Benefits of physical therapy

Physical therapy involves the treatment of injury, deformity, or disease by physical methods such as heat treatment, and exercise rather than by surgery or drugs. It is a branch of rehabilitative health that uses some equipment alongside specially designed exercises to help patients improve their physical abilities.

Physical therapy is vital because it is not merely an alternative course of treatment but also offers a variety of benefits for people from all walks of life, right from athletes and sportspersons to people suffering from health issues and even to the general public who wants to lead a healthy life.

Physical therapy is appropriate for a range of patients, from infants with congenital musculoskeletal disabilities to adults suffering from after-effects of accidents, surgery, or injuries, to older ones with post-stroke. Physical therapy, also known as physiotherapy treats conditions such as soft tissue injuries, acute or chronic pain, physical impairments, cartilage damage e.t.c.

Physical therapy is useful in improving a patient’s bodily functions through diagnosis, physical intervention, rehabilitation, and patient education.

A physical therapist is a specially trained and licensed medical professional with experience in diagnosing and detecting physical irregularities, restoring physical function and mobility, maintaining physical features and promoting physical activity.

Physical therapist uses a variety of equipment in the treatment of their patients which ranges from ultrasound, pediatric parallel bars, treatment tables, electrical muscle stimulation, exercise balls, exercise bike, ankle exerciser e.t.c and most of this equipment you can easily purchase at Kemper Medical online store.

Discussed below are the significant benefits of physical therapy:

Pain relief

Physical therapy can alleviate the majority of painful experiences. Therapeutic exercises and physical therapy techniques can help mobilize your joints and soft tissue and restore muscle function, reducing aches or eliminating pain. Once patients continue consistently with the physical exercises, it can prevent those pains from returning. Chronic pain as it were, is one of the most challenging experiences to live with, but with the help of physical therapy, such pains can be reduced and even eliminated in some instances.

Avoid surgery

Several studies have revealed that physical therapy many times is as effective as surgery for providing pain relief. If physical therapy helps you eradicate pain or heal from an injury, surgery may not be needed.

One example is in the case of lower back conditions, which are often shown to respond very favorably to non-invasive physical therapy. Wherever the more cautious approach is appropriate, it is obviously to the benefit of the patient to explore that option first.

Given the proper treatment, the body can most times heal itself, thus eliminating the need to go under the knife. And even if there is a need for surgery, you may benefit from pre-surgery therapy. If you are going into a surgical operation stronger and in better shape and condition, you will recover faster afterward in many scenarios.

General mobility

At every stage in life, movement can become an issue, or after a significant injury or surgery, it can be difficult for patients to engage in simple and basic activities such as writing, eating, standing, walking or moving-irrespective of your age, physical therapy can help.

Stretching and strengthening exercises help to restore your ability to move around. The physical therapist can choose a means which can be employed depending on the kind of patient involvement from the use of a cane, clutches, or any other assistive device or assessment for orthotic prescription.

These therapeutic exercises can restore movement, make walking and moving around safer, and often can improve balance and coordination in patients who are at high risk for falls.

Recovery from stroke

It’s reasonable to lose some degree of function and movement after a stroke. Physical therapy helps to strengthen weakened aspects of the body and improve overall balance. Physical therapy reduces the burden of the patient on other members of the family, as they can move around in the house independently and perform all their toileting, bathing, dressing, and other activities of daily living by themselves.

Prevents Injuries

One of the significant aspects of physical therapy involves assessing weak areas in a patient’s body and formulating a physical therapy plan that helps to ensure that those vulnerable areas are strengthened by identifying the areas of muscular weakness and creating an exercise regimen that targets and reinforces weak muscle groups and joints.

By doing this, future injuries are prevented in these areas.

Also, physical therapists have a good knowledge of the risk factors of some sporting events such as fractures for distance runners, and thus can help athletes design a prevention exercise program or an appropriate recovery plan to help them prevent or overcome injuries.

General Health Issues

One of the less distinct advantages of physical therapy is that it helps to manage and handle many age-related health issues including arthritis, joint pains, heart attacks, and osteoporosis. Physical therapy is a safer and more cautious approach for older patients as it gives them a less traumatic option than undergoing joint replacement surgery.

Physical therapy has also been shown to be beneficial to patients suffering from cardiac issues as it improves cardiovascular function.

Also, as part of a general diabetes management plan, studies have revealed that exercise can help to control blood sugar effectively. Besides, people who have diabetes tend to have sensations in their feet and legs. physical therapy can help in the provision of proper foot care to prevent further problems down the road

Avoid dependence on pain medication

Often when a person goes through surgery, there can be prolonged pain issues that need attention. To reduce the risk of reliance on pain medication (mainly opioids), physical therapy is often a great safe alternative to treat the pain issues from the surgery. Even the CDC (center for disease prevention and control) recommends using physical therapy instead of pain medications like opioids.

Regaining original capabilities

Many times through physical therapy as one of the healing processes, one can regain skills and abilities that were once lost. Although this does not happen speedily, after a few years of physical therapy under close supervision by a physical therapist, one should regain those capabilities and even improve on one’s overall fitness and health.

In conclusion, physical therapy from research and the testament of others has proven to be very helpful not just to the injured, or those recovering from a stroke and other ailments but to the general public especially those who live a sedentary lifestyle and want to lead a healthy lifestyle.