How to Find a Personal Trainer that Understands Mobility/Injury Issues (and don't give you side eye)

Cheesy567 wrote: »

Have you tried physical therapy? Rehabbing from an injury is really more of a specialist’s field, rather than a personal trainer who is used to a healthy individual.

I agree with this. If you’re looking for a trainer who can work around it while you do rehab, your best bet is a Corrective Exercise Specialist. You’ll likely have to ask around to see if any trainers have the certification. They can formulate workouts around your limitations/weaknesses. My husband used to do this and successfully worked with several clients after major accidents/injuries/illnesses.

PT and rehab are a definitely path to improvement as well as a great source for information, however any good personal trainer should be familiar with adaptive exercises. I used to teach and Active Older Adults classes and there are ways to modify most every movement to work around a bad knee. As well as exercises to strengthen it. Sorry you are having a hard time finding a good trainer. Maybe ask one of the physical therapists in the area who they would recommend. Good luck and don't settle!

In my experience, PTs employed by a commercial gym are typically not great. Not that there aren't any good ones, but I'd say they are very few and far between. Many of them are pretty new to the field and have little education other than their certification...they're often green and just getting started in their careers. They don't make much money, so you're not going to get the best. The best personal trainers I've come across are self employed and either lease space from a gym or have their own space. They're also more expensive.

You'd want to look at other education besides their basic certification. For example, my buddy who is a PT owns his own gym along with his wife. He has an associates degree in nutrition, a bachelors degree in exercise science and a masters degree in kinesiology. He also has several certifications beyond his basic PT certification. He and his wife are outstanding PTs and work with a variety of clients from collegiate and professional athletes to middle age Joes like myself to the elderly in their 70s and 80s and everything in between. I don't workout with him anymore due to the expense, but I trained with him for about three years and I have a couple of limitations due to older injuries and it was never an issue to work around those. I also worked with him during a rehab period for my back for which I was also seeing a physical therapist...also not an issue. They're actually opening up a larger facility soon and will be employing a physical therapist to help assist with those issues.