VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY)- Local physical therapists are using the internet to help patients heal their injuries amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Natalie Forret has been a physical therapist for eight years and says she’s seen a decrease in patients coming into their office.
Luckily, Forret and her business partner started planning the launch of a website, physicaltherapyanytime.com, last year to help patients who to stay home.
“Orginally we were thinking people couldn’t get to therapy for some reason whether because of time, finances. We didn’t think a virus would prevent everyone from going,” she said.
The website includes videos and instructions on how to do the exercises for different body parts in need of healing such as the neck, lower back, hip, and knee.
Forret believes that providing patients with these videos can help prevent them from finding unreliable sources online that could reaggrevate injuries.
“It gives them something they can do on their own,” she said. “When people have the knowledge and power, they can help themselves. They can get better. That’s the whole goal of this site is that they can have the information they need and its from a reputable source.”
While Forret believes this will help patients during the coronavirus outbreak, she also hopes even more people will be able to use it long after the pandemic ends.
“There’s a lot of population that can’t get to therapy. They may not have a clinic near them or the other reasons like scheduling or financial reasons. If there’s something they can do on their own, it would be a great adjunct to therapy or instead of therapy where they can do it themselves,” she said.
The cost of subscription is $14.99 per month per body part.
To learn more, click here for the website.