Thursday, January 4, 2024

How do you know when you need physical therapy?

Introduction:

Physical therapist isn't just for after surgery and it's not just for rehabilitation, those are some of the most common reasons for physical therapy but in fact  physical therapist are movement specialist and also can help you maintain whole body health and improve it regularly.

What is Physical Therapy ?

Physical therapy is a type of rehabilitation that aims to help people recover from injuries, illnesses, or surgeries. It involves the use of exercises, stretches, and other techniques to improve mobility, strength, and flexibility. Physical therapy can be used to treat a wide range of conditions, including back pain, arthritis, sports injuries, and neurological disorders.

If you are looking for a physical therapist near you, you can use Zocdoc to find physical therapists who take your insurance and offer various services. You can search by location, insurance, or provider name and see verified ratings, reviews, and availability. You can book online or call to schedule an appointment with a physical therapist near you.



Traditionally in the U.S. healthcare system physical therapy has always been looked as post surgical or post injury rehabilitation. As we start getting more knowledge about the importance of regular exercise and lifestyle modification the physical therapist has become a key healthcare provider, and a direct access provider for active individual. 

The term direct access means that patient can see physical therapy directly without a referral of a physician or any other doctor. When making an appointment for a moment check up, some lingering pain or any of the other reasons you should communicate your goals for seeking a physical therapy, whether it's a pre exercise training, to address lingering injury, or any other sort of muscular or joint pain. 

Here are some situations where a physical Therapist can help improve your health and wellbeing. 

1. Pain during exercise

Many people experience muscular or joint pain from a workout at the gym or home, they just tend to a week off and think, I will try again in a week or so and expect that it will just get better naturally. Sometimes it work but the time off can also make you weaker in the surrounding muscles due to lack of use, or the pain may not go away. 


If you go to the PT right away, you will end up with strategies for overcoming the pain and instead of just guesswork you may actually need to take less time away from the exercise than you would by simply resting. 
And if there's more to the injury that can just be fixed with Physical Therapy and no need to go to any other physician or doctor. 



2 Before starting a New Exercise Program

Many workout program's and classes have a disclaimer that you should see a doctor before starting a new exercise program. But visiting a physical therapist before you start can help make sure you are ready from a movement perspective.
Physical therapist can screen for potential injuries they can also screen for flexibility, proper strength, and the proper endurance to be able to work out and also can make recommendations for safe exercise.

Physical therapy may provide you with a few moves to do before your new activity, a short warm up or other movements that can help you participate with more confidence and a lower risk of injuring.

 
3. You Can't Perform a Movement You Used to Be Able To

If there is a movement you used to be able to perform at home or in your workouts, but you can't do anymore then don't think it is because of aging or any other factor, just go and talk to your physical therapist. 

Any time there's a movement you used to do, and you feel like to modify it, or you are restricted in certain situations, you should go to physical therapy because they are movement specialist. Therapist do an thorough assessment to see what is going on, and then tell you to continue doing what you are doing but with a little bit of modification. 

For instance, if a person who loves to surf is having trouble with shoulder pain while paddling and has had to change their stroke, therapist don't tell them to stop the activity they love. Instead, he might provide a short warm up routine that helps them move their shoulder in the way that it used to, as well as daily 10min routine that can help to strengthen that movement pattern. 




4. You Have Numbness or Tingling

Numbness or tingling can point to an injury at a nerve root cause, for instance if a person goes for a deadlift exercise and he wrench his back, he might have sharp shooting pain down the leg and might lose some function of standing on their toes on one side. There is a possible chance of an injury at a specific nerve root as it exits the spine.

This doesn't just happen with lower back injuries but also neck injury can result in numbness in the arms and nerve pain in the shoulder. If you are feeling tingling or numbness in your extremities, do consultant a physical therapist because they may be able to help improve movement patterns that are causing this nerve impingement. 

Related Article -: Best Treatment for Back Pain


5. When Losing Mobility and Flexibility

Spending lots of time in a chair or having work from home job can lose your mobility and flexibility up to some extent, and if you work with a personal trainer for a while and nothing is really improving you then you should seek out for physical therapist as early as possible.  A Qualified licence physical therapist will guide you properly according to the type of condition you have and helps to recover according to your body type.

So if you need a new part of your health ecosystem don't just Google, ask health practitioners you already trust for a recommendation of a physical therapist. 



6. Before and After surgery

Before surgery physical therapy can also help strengthen and prepare your body in such a way that you will recover fast when you do begin post surgery rehabilitation because the other movements and muscles that you can use before surgery stay strong, so you won't have to re-strengthen while you are  rehabbing the repaired portion of your body part. 

 Related Article -: after surgery leg exercises 



7. Before and After having a baby

There are pelvic floor physical therapist who are specialised in pre and postnatal rehabilitation of a woman, so consulting a physical therapist during the prenatal period can help make mothers stronger for the process of giving birth. 


Also some post natal incontinence where women experience bladder issues when doing something strenuous activity. This problem of incontinence is due to issues in the pelvic sour and the surrounding muscles so a physical therapist who specializes in post natal pelvic floor care can help.

Related Article -: Urinary Incontinence


All the above mention points has described the beneficial effects of physical therapy, also there are some conditions in which physical therapy has a major role to play. Some of them are listed below









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