Physical Therapy Frequency Calculator

This calculator recommends a physical therapy visit frequency and total program duration from six inputs: diagnosis category, current recovery phase, case complexity, patient age, functional goal, and home exercise compliance. Diagnosis category and recovery phase together set the baseline visits-per-week and total program weeks -- post-operative diagnoses like ACL reconstruction and joint replacement generally carry higher baseline frequency and longer total duration than a conservative diagnosis like a simple muscle strain, and every diagnosis tapers its frequency across four phases from acute/early through return-to-function. Four modifiers then adjust that baseline: case complexity (extra sessions and a longer timeline for multi-joint or revision cases), patient age (older patients need proportionally more total time to reach the same functional milestone, capped in this calculator at a roughly 50% increase for the oldest bracket), functional goal (returning to competitive sport extends the timeline well beyond basic activities-of-daily-living goals), and home exercise compliance (excellent compliance can reduce clinic visit frequency, while poor compliance increases both frequency and total duration).

Total estimated visits multiplies the tapering visit frequency by program length rather than simply multiplying the peak frequency, since real PT frequency decreases as a patient progresses through phases. This tool produces a planning estimate only -- it does not replace a treating therapist's individualized plan of care, and it does not model insurance visit authorization limits, which can independently cap how many sessions a payer will cover regardless of clinical recommendation.