Mount Pleasant, SC · What we treat
Say what hurts. We’ll take it from there.
Nobody walks in already speaking clinical. Find the phrase that sounds like your week below, or the body part that’s been complaining, and read what it usually turns out to be.
Most of what brings people in isn’t a diagnosis, it’s a sentence: the stairs that suddenly need a handrail, the arm you’ve started favoring without quite noticing when it started. Below are the complaints we see most often in Mount Pleasant, each with what it usually turns out to be and the plain-language version of how we treat it.
None of this replaces your evaluation, and none of it is a diagnosis; it’s context, so you’re not walking in blind. What it usually is for someone with your symptom isn’t always what it is for you, which is exactly why the evaluation exists: to test, not guess, and to find the actual cause instead of treating the spot that hurts because that’s the spot that’s loudest.
The one thing every condition below has in common is what happens if it’s left alone too long. Pain that gets ignored doesn’t usually stay the same size; the shoulder you stopped reaching overhead with quietly teaches the rest of your body to compensate, and the compensation is its own problem by the time you finally call. A knee that’s been favored for a year has usually recruited the hip and the opposite ankle into the problem by the time anyone books an evaluation. Earlier is easier, almost every time we’ve seen it, and none of the ones below require imaging or a referral to start sorting out.
What we treat, in your words.
Each one opens with the sentence we actually hear on the phone.
-
UsuallyNeck strain, stiff joints, and the headache that camps behind one eye. Common, mapped, and treatable in a predictable order.
Neck pain & headaches ⟶ -
UsuallyRotator cuff irritation or a shoulder that’s stiffened up, the catch that shows up the moment you lift overhead.
Shoulder pain ⟶ -
UsuallyLow back pain: sciatica, a disc that’s flaring, a morning that takes ten minutes to loosen. The most treatable thing we see.
Low back pain ⟶ -
UsuallyHip bursitis or labral irritation, hip flexors doing a job nobody hired them for.
Hip pain ⟶ -
UsuallyRunner’s knee or ACL and MCL recovery, the ache that votes against every squat. Knees tend to respond fast to the right load.
Knee pain ⟶ -
UsuallyPlantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, or an old sprain that never finished healing.
Foot & ankle pain ⟶ -
UsuallyLingering post-concussion symptoms: eye tracking, balance, and a stiff neck that rest alone doesn’t fix. Graded movement does.
Concussion recovery ⟶ -
UsuallyBPPV or a balance system that isn’t integrating cleanly. Mechanical, and mechanically fixable without medication or waiting.
Vertigo & dizziness ⟶
Not sure what you have.
That’s the more common starting point, honestly. Most people who call don’t have a name for what’s wrong, they have a sentence about what it’s stopped them from doing: the walk they cut short, the workout they’ve quietly avoided for a month. That sentence is enough.
It’s more than enough, in fact, it’s exactly what a cause-first evaluation is built to take from vague to specific, with a Doctor of Physical Therapy one-on-one for the full hour, not a rushed guess based on where you’re pointing.
If you’d rather test your own instinct first, schedule the free 15-minute call ⟶ and walk through what you can’t do right now and what you want back, in plain language, no clinical terms required. Either way, the next step is the same: schedule the free 15-minute call and describe it in your own words. We’ll tell you what it usually is, what we’d test for, and what the plan would look like, before you commit to anything.
Put it in writing.
Five short questions. We call you back to set up your free 15-minute call.
The people who end up filling this out are rarely in the worst pain of their life. They’re just done working around it, done picking the errand that doesn’t require the stairs. If that’s the stage you’re at, this is the part where you stop researching and start.
Consider it filed.
We’ll call you back to set up your free 15-minute call. Keep your phone nearby.
Can’t wait? Call (843) 595-1055 ⟶Where to find us.
One clinic, one doctor, one address. Come see the place before you commit, if you like.
The clinic · ALTR Performance & Physical Therapy
Get Directions ⟶Opens in Google Maps