Physical Therapy in Ankeny, IA

Thanks to the amazing advocacy efforts of the Iowa Physical Therapy Association and American Physical Therapy Association, Iowa is a “direct access state.” This means you are allowed to come directly to our practice for evaluation and treatment without a physician’s referral!

Our patients all share some common characteristics as healthcare consumers. First, they desire and expect high quality, effective, hands-on care. They do not want to spend their time and money on treatment visits where all they do is perform exercises that they could be doing independently outside of their therapy session. They value their one-on-one time with their doctor of physical therapy and want treatments and education on their condition that they cannot get independently.

Secondly, our patients take ownership in their health. Our patients have decided that enough is enough and it is now time to take control of their health and do what is necessary to reach their fitness and health goals whether those goals are returning to a walking program, returning to sport or playing with their kids without limitations. They are finished with suffering and are ready to make lasting changes to begin living their best life. They want to and are willing to be active participants in their recovery and are willing to put in the work on a daily basis to reach their desired outcome.

Finally, our patients want SOLUTIONS to their pain and issues, not just “band aids” or temporary pain relief treatments. They want to know exactly what’s causing their pain and want to know how they can actively help to solve their pain issues both now and in the future. Simply, they want answers to what is giving them their limitations and will do everything in their power to evolve into the best versions of themselves. They are done with the past suggestions of surgeries, injections, pain medications or any other “band aids.”

The main diagnosis that people come both near and far to see us is a severely underdiagnosed and debilitating lower back condition called sacroiliac joint (SIJ) dysfunction. This is our specialty niche that we see all day every day in our practice. SIJ dysfunction does not show up on x-rays, MRI’s or other medical imaging so many healthcare practitioners don’t know how to diagnose and treat it effectively. This issue can also masquerade or present as other common lower back, hip and knee pathologies making it even more challenging to diagnose and treat.

Another common pathology we see a great deal of in our clinic is neck pain, specifically neck pain that is caused by chronic muscle tension. Many of our patients also present with chronic tension headaches in addition to their neck and shoulder pain commonly associated with this condition. This continued muscle tension that many of our patients are experiencing is mainly driven by the substantial amount of daily stress. We work with our patients to help manage and decrease their daily stress through revolutionary treatment devices and techniques that aim to increase serotonin, a “feel good hormone” found in the brain and other parts of the body.

We successfully treat a wide variety of shoulder, hip, knee and ankle issues in conjunction with SIJ dysfunction as most of our patients come to us with multiple diagnoses. Many of our patients have unfortunately been suffering for years with significant pain and have failed everything with respect to getting lasting pain relief from other healthcare professionals and treatments.

At Stewart Sport and Spine PT, we are a results-based clinic and do not fall into the traditional model of creating “repeat patients.” We have seen firsthand the results of the traditional therapy model and are not satisfied with the status quo. We are very transparent when it comes to your diagnosis or diagnoses and will communicate openly and honestly with you regarding if we can actually help solve your issues or alert you to the fact that your issues may require further medical attention. We provide you an expected healing timeline and detailed description on what your personalized plan of care would look like and include at your first consultation visit. We strive to provide the highest quality of care by spending the entire treatment session working one-on-one with our patients.

Due to progressively worsening reimbursement rates and increasing pressure from insurance companies to do more with less, the therapists at in-network clinics are expected to see at least 2 patients per hour (usually many more). They are also instructed to use technicians and assistants to provide much of the actual patient care. The treatments often include modalities like heat packs, electrical stimulation and ultrasound with the majority of a patient’s time at the clinic being spent doing exercises they could do on their own time.

Furthermore, these types of clinics tend to require patients to attend 2-3 appointments per week which can be a big time constraint for many people. Overall, this model of care frequently leads to less than ideal outcomes for patients along with prolonged recovery times. The care that you will receive at Stewart Sport and Spine PT will be provided by a doctor of physical therapy for the ENTIRE treatment each visit. Therefore, we can improve patient outcomes significantly faster with fewer visits and less time spent away from work, family and doing what you love.

