What to bring to your first PT appointment (and what not to wear).

Your first physical therapy visit is mostly paperwork, a conversation, and an evaluation. It is not a massage. It is not a workout. You will probably not leave feeling dramatically better. That is normal, and it means the PT is doing their job.

What to bring

Your insurance card and a photo ID. Two of the three people who skip this show up to the front desk and have to text a photo of their card to the receptionist. Don't be those people.

Your referral or script, if your insurance requires one. HMO plans usually do. PPO plans usually don't. If you're not sure, call your insurance's member line and ask. If you don't have a referral and you needed one, your clinic will either send you home or eat the first visit's cost. Neither is a great start.

A list of your current medications and major surgeries in the last five years. Write them down the night before. Nobody remembers the name of the anti-inflammatory their GP put them on eight months ago, and the PT will ask.

Any relevant imaging, if you have it. MRI reports, X-rays, ultrasound findings. Most clinics can pull these electronically from the referring physician, but "most" is not "all." A PDF on your phone is fine.

A list of three things you want to be able to do again. Not "feel better." Specific things. "Run a 5k without my knee locking up." "Lift my daughter without my back giving out." "Sleep through the night without shoulder pain." The PT uses these to build a plan. Vague goals get vague plans.

What to wear

Gym clothes. Stretchy pants, a t-shirt, sneakers. If your problem is below the waist, wear shorts you can pull up above the knee. If it's your shoulder or neck, a tank or a t-shirt with a loose collar.

What not to wear: skinny jeans, a dress, business casual, or anything you'd be annoyed about sweating in. The PT is going to have you do squats, lunges, arm raises, or something similar during the evaluation. Every clinic has a story about the patient who showed up in slacks and had to do the assessment in borrowed gym shorts from the lost-and-found bin.

How long it takes

First visits run 60 to 90 minutes. Budget two hours including check-in paperwork and the time it takes to escape the parking garage afterward. Subsequent visits are usually 45 to 60 minutes. Do not schedule your first visit in your lunch hour. You will not make it back on time.

What the PT will actually do

A first visit is an evaluation, not a treatment. The PT will ask you to describe what's going on, when it started, what makes it worse, what makes it better, and what you've already tried. They'll watch you move, test your range of motion, test your strength in a few specific ways, and maybe palpate (press on) the area to find what's tender. You might get some manual work or a few exercises at the end, but the main deliverable is a plan: how many visits, what the plan looks like, what homework you'll do between sessions.

If you leave without a plan, ask for one. "What does the next six weeks look like?" is a fair question, and a good PT has an answer ready.

Questions worth asking

• How many visits do you expect I'll need?
• What does a realistic timeline for improvement look like?
• What am I doing between sessions?
• What should I stop doing?
• What's a sign I should call you between visits?
• Who do I work with each visit — you, or different PTs each time?

The last one matters more than people realize. Some clinics rotate staff. Some keep you with the same PT the whole time. There's no objectively right model, but the right model for you is the one you're told about up front.

One final logistic

Arrive fifteen minutes early for the paperwork. If you can fill out intake forms online in advance, do that. The fifteen minutes you save by arriving on time is fifteen minutes you don't have for a productive first visit. And if you have not booked the appointment yet, the directory has the phone number for every clinic, by city — that call is the next step.

Informational only, not medical advice. If something about your first visit feels off, say so. The PT is there to help you, and telling them it hurts, or it feels weird, or you don't understand the plan, is exactly what they want to hear.