The medical field has a lot in store to help us with every medical problem there is. From simple body aches down to serious illnesses, different therapies, technology, and skills are available to keep us healthy.
But when you encounter an unfortunate event that made rendered you unable to move as you used to, what type of therapy can you rely on?
Physiotherapy
Commonly referred to as physio, physiotherapy used physical methods to promote healing and general well-being. It incorporates manipulation and massage to help restore an individual’s movement range after suffering from an injury or illness.
Physiotherapists are professionals in healthcare who underwent skill and knowledge training specifically in physiotherapy. These professionals can be found in settings such as:
- Communities
- Hospitals
- Workplaces
- General practitioner surgeries
- Private practices
Who can be helped?
Physiotherapy is an inclusive treatment method. It can help people of all ages, social backgrounds, and medical history. To be specific, physiotherapy can help people who suffer from the following:
- People recovering after they had surgery done that affected their mobility and movement.
- Stroke patients
- People who are suffering from a sports injury
- Patients with breathing difficulties and heart problems.
Physiotherapy can help all individuals to recover from an injury or to rehabilitate their bodies. People with physical disabilities can also benefit from physiotherapy, which includes young children and older adults.
For example, people with the chronic condition arthritis that causes pain and stiffness in the joints is more often than not associated with a person’s age. Physiotherapists can help people with arthritis keep their joints strong, mobile, and keep the surrounding muscles strong.
What are the techniques in physiotherapy?
Physiotherapists help patients overcome injuries and recover from specific health problems by using different approaches and techniques.
The most popular techniques used are massage and manipulation. Physiotherapists use their trained hands to relieve a patient’s muscle pain and improve their blood flow. If you’ve been wondering what acupuncture is and how it works, it’s integrated into the physiotherapist’s list of effective techniques.
Water, heat, light, cold, and electric current are also used in physiotherapy. Depending on the condition a physiotherapist is trying to improve, there are necessary techniques that involve those elements.
You might think that people suffering from injuries or recovering from them can’t engage in any exercise, but physiotherapists use remedial exercise to help them recover. But they consider the patient’s health status and what they’ll need to do the remedial exercise without making the problem worse.
What is it used for?
Physiotherapy can help individuals recover from a wide array of mostly physical health conditions, such as:
1. Bone and joint ailments
Bone and joint injury treatment is one of physiotherapy’s prime focuses for coming up with effective treatments. They can help people rehabilitate from a surgery that corrects damages to or deformities in the joints or bones, called orthopedic surgery.
They can also create comprehensive programs that integrate strength training, exercises, and other rehabilitation methods to improve a person’s balance and coordination. Electrical stimulation is also an option to stimulate muscles and nerves using small impulses.
2. Lung and heart conditions
Physiotherapy can help people who previously suffered heart attacks to recover. It helps their blood flow recover, and become healthier. Physiotherapy can also treat people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cystic fibrosis.
An inherited disorder, cystic fibrosis occurs when the mucus inside our bodies turns sticky and thick. The change in consistency clogs the lungs and other important organs. A known method used by physiotherapists is clapping on a patient’s back while they’re lying down. This method helps loosen the mucus build-up in the lungs, allowing the person lying down to cough it out. Aside from clapping, physiotherapists also teach patients with cystic fibrosis to loosen the mucus on their own.
3. Neurological conditions
Brain and nervous system conditions can also be addressed through physiotherapy. This includes:
- Spina bifida causes a deformity of the spine.
- Stroke, or lack of blood supply to parts of the brain
- Cerebral palsy, which affects coordination and movement.
- Multiple sclerosis affects the central nervous system, which is in charge of our body’s balance and movement.
- Parkinson’s disease, a chronic condition that affects the coordination of our body’s movements.
4. Childhood conditions
Physiotherapists are also capable of treating children suffering from musculoskeletal conditions. Those conditions affect their muscles and bones.
An example is muscular dystrophy, a congenital condition causing a person’s muscles to weaken over time, which leads to loss of mobility and strength.
In muscular dystrophy cases, physiotherapists use curated treatment programs that will guide the person in maintaining the strength of their muscles and prevent joint stiffening.
