Today's episode is a guest interview with my good friend and physical therapist, Dr. Melissa Cioffi! Truthfully, people like Dr. Mel, as I call her, are half the reason I decided to start a podcast. I wanted to share the expertise of providers like her who do things that are not in my own scope of practice as a personal trainer, but still very much relate to what we do in the gym. Dr. Mel is the person I call whenever my clients ask me questions about pain and injuries that I can't answer and she's helped me learn a LOT over the years. Today I'm excited to share her knowledge with you!
Dr. Melissa Cioffi is a physical therapist and owner of New Quest Physical Therapy. As a pelvic floor PT, Melissa is passionate about helping women discover the power they hold within their bodies that they never realized existed. Using a mix of movement and no-nonsense education, she helps women learn how to finally use their body instead of being afraid of it.
On this episode we talk about:
- Some common red flags to look out for when it comes to finding a provider to help you deal with an injury or pain.
- The truth about your weight and joint health.
- Why you went to physical therapy in the past but it didn't help you get better.
- The surprising reason why so many physical therapists are going out of network with your health insurance and how to figure out if it's worth hiring them anyway.
- Why we hate fear mongering and disempowering language from medical providers and how it might actually be keeping you in pain.
- The truth about manual therapy modalities like ice, heat, stim, and massage.
- How diet culture keeps us from truly understanding our bodies.
And lots of other fuckery that happens in the world of physical therapy!