Top Reasons to Consider Physical Therapy

Each injury requires a different treatment plan. As part of the healing process, physical therapy is one of the most often recommended steps towards a full recovery. Here are some of the top reasons to incorporate physical therapy into your treatment.

Reducing or eliminating pain

Physical therapy uses various proven methods to mobilize joints and soft tissue throughout the body. These include manual therapy, exercise regimens, ultrasound, and electrical stimulation. By improving muscle mobility and joint function, patients receive noticeable pain relief. These treatments also prevent pain from reoccurring.

Improving mobility

As part of a long-term treatment process, physical therapy improves a patient’s ability to stand, walk, or move in their environment. Physical therapists can fit patients with assistive devices or prescribe them orthotics and any additional treatment to deliver the best results. In addition, by working with a physical therapist, patients can become more independent and require less care and oversight from their friends and family.

Recovering from a sports injury

Sports can increase the risk of specific injury types like stress fractures or joint dislocations. By developing a thorough exercise and treatment plan, physical therapy can reduce the chances of a sports injury. Additionally, the standard of the full-body exercise in these plans provides the best support for a full recovery after an injury.

Improving posture or balance

Improper posture can lead to a host of issues due to uneven pressure on the spine and muscles running through the skeletal system. Physical therapy aims to return the body’s function to normal. A therapist can also provide proper screening to ensure the patient walks correctly and prescribe orthotic devices to ensure a good posture in the future.

Regaining muscle function

It’s fairly common to lose some muscle function or movement after an acute injury or a stroke. Physical therapy can mobilize underutilized muscles and prevent them from atrophying. Specific exercises aim to revert the patient’s mobility or muscle function to the same or close to the same as before the injury.

Managing chronic and age-related conditions

Physical therapy can incorporate long-term exercise and treatment plans to ensure proper care and management of joints and weakened muscles. Physical therapists utilize education, pain management, and good exercise techniques for arthritis, diabetes, or osteoporosis patients. All of these can provide patients with more conservative, gradual, and safe methods for managing symptoms.

Avoiding invasive procedures

Physical therapy is a non-invasive method of reducing pain and improving body mobility and muscle function. If patients have conditions that require surgical treatment, physical therapy prior to interventions can improve recovery times or even prevent the need for surgery altogether. Physical therapy is also less expensive than lengthy hospital stays and surgeries.

Patients worried about their quality of life and mobility should contact a physical therapist or a rehabilitation center. A therapist can provide a more thorough overview of their illness and the best treatment methods to alleviate pain and other symptoms.

If you are looking for occupational or physical therapy, vestibular rehab, wheelchair training, learning to walk, unweighting aquatic therapy, or other services in the Phoenix area, please call Touchstone Rehabilitation at 602-277-1073.