Keeping scheduled visits protects your recovery, preserves your function, and speeds relief from pain. Your appointment is the moment our team checks healing progress, adjusts treatment, reviews imaging, and updates your rehabilitation plan.
How missed appointments affect other patients and the clinic
When patients miss appointments, the clinic loses capacity and struggles to offer timely care to people with urgent problems. Higher no-show rates reduce available slots, increase wait times, and raise the chance that someone with a new injury or worsening condition waits longer for care. This continues to be a struggle for us as we grow and appreciate your understanding.
How missed visits can harm your recovery
Missing postoperative checks or urgent follow-ups raises the risk of complications, unplanned emergency visits, and delays in identifying problems that need prompt treatment. Early detection of wound issues, infection, excessive swelling, numbness, or neurovascular changes is critical to avoid longer hospital stays or additional procedures. In addition, if you miss a concussion visit it usually delays your healing time and slows your return to play.
Why physical therapy and follow-up attendance matters for musculoskeletal problems
Skipping physical therapy sessions or routine orthopedic follow-ups interrupts strength, flexibility, and motor retraining, slows functional progress, and reduces the chance of reaching full recovery. No-show patterns in musculoskeletal care are common and correlate with wasted treatment opportunities and worse recovery trajectories.
Practical steps to avoid missing appointments
- Use multiple reminders. Set phone alarms, calendar events, and accept text or email reminders from the clinic. In some instances, we cannot leave voicemail messages for you as the inbox is not set up or it is full. Please be mindful of this if you see multiple calls from our office without response
- Plan logistics early. Arrange transportation, parking, and childcare before your appointment. We usually run pretty close to on time, meaning we see you near your scheduled appointment time.
- Keep a running list of questions and symptoms. Bring notes or photos of swelling, rashes, or wounds to make visits efficient and useful. If there was an injury during a sporting event having a video of the injury is helpful.
- Be mindful cancellation policies. Tell the clinic as soon as plans change so they can offer your slot to someone else.
If you must cancel
Cancel as soon as possible so the clinic can reassign the slot and you avoid treatment gaps. Reschedule quickly to preserve continuity of care and prevent setbacks in pain control, function, and healing. Late cancels or no shows can be charged and may not be rescheduled depending on the circumstance. Please remember we are a small business that is growing and no shows or late cancellations impact us more than you think.