Information for Business

Georgetown Therapy

October 3rd, 2008 by TDunbar

Written by Beth Wade

Community Impact

Monday, 07 January 2008

As a young man, Robert Wood had dreams of practicing environmental law, but after trying several times to get interested in a required accounting course, his plans changed. Wood saw a sign for a physical therapist office in Austin and was intrigued by the thought.

“I was always interested in working with people,” Wood said. “I had always loved biological sciences. When I was taking a shuttle bus back and forth to school in Austin, I kept running across that sign.”

After doing some research and interviewing a physical therapist in his hometown of San Angelo, Wood changed majors from pre-law to physical therapy, earning his degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1974.

After working in San Angelo and Victoria, he moved to Georgetown to set up a private practice in 1984. He helped develop physical therapy practices as a private contractor for the hospital.

“When I went to work as a contractor, it was myself and one physical therapy assistant. That relationship went well for 14 years,” he said. “When I left, we had 32 employees and contracts with nursing homes and the school district. We had opened up an out-patient center, a skilled nursing unit and the cardiac rehab.”

Patient representative Kathy Hahn and owner Robert Wood, Photo courtesy Georgetown Therapy

Wood established his own practice and opened Georgetown Therapy in 1998.

“[Having my own practice] is great. It gives you an appreciation for anyone who operates and manages any small business,” he said. “Running your own business is challenging. We’ve got a great staff.”

Like many in the medical field, Wood said he has experienced several challenges in his work.

“There are a lot of unique challenges in health care right now,” he said. “In physical therapy, specifically, [it can be difficult] keeping up with regulations.”

The office is an accredited rehab agency with Medicare and recently had a surprise inspection to continue its accreditation and passed, Wood said.

Other challenges include insurance, reimbursement issues and trying to get patients in and out of rehab programs quickly to combat rising fees, he said.

Patients who seek the aid of a physical therapist must have a doctor referral for insurance to cover the cost, he said.

“We are limited in the fact that you can’t just walk in our business and say, ‘I need physical therapy services,’” Wood said. “You can do that with your physician, your chiropractor. But if you want to come to us — even though most therapists have either master’s or doctorate level degrees — you have to see a doctor [first].”

Georgetown Therapy sees a variety of patients ranging from high school athletes to men and women whose bodies are succumbing to old age.

“It is a fabulous field. If I had to do it all over again or if I was making a recommendation to a young person, there is not another profession that has the expertise and deals with the type of problems, patient load and patient types that we have,” he said. “You get to know not only the disease or injury process a person is going through, you get to know the person.”

Shoulder injuries are very common, Wood said. Here are some steps he advises before seeking medical attention.

Try to determine when the pain started and why.
Avoid lifting the arm above the head.
Think about sleeping positions.
Ice massage or place ice on the shoulder.
After checking with a doctor, take anti-inflammatory medicines.
Practice maintained motion, by using the uninjured arm to slowly move the injured one.
Do not allow the muscles to freeze.
If pain does not go away, seek medical attention.