📞 Call to Book: 228-471-5047
POST-OPERATIVE REHAB

Post-Surgical Physical Therapy in Pascagoula, MS

Your surgeon fixed the structure. Rehab decides the result. Every visit is one-on-one with Dr. Austin Baskin, DPT — not handed off to a tech while he works three other rooms.

Call 228-471-5047 Do I need a referral?
⭐ 5.0 Google rating
👨‍⚕️ 1-on-1 with a DPT every visit
🏥 Medicare & most insurance
📞 No referral needed to start

Surgeries we rehabilitate

Short answer

Post-operative outcomes are determined far more by what happens in the twelve weeks after surgery than by the operation itself. The two variables that matter most are hitting your early range-of-motion window and progressing strength at the right rate — both of which require a clinician who is actually watching you.

Already have a surgery date? Call before it. Call 228-471-5047.

We follow your surgeon's protocol. If your surgeon has specific criteria, precautions or timelines, those govern — and we contact the office directly when anything is unclear rather than guessing.

  • Total knee replacement and partial knee replacement
  • Total hip replacement, anterior and posterior approaches
  • Rotator cuff repair and shoulder arthroscopy
  • Total shoulder replacement and reverse total shoulder
  • ACL reconstruction and other knee ligament and meniscus surgery
  • Spine surgery — discectomy, laminectomy, fusion
  • Ankle and foot surgery, including Achilles repair and fracture fixation
  • Hand, wrist and elbow surgery, including carpal tunnel and tendon repair
  • Fracture care after immobilization or fixation

Come in before your surgery if you can

Pre-operative physical therapy is one of the most underused opportunities in orthopedics. A few visits before your date accomplishes several things: you arrive stronger, which correlates with better recovery; you have already learned the exercises so you are not trying to absorb new instructions while medicated and sore; you have practiced with your crutches or walker before you actually need them; and your home is already set up. You also know what the first two weeks are going to feel like, which prevents a great deal of unnecessary alarm.

What post-op rehab looks like here

Phases, not a fixed calendar. You advance when you meet criteria, which is not always the same week the protocol suggests.

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Phase 1 — protect and restore motion

Swelling and pain control, protecting the repair, and getting range of motion back inside the window where it comes back easily. For a total knee especially, early motion is time-sensitive — catching it up later is far harder than getting it now.

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Phase 2 — rebuild strength

Progressive loading of the repaired structure and everything around it. This is the longest phase and the one people underestimate. Motion that returns without strength behind it produces a joint that moves but does not trust itself.

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Phase 3 — return to your actual life

Work, stairs, ladders, lifting, golf, yard work, running. Training the specific demands you are going back to, because generic strengthening does not transfer automatically to the thing you actually need to do.

Criteria-based progression

We test rather than assume. Strength measures, motion measures, movement quality and symptom response determine when you advance — not the number of weeks on a page.

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Direct surgeon communication

Progress notes go back to your surgeon. If something is not tracking — motion stalling, unexpected swelling, a wound concern — their office hears from us promptly, not at your six-week follow-up.

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Return-to-work planning

If your job is physical — shipyard, trades, nursing, offshore — the plan has to end where your job starts. We build toward your actual job demands and document capacity clearly for employers and adjusters.

Why one-on-one changes post-op outcomes

This is the part that separates clinics, and patients usually cannot see it until they have experienced both.

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Someone has to notice the compensation

Post-op patients are experts at achieving a movement the wrong way. A knee that flexes by hiking the hip, a shoulder that lifts by shrugging. It looks like progress on paper and builds a pattern you will spend months undoing. Catching that requires a clinician watching every repetition, not glancing over from another table.

Loading has to be adjusted constantly

Too little load and you plateau. Too much and you flare the joint and lose a week. The right load changes week to week and sometimes visit to visit, based on how the tissue responded to the last session. That decision needs the same clinician who saw the last session.

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Straight answers about the timeline

Post-op recovery is not linear, and week three often feels worse than week two. Knowing in advance which setbacks are normal and which ones need a phone call keeps people from panicking and from quitting.

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Documentation that holds up

Medicare and commercial payers require clear justification for continued post-op care. Thorough documentation is what keeps your authorized visits available when you still need them. This is a real reason people run out of visits early elsewhere.

