Physical therapy is a form of healthcare that focuses on restoring and maintaining physical function and mobility. It involves working with patients to improve strength, flexibility, range of motion, balance, and coordination through exercise, stretching, massage, and other physical modalities. Physical therapists also provide education about injury prevention, nutrition, and lifestyle modifications as part of the treatment process.
The goal of physical therapy is to help individuals return to their pre-injury level or improve their movement ability. This can include building muscle strength, improving joint stability, or teaching people with disabilities or chronic conditions how they can maximize their abilities for them to live an independent life without pain or discomfort interfering with daily activities.
In this article, we will talk about how physical therapy is used as a treatment for many orthopedic issues.
Understanding Your Physical Therapy Needs
Before beginning any treatment regimen, your physical therapist will first assess your condition through careful examination, postural analysis, gait assessment, muscle testing, and imaging studies before recommending any interventions, so that you get the best results from your sessions.
They may also ask for medical records from your doctor who referred you to physical therapy. For instance, if an orthopedic doctor performed surgery on you recently and recommended physical therapy, your physical therapist may ask to see their analysis or notes regarding your progress thus far. Another example is if you suffered a sports injury and your doctor recommended you do physical therapy to heal and improve your physical performance. In such a case, your physical therapist may ask to see recent diagnostic imaging results to get an understanding of the injury. All this information helps the physical therapist understand your needs better, so they can craft a personalized physical therapy plan for you.
Personalizing Your Physical Therapy Plan
Once your condition and needs are fully understood, your physical therapist may use one or more of many different treatments, like massage, stretching, exercise, ultrasound, heat/cold therapy, electrical stimulation, and more. You will attend sessions with your therapist on a regular basis to do your physical therapy regimen. They will also recommend a home therapy program tailored specifically towards helping you reach recovery goals while avoiding future injuries. This could be anything from strengthening weak muscles, practicing a correct posture, and doing stretches designed to reduce stiffness to more complex activities like jogging, swimming, or biking.
As you go through your regimen on the prescribed basis, you will notice your strength, flexibility, mobility, and function improve. You will also notice a reduction in pain, stiffness, and inflammation. Physical therapy techniques are excellent in improving the way you move, and regular participation in sessions will ensure you get great results.
Physical therapists may also suggest other forms of non-surgical treatments, such as acupuncture, nutritional counseling, ergonomic advice, assistive devices, braces, splints, and orthotics, just to name a few. They also work collaboratively with other physicians and occupational nurses, social workers, psychologists, and others to make sure everyone involved has the same understanding of the diagnosis plan and care management.
The goal of physical therapy is not only short-term gains but a sustained functional improvement over the course of time. Ultimately, they will give you the tools you need to live a healthier lifestyle, instead of relying on medication to improve your symptoms.
Physical Therapy Services in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia
The licensed and experienced physical therapists at H2 Health highly value prescribing the right combination of therapies for our patients to best meet their needs. For this reason, we offer a complimentary screening to determine if physical therapy is needed for a patient, and if so, which combination of techniques is best. We maintain a compassionate, supportive, patient-centric environment in all our 135 facilities across the country. To schedule a consultation with us, call our main office today at (800) 699-9395 or use our convenient online form to send your appointment request. H2 Health is proud to provide the highest quality physical therapy services in the U.S. for over 50 years.
