and the extra time exists for a reason. Your PT needs to collect your full medical history, put their hands on you, run a series of tests, and then sit down and map out a plan that actually fits your injury and your goals. Rushing any of those steps means building your rehab on incomplete information.
The American Physical Therapy Association breaks the initial exam into six components: history, systems review, tests and measures, diagnosis, prognosis, and plan of care. A solid clinic covers all of that in one visit. If you arrive 15 minutes early and knock out the intake paperwork ahead of time, your PT gets the full session for the parts that actually require their hands and eyes.
At a sports-focused clinic, evaluations tend to run closer to that 90-minute mark. Your PT isn't just checking whether you can bend your knee to a certain angle. They're watching you squat, land, decelerate, and rotate to see how your body handles the kinds of forces your sport throws at it. That level of detail takes time, but it's the difference between a treatment plan that gets you back to daily life and one that gets you back to competition.
What Actually Happens During the Evaluation?
The visit starts with a conversation. Your PT will ask how the injury happened, how long you've been dealing with it, what makes it better, and what makes it worse. They'll want to know your sport, your position, your training volume, and when your season starts. This isn't small talk. Every answer shapes the tests they choose and the plan they build.
Then comes the hands-on portion. Your PT will measure your range of motion using a goniometer, which is essentially a protractor for joints. They'll record exactly how many degrees your knee bends or your shoulder rotates, down to the number. Strength testing comes next, where your PT pushes against your muscles while you resist, and they rate your force production on a standardized scale. These numbers become your baseline. Every session after this one gets compared against what they recorded on day one.
Depending on your injury, your PT will also run special tests designed to stress specific structures. A Lachman test pulls on your tibia to check ACL integrity. An empty can test isolates your rotator cuff. These aren't random. Your PT picks them based on what your history and symptoms suggest.
Here's where a sports PT clinic separates from a general one. Research in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy found that athletes who went through comprehensive testing batteries had better outcomes than those cleared on feel alone. A general PT might document your range of motion and strength and call the evaluation done. A sports PT keeps going. They'll have you jump, land on one leg, change direction, or load into a squat to see what your body does under real demands. Your isolated strength might test fine, but your landing mechanics might be a mess. That kind of gap only shows up when someone knows to look for it.
What Should You Bring and Wear?
This sounds basic, but showing up in the wrong clothes or without the right paperwork wastes evaluation time that should go toward figuring out your injury.
Bring your photo ID, insurance card, and any referral or prescription your insurance requires. If you've had imaging done, bring the MRI or X-ray reports. If you've done PT elsewhere for the same injury, bring those records too. A list of current medications saves time during the intake interview.
Wear athletic clothing that gives your PT access to the injured area. If it's a knee injury, wear shorts. If it's a shoulder, wear a tank top or a shirt you can easily move in. Leave the jeans at home. Skip heavy lotions or creams on the area being evaluated because they interfere with manual assessment. Bring supportive athletic shoes, not sandals.
If you're a runner, bring your running shoes. Your PT can read wear patterns on the soles to inform gait analysis. If you're a pitcher, bring your glove. The more your PT can see of how you actually move in your sport, the better your evaluation will be.
What Questions Should You Ask?
The questions you ask on day one set the tone for your entire rehab. A 2024 study in JOSPT Open found that patients who showed stronger engagement in their treatment plan from the start achieved significantly greater pain reduction and functional improvement. Asking the right things is part of that engagement.
Start with "How will you measure my progress?" The answer tells you a lot. If your PT talks about force plates, strength ratios, or specific functional benchmarks, you're in a clinic that tracks objective data. If the answer is closer to "we'll see how you feel," that's a red flag.
Ask what your full rehab looks like from beginning to end. Not in weeks, but in phases. What are the criteria for moving from one phase to the next? A sports PT should describe specific thresholds: a strength ratio you need to hit, a symmetry score between your legs, a movement quality standard. If the only answer is a calendar date, you're getting time-based rehab, and that's how athletes get cleared before they're actually ready.
Ask whether you'll see the same PT every session. Continuity matters. A PT who sees you twice a week learns your movement patterns, notices subtle changes, and catches problems early. Rotating between providers means someone is always catching up on your chart.
Finally, ask what you should be doing between sessions. Your home exercise program is the single biggest variable you control. The athletes who follow it consistently progress faster than the ones who treat PT like something that only happens inside the clinic.
How Is a Sports PT Evaluation Different From a Regular One?
