Spaulding Outpatient Center Medford

As others have said, wait time to get a first appointment is excruciatingly long. Literally, considering that if you need PT, chances are something’s hurt pretty badly and you may have to wait months before even getting a consultation here.
Staff is definitely very knowledgeable and friendly. But coordination between them is sometimes or even often lacking, and their communication with patients can be too. You have to be your own advocate for scheduling and insurance, and occasionally even for the quality of the rehab.
Lastly, if you’re after an active or aggressive rehab for something, this may not be the place for you. Sessions were short and they give you a lot you’re supposed to do on your own, which is not always easy when you’re injured and/​or tentative.

A few weeks ago I complained Unilocal style about the epic wait/​disorganization (who wants to wait 3 months to start PT?) of the scheduling staff. This is still true and will likely still be true for me (and you) in the future. But I wanted to update about the quality of treatment because it stands out.
I’ve been getting PT for chronic pain for the past year and a half and have worked with 5 physical therapists at different practices. 4 out of the 5 didn’t seem to know what they were doing with me and I got hurt pretty badly. Sometimes more than once if I stuck with that person because I thought that’s how PT worked. The only PT who seem to know what they were doing was private pay ($$) so I didn’t have the highest hopes for this program.
But after my first day of finally starting with a PT/​OT regimen I realized they really understand chronic pain. Which is great, because literally everyone I have worked with so far hasn’t. I love that they have OT here, no other chronic pain program I have been to or looked into has it, because they teach you how to properly do things so you can protect your body. They also build in biofeedback, stress management, coping, and CBT. Holy comprehensive.
So if you’ve started going to a pain clinic and found that it doesn’t seem like the best fit, get a first appointment here (2 months + out) then expect your PT/​OT eval 3 – 4 weeks later, and first appointments 2 weeks later. If they recommend the weekly group program the wait may be longer. Stick with your crappy pain clinic until you can finally get in here and I think you’ll be glad you put up with waiting like I did.

I came here nearly twice a week from March through August. I was incredibly impressed.
My expectations were low, at first, because it took me dozens of phone calls and faxing (side note: faxing… ugh…why does this still exist!!! Can’t we just email everything?!?) to set everything up insurance-​wise, but, once I went to the location, I couldn’t be happier.
By my third or fourth visit, Kate at the front desk knew my name and copay of the top of her head. She also seems genuinely happy to see everyone that walks in the door.
MaryBeth was my primary PT and I would see Debbie if I couldn’t get an appointment with MaryBeth. I loved have a primary and secondary person. There were some exercises I would do with one and not the other, which help diversify my routine. Both women were also great about reading whether or not I wanted to take this super seriously or if I was willing to make fun of myself a bit (I’m the later). I left each session with a new list of exercises written out with little diagrams to follow.
So, I’m not 100% back in shape but I’m significantly better than I was in March. My insurance technically stopped covering me in July and the center dealt with my insurance company to get me an extra month of treatment, I didn’t have to do anything. I thought that was pretty fantastic service too.
Hopefully, I will never need to go back there again, but, I would highly recommend them to anyone who needs PT in the area.