Physical therapy helps people when they need it. This can be after a surgery, an accident or injury. Or perhaps they have a joint disorder such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Physical therapy is also agreeable for someone after they’ve had a heart attack, a stroke or a fall. They are dealing with neurological disorders such as paralysis after an accident, or perhaps the body is simply changing. If your body is not functioning at what is considered normal for you then perhaps you need physical therapy to try and get that range of mobility that you are missing back.
A physical therapist is going to be able to evaluate a person’s standpoint of their mobility, balance, and strength. What is it they are having difficulty doing? What are they wanting back to doing? The basic premise of physical therapy is that you are going to be looking at the person’s dysfunction in determining the steps to take to improve the person’s physical condition and the best way possible.
A physical therapist may not be able to restore somebody’s mobility entirely, but they can certainly make it better.
What happens in a therapy session?
Oftentimes physical therapists or in a basic position of being able to teach their patient things. There is often an element of patient education to help people discover what they are doing on a daily basis that may contribute to the problem. Say you are lifting things wrong and are affecting your back. Or perhaps you are moving improperly. Maybe you hyper-extended your knees and elbows. During a physical therapist session therapist is going apply hands-on techniques such as joint mobilization for a stiff joint or a soft tissue work obstructing and massaging for tight muscles, and they are going to help teach you what to do on your own time to help yourself and what you are doing wrong and what needs to stop.
You may not even realize you were doing anything wrong because it may seem normal to you. Physical therapy modalities or rehabilitation techniques that reduce pain, reduce swelling, decreased muscle spasms and improve circulation in the body. This may include ultrasound, trigger point pressure, dry needling, soft tissue isolation, electrical stimulation, traction, biofeedback or heat and ice.
Why do I have to do these exercises? Some of them make me sore.
Physical therapists are often going to push you beyond the limit or comfort zone because it is going to be better for you. Your physical therapist is going to try to look at you and you refuse objectively and implement different tasks with different patients. They are trying to empower you to kind of fix yourself, so that you do not have to keep coming back to see them. If they can help you correct whatever you are doing wrong or they can offer you at home exercises, it is going to save you money in the long run on both pain pills and physical therapy visits.
Your physical therapy visit may be every week or every two weeks or perhaps your goal for six months straight and then your physical therapist decides you are now able to handle your own care and they let you go. The length of time that you are going to see your physical therapist is going to depend on what you are working on and how far along you get.
To learn more about how physical therapy in Baltimore, MD can assist with your healing and recovery, contact Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic as soon as you can.