A general physical therapist considers rehab successful when you can handle daily life without pain. You can walk up stairs, get in and out of a car, sit at your desk. For most people, that's the right finish line. For athletes, it's barely the halfway point.
A sports PT doesn't stop at daily function. The goal is getting you back to full sport-specific performance at the level you were at before the injury. That means sprinting, cutting, jumping, absorbing contact, decelerating under load. A 2021 review in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy made the case that performance physical therapy is sports physical therapy, arguing that the profession needs to move beyond basic functional restoration.
That difference shows up on day one. A sports PT asks about your position, your competition schedule, and your performance goals. They test movements that mimic what your sport actually demands. They assess not just what's injured but what compensations your body built around the injury. Maybe your quad is strong in isolation, but your landing pattern shifts all the load to your good leg. Maybe your shoulder has full range of motion, but your throwing mechanics fall apart under fatigue. Those patterns drive the plan of care, and they only surface when the evaluator knows what questions to ask and what movements to test.
The session model matters too. At a sports-focused clinic, you work 1-on-1 with the same PT every visit. Your rehab includes strength and conditioning built into the later stages, not just stretches and ice. And your clearance to return to sport is based on objective benchmarks, like achieving greater than 90% limb symmetry on strength and hop tests, not just a gut feeling that you're ready.
How Can Nutrition Support Your Recovery From Day One?
Most athletes don't think about nutrition during rehab, but the weeks after an injury or surgery are exactly when your body needs the most targeted support. You're healing tissue, fighting inflammation, and trying to preserve muscle mass while you can't train at full intensity. What you eat either accelerates that process or slows it down.
Protein is the foundation. During injury recovery, aim for 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight daily, spread across your meals in 20 to 40 gram servings. This keeps muscle protein synthesis elevated throughout the day rather than spiking it once and wasting the rest.
Collagen at 5 to 10 grams daily, taken with vitamin C, supports tendon and ligament repair specifically. If you're coming back from an ACL reconstruction or an Achilles injury, this one matters.
For managing post-surgical inflammation, omega-3 fatty acids at 1,000 to 2,000 milligrams of combined EPA and DHA daily have well-documented anti-inflammatory effects. These complement the healing process without interfering with the controlled inflammation your body needs in the early stages.
Your PT can help you time these around your treatment sessions for maximum benefit. These aren't general wellness suggestions. They're recovery protocols built for athletes who need to get back on the field.
Conclusion
Your first physical therapy appointment is the most important hour of your entire rehab. Everything that comes after, every exercise progression, every clearance decision, every return-to-sport benchmark, gets measured against what your PT records on day one. A rushed or incomplete evaluation means your recovery starts with blind spots.
Show up prepared. Wear the right clothes, bring your records, and ask how your PT plans to measure your progress with real numbers. We track every athlete's progression against force plate data, strength ratios, and sport-specific functional screens so that decisions are driven by what your body actually demonstrates, not by how many weeks have passed.
Book your evaluation and see what criterion-based rehab looks like from day one.
FAQ
How many physical therapy sessions will I need? Most sports rehab programs run 8 to 16 sessions depending on injury severity and sport demands. Your PT sets specific milestones during the first visit and adjusts frequency based on how you progress against those benchmarks.
Do I need a doctor's referral for physical therapy? Maryland allows direct access to physical therapy without a physician referral for evaluation and initial treatment. Some insurance plans still require one for coverage, so check with your provider before scheduling.
Will physical therapy hurt during the first visit? Your PT may reproduce some discomfort during specific tests to identify the injury source, but the evaluation itself should not cause lasting pain. If something increases your symptoms, say so immediately and your PT will adjust.
Can I exercise on my own between PT sessions? Your PT will give you a home exercise program during the first visit. Following it consistently between sessions is one of the strongest predictors of a good outcome. Don't add exercises or return to sport-specific training without your PT's sign-off.
What's the difference between a PT and an athletic trainer? Physical therapists hold a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree and manage your full rehabilitation plan. Athletic trainers specialize in injury prevention, emergency care, and on-field assessment. Both are important, but your PT owns the rehab process.
Bottom Line
- Your first PT appointment is 60 to 90 minutes that sets every objective benchmark your rehab will be measured against
- Athletes should choose a sports PT who evaluates how you move under sport-specific demands, not just range of motion and basic strength
- Preparation, the right questions, and early commitment to your plan of care are the strongest patient-controlled predictors of a successful recovery
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