Frequently asked questions

No — Conway Physical Therapy is a cash-based practice. I don't bill insurance, verify benefits, or submit claims on your behalf, and care is paid for directly at the time of service. A basic payment receipt is available on request. Being cash-based is what makes the longer, one-on-one visits possible: your care is guided by clinical reasoning and your goals, rather than by insurance visit limits or billing rules.

Founding-patient rates start at $135 per treatment visit — see the full rates and packages on the Services page. Payment is simple and transparent, and a basic payment receipt is available on request.

Payment is due at the time of service. Cash or check is preferred, and cards are also accepted. A basic payment receipt is available on request, and is typically eligible for HSA/FSA reimbursement (check with your plan administrator).

You can schedule directly — no referral is needed to book an evaluation or discovery call. In some situations Wisconsin law asks me to coordinate with your physician or the provider who diagnosed you; if that applies, I'll handle it with you at your first visit.

It's a gentle, highly specific form of hands-on physical therapy that helps identify which tissues may be contributing to your pain, stiffness, sensitivity, or limited movement — and then tests what actually changes after treatment. Instead of focusing only on the area that hurts, it considers how different tissue systems may be involved. There's a full explanation on the Fascial Counterstrain page.

Differences in how the tissue moves and responds under light contact. One area may feel soft and mobile; another may feel unusually dense, tethered, rigid, puffy, or sharply tender despite very gentle pressure. Within the method, those differences map to tissue systems elsewhere in the body — the scalp works like a dashboard indicator that points me toward what's worth investigating. It isn't an imaging study or a diagnosis; it gives me an anatomical question to test.

Pain is honest about where it is, but not always about why it's there. When tissue is irritated, the body protects it — muscles tighten, movement becomes guarded — and that protective pattern can involve tissues well outside the painful spot. When the assessment points somewhere unexpected, I test that relationship first, treat what I find, and then we retest the thing you actually care about — how you move, how it feels — to see whether it mattered. The painful area always deserves a careful look; it just may not tell the whole story.

No — though it's a fair question, since both involve gentle contact on the head. Craniosacral therapy is its own system. In Fascial Counterstrain, the cranial points are used as diagnostic indicators for tissues throughout the body, and each finding is then confirmed by positioning those distant tissues and retesting. I do have craniosacral training and may use it as a supporting approach when it fits — but it's a different method from FCS.

Much of the underlying biology is well established — fascia is richly innervated and can generate pain, inflammatory chemicals can sensitize tissue, and pain can inhibit strength. The method itself has been formally described in the peer-reviewed literature (2021 and 2025), and early clinical research is emerging, including a small 2026 randomized proof-of-concept study. It's a coherent, increasingly researched foundation with promising early findings and real open questions that are still being studied — and I'm honest about both halves of that.

Some of any treatment's effect — in every clinic — comes with attention, expectation, and feeling cared for, and those effects are real. That's exactly why we don't rely on how treatment felt. Before treating, we pick something concrete to measure — how far your neck turns, how strongly a muscle contracts, how a step feels — and test it again afterward, and across visits. Meaningful, repeatable, lasting change on those retests is the standard the work is held to.

Massage and general manual therapy tend to work broadly — relaxing tight or sore areas. Fascial Counterstrain is more specific: it uses a diagnostic map to identify the particular tissue holding protective tension, then quiets it with gentle positioning rather than working an area as a whole. It isn't massage, and it isn't forceful manipulation.

Yes — I'm a licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy, and Fascial Counterstrain is the central approach within an individualized plan of care.

A wide range — back, neck, shoulder, hip, and knee pain; headaches and migraines; TMJ; sciatica and nerve-related symptoms; SI and pelvic pain; pre- and post-operative recovery; concussion and post-concussion symptoms; hypermobility-related issues; and recurring or persistent pain.

Two of these have pages of their own: physical therapy for back pain and headaches and migraines.

It can. Gentle hands-on care is often well-tolerated before and after a procedure, and it can be a supportive complement to your recovery — it's not a substitute for your surgeon's post-operative rehabilitation plan. If you have surgical restrictions, bring them along; I'll work within them and coordinate with appropriate medical guidance when needed.

Bring them — they're useful context. Imaging tells part of the story, but findings on a scan don't always explain symptoms, and people with similar images can feel very different. We'll consider your imaging alongside your history, movement, and assessment to build a fuller picture.

You're in good company — a lot of people here have. A different result isn't guaranteed, but sometimes a fresh, more detailed look is exactly what a stubborn problem needed. If your history is mostly back pain or headaches, those pages walk through where the usual path can fall short.

We start by talking through your story and history, then move into a movement and clinical assessment and a gentle, tissue-specific Fascial Counterstrain assessment. From there we begin hands-on treatment and talk through what I found and a realistic plan from here.

Standard sessions are 75 minutes, one-on-one. The initial evaluation runs about 120 minutes and includes a full history, assessment, and time to begin treatment.

Wear loose, comfortable clothing you can move in. For some hands-on work it's helpful to access the skin directly, so easy-to-adjust layers are ideal — but your comfort always comes first, and we'll only ever work in ways you're at ease with.

Generally no. Fascial Counterstrain uses gentle positioning and comfortable contact rather than force. Most people find it calm and easy to tolerate, even when the area being treated is sensitive.

Yes — when they'll help your progress. If exercises are part of your plan, they'll be specific to you and kept realistic, not a generic printout.

It depends on what's going on, how long it's been there, and how you respond — so there's no one-size answer. After the first visit, I'll give you an honest sense of what I'd expect, and we'll adjust as we go. The work is about creating the conditions for healing — easing protective tension so your body can respond and recover more naturally.

Because each visit is a dedicated one-on-one appointment, I ask for at least 24 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule. Late cancellations (less than 24 hours) and missed appointments may be subject to a $50 fee. Life happens, though — if something comes up, just reach out, and I'll always do my best to work with you.