At Stewart Sport and Spine PT, we are a results-based clinic and do not fall into the traditional model of creating “repeat patients.” We have seen firsthand the results of the traditional therapy model and are not satisfied with the status quo. We are very transparent when it comes to your diagnosis or diagnoses and will communicate openly and honestly with you regarding if we can actually help solve your issues or alert you to the fact that your issues may require further medical attention. We provide you an expected healing timeline and detailed description on what your personalized plan of care would look like and include at your first consultation visit. We strive to provide the highest quality of care by spending the entire treatment session working one-on-one with our patients.

Due to progressively worsening reimbursement rates and increasing pressure from insurance companies to do more with less, the therapists at in-network clinics are expected to see at least 2 patients per hour (usually many more). They are also instructed to use technicians and assistants to provide much of the actual patient care. The treatments often include modalities like heat packs, electrical stimulation and ultrasound with the majority of a patient’s time at the clinic being spent doing exercises they could do on their own time.

Furthermore, these types of clinics tend to require patients to attend 2-3 appointments per week which can be a big time constraint for many people. Overall, this model of care frequently leads to less than ideal outcomes for patients along with prolonged recovery times. The care that you will receive at Stewart Sport and Spine PT will be provided by a doctor of physical therapy for the ENTIRE treatment each visit. Therefore, we can improve patient outcomes significantly faster with fewer visits and less time spent away from work, family and doing what you love.

Many of our patients have the most commonly used health insurances in the United States. However, our clinic is not in-network with any insurance companies. Therefore, we do not bill insurance companies directly. This means you are responsible for payment up front for every visit. We do provide a “super bill” at the request of our patients to allow them to submit claims to their insurance to go towards their out of network deductible and possibly get reimbursement.

This ultimately depends on the insurance you have, but yes, most NON-Medicare patients can send “self-claims” to their insurance company for their treatments at our clinic. You should be able to print claim forms off your insurance company’s website and send it in with the needed receipts and treatment codes that will be provided upon request at our clinic.

In many ways, insurance companies dictate or strongly influence the treatments that patients receive at “in-network” clinics. We REFUSE to allow that to be the case. As previously stated, we utilize cutting edge therapy techniques that consistently produce superior results. However, in healthcare, “new” is not reimbursed. A good comparison is stem cell injections. Many people are experiencing significant pain relief with stem cell injections into their arthritic joints all throughout the country. But, since the procedure is still considered “new,” people are paying out of pocket for this injection as insurance companies will not cover it.

We are an out-of-network practice because this is the business model that is necessary to allow us to provide you the highest level of care possible to get you back to doing the activities you love to do. As previously discussed, due to progressively worsening reimbursement rates and pressure from insurance companies, the therapists at in-network clinics have to see at least 2 patients per hour (usually many more). We believe treatment style ultimately devalues our profession and more importantly compromises the quality of treatment that we are able to provide.

All of our patients receive one-on-one care and hands on treatment from a Doctor of Physical Therapy at every visit. When you consider the time savings of fewer trips to our clinic and the value of resolving your pain much faster than average, the out-of-pocket expense at Stewart Sport and Spine PT is a huge bargain. On top of that, the out-of-pocket expense for our treatment sessions is sometimes less than a patient would pay at a clinic that accepts and bills their insurance.

The first visit consultation lasts 45 mins and is only $49 ($225 normally). Dr. Stewart will evaluate you and attempt to relieve your pain and explain his findings and determine if you are appropriate for his clinic. At the $21 consultation Dr. Stewart will quote you an exact price and length of treatment (number of sessions). Cost per visit range from $150-$249 depending on the complexity of your condition. All sessions are 1:1 with Dr. Stewart. The visits are between 30-45 mins. All patients coming for the $49 consultations will have the option to determine whether they would like to continue treating with him. We also accept Care Credit which is a health credit card that offers interest free monthly payment plans.