For referring surgeons and physician offices

GT Physical Therapy is an independent outpatient clinic in Pascagoula. Every patient is treated one-on-one by Dr. Austin Baskin, PT, DPT, CSCS, Cert DN — there is no tech-driven model and no double-booking, which means your protocol is executed as written.

  • We follow your protocol. Send it and it governs. Where you have no written protocol, we use current best evidence and communicate our plan to you.
  • You get progress notes with objective measures, not narrative summaries.
  • You hear from us early when something is off — stalled motion, unexpected effusion, a wound or hardware concern, or a patient who is not adhering.
  • Scheduling is fast. Post-op patients are generally seen within a day or two of the request, which matters most for early-motion protocols.
  • On-site tools: diagnostic ultrasound imaging, dry needling, extracorporeal shockwave therapy, ASTYM and manual therapy.

To send a patient, call 228-471-5047 or fax to (833) 662-1772. To discuss a case with Dr. Baskin directly, call the clinic and ask — he will call you back himself.

Insurance & Payment

We verify your benefits before your first visit, so you know your coverage and any out-of-pocket cost up front — no surprise bills.

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Medicare

Accepted. No referral needed to begin care; your plan of care is certified by a physician or nurse practitioner within 30 days.

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Commercial Insurance

Most major plans accepted, including BlueCross BlueShield and United Healthcare. Some plans require a referral for coverage — we check first.

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Workers' Compensation

Accepted. We handle the documentation and communicate with your adjuster and employer.

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Cash Pay

Transparent self-pay rates for patients without coverage or with a high deductible. Ask when you call.

Frequently Asked Questions

Straight answers. If yours isn't here, call — we'll tell you honestly whether physical therapy is the right next step.

When should I start physical therapy after surgery?
That depends on the procedure and your surgeon's protocol. Some surgeries begin rehab within a day or two — total knee replacement in particular is time-sensitive for early range of motion. Others require a protected period first, especially rotator cuff repairs and some spine procedures. Call us as soon as you have a surgery date and we will confirm the timeline with your surgeon's office so your first visit is scheduled correctly.
Do I need a referral for post-surgical physical therapy?
Not under Mississippi law — direct access took effect July 1, 2024. In practice, most post-operative patients come with a surgeon's order and a protocol, which we want anyway because it tells us your precautions and criteria. If you had surgery and were never sent to physical therapy, you can still call us directly.
How many visits will I need?
It varies widely by procedure. A straightforward arthroscopy may need a handful of visits; a total knee replacement or rotator cuff repair is typically a several-month course. We will give you a realistic estimate at your evaluation and update it as you progress, and we will tell you when you are done rather than stretching it out.
My knee replacement is not bending as far as I expected. Is that normal?
Progress after knee replacement is rarely smooth, and there is a wide normal range. What matters is the trend and the timing — early motion is more time-sensitive after total knee replacement than after most other procedures, so a stall in the first few weeks is worth addressing right away rather than waiting. If your motion is not tracking as it should, we contact your surgeon's office.
Can I go to physical therapy somewhere other than where my surgeon sent me?
Yes. You choose your physical therapy provider. Your surgeon may recommend a clinic, and some health systems refer internally by default, but the decision is yours as long as the provider is in your insurance network. We will verify your benefits before your first visit.
Will you talk to my surgeon?
Yes, routinely. Progress notes go to your surgeon's office, and we call directly when something needs attention between your follow-up appointments. That communication is a normal part of post-operative care, not an extra.
I had surgery a year ago and never got back to normal. Is it too late?
No. We see a good number of patients months or years post-operatively who plateaued, ran out of visits, or were never given a real strengthening progression. Range of motion that has been limited for a long time can be harder to change, but strength, function and confidence respond to training at essentially any point. It is worth an evaluation to find out what is actually limiting you.

Explore GT Physical Therapy

One clinic in Pascagoula, serving all of Jackson County. Every condition below is treated one-on-one by Dr. Austin Baskin, PT, DPT.

Rehab is where the result gets decided

Have a surgery date, or a recovery that stalled? Call and talk directly to the clinician who will treat you.

228-471-5047

Mon–Fri 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM · 1408 Ingalls Ave, Pascagoula, MS 39567