The Benefits Of Physical Therapy: How It Helps With Many Medical Issues

Phys­i­cal ther­a­pists don’t always get the kind of glo­ry and great P.R. doc­tors, sur­geons, and nurs­es get. How­ev­er, these trained pro­fes­sion­als are an indis­pens­able part of our health care sys­tem, and we would all suf­fer great­ly if we had no access to their knowl­edge, train­ing and compassion. Phys­i­cal ther­a­py – P.T., as it’s called in med­ical lin­go — aids patients in recov­ery from ill­ness, surgery, dis­ease and injuries. Under­go­ing phys­i­cal ther­a­py can take weeks, months, even years occa­sion­al­ly – or mere­ly a few days.  It depends entire­ly on the prob­lem the ther­a­pist is deal­ing with. For exam­ple, phys­i­cal ther­a­py is a com­mon treat­ment after knee or hip replace­ment surgery. The patient must learn how to walk with a for­eign joint in their leg, and that’s where the phys­i­cal ther­a­pist’s exper­tise comes into play. No mat­ter what kind of time the treat­ment demands, it is always worth the patien­t’s com­mit­ment because recov­ery is prac­ti­cal­ly guar­an­teed to occur at a more rapid pace. Recov­er­ing from surgery is not the only appli­ca­tion for phys­i­cal ther­a­py, and one need not be suf­fer­ing in extreme pain to ben­e­fit from it. There are plen­ty of ways this type of treat­ment helps indi­vid­u­als in oth­er health sce­nar­ios, too. 

Here Are Just Some of Those Scenarios, And The Benefits Physical Therapy Has To Offer:

1- Treatment For Muscle Soreness & Aches

While it may seem this prob­lem is with­in the purview of mas­sage ther­a­pists, a phys­i­cal ther­a­pist can do plen­ty of work to help with mus­cle issues. Think of it this way: a mas­sage ther­a­pist eas­es the pain and dis­com­fort at the moment. But the phys­i­cal ther­a­pist teach­es the per­son to treat them­selves by show­ing them exer­cis­es, stretch­es, and oth­er moves that ease the problem. Let me offer a per­son­al exam­ple: since the pan­dem­ic hit, my broth­er and I have tak­en to going on long, dai­ly walks to keep our fit­ness lev­el up, our weight down, and our men­tal health in check. But he had a “bum leg,” as he described it, and need­ed at least three stops along the way to rest his sore, left leg. After seek­ing treat­ment with his doc­tor, she referred him to a phys­i­cal therapist. This angel taught him how to strength­en and stretch the weak­ened mus­cle twice a day, and he now han­dles walk­ing eight kilo­me­tres (about five miles) with no pain and no paus­es. That’s progress!

2- It Helps You Manage Pain Without Resorting To Opiates

No one wants to be in pain, but most of us are wary of strong pain med­ica­tion because of its addic­tive qualities. See­ing a phys­i­cal ther­a­pist helps you learn to man­age the pain you’re in, and they show you how to move and exer­cise to reduce, or per­haps even elim­i­nate, that pain. Avoid­ing pain relief med­ica­tions is always the best course of action if it’s at all pos­si­ble, and phys­i­cal ther­a­py aids in that goal big time!

3- It Improves Your Balance

Let’s say you’ve had a mild stroke, and now your bal­ance is com­pro­mised. A phys­i­cal ther­a­pist will assess how exten­sive the dam­age is and teach you how to move to coun­ter­act the new lim­i­ta­tions imposed on your bal­ance by the stroke. Even small tricks help – like hold­ing onto a counter or chair when you bend over. There are many of these moves in the phys­i­cal ther­a­pist’s arse­nal, and they’ll let you in on all of them.

4- Physical Therapy Also Improves Mobility

Once your bal­ance is bet­ter, your ther­a­pist will show you exer­cis­es to enhance, or get back, your mobil­i­ty. These two aspects – bal­ance and mobil­i­ty – are key to keep­ing a patient inde­pen­dent, and we all want that as we face our elder years, right? Phys­i­cal ther­a­py is a ver­i­ta­ble gold mine of insights into improv­ing these vital ingre­di­ents to a healthy life lived independently.

5- Physical Therapy Reduces Traumatic Injury

Let’s say you’ve got carpel tun­nel syn­drome because you’ve spent your career at a key­board. This syn­drome, which in essence is caused by repet­i­tive move­ment or motion, can be dev­as­tat­ing for any­one who depends on a com­put­er to earn their living. Phys­i­cal ther­a­py helps soothe and reduce the pain and swelling that is such a big part of carpal tun­nel syn­drome, or ten­nis elbow, or myr­i­ad oth­er con­di­tions that result from the overuse of one limb or joint, in particular.

6- Physical Therapy Can Help You Avoid Surgery

Depend­ing on the prob­lem, your doc­tor may rec­om­mend a rehab pro­gram with the phys­i­cal ther­a­pist so you can post­pone, or even avoid alto­geth­er, hav­ing surgery. For exam­ple, knee replace­ment surgery isn’t some­thing doc­tors are keen on doing when a patient is under 50 because the new, arti­fi­cial joint only lasts approx­i­mate­ly 20 or 25 years. Doing an oper­a­tion too soon could mean you’ll need a sec­ond knee replace­ment oper­a­tion in the future when you’re old­er, and that brings on many new risks. Con­se­quent­ly, your sur­geon may sug­gest see­ing a phys­i­cal ther­a­pist, so the prob­lem is helped, per­haps even tem­porar­i­ly cured. It’s a win-win sit­u­a­tion: you get relief from pain with few or no drugs, learn how to man­age the prob­lem on your own, at home, and can avoid surgery for months or even years.

7- Physical Therapy Helps Us Deal With The Problems Of Ageing

It would be great if we could all make it to our 80s and 90s with no phys­i­cal prob­lems, but that’s just not real­is­tic. Our bod­ies wear out as we age. A ther­a­pist can help us cope with what­ev­er prob­lems we face.

8- Sports Injuries Can Be Helped, Too!

It isn’t just old­er peo­ple who can ben­e­fit from phys­i­cal ther­a­py! Any­one who is active runs the risk of hurt­ing them­selves play­ing sports, par­tic­u­lar­ly aggres­sive and com­pet­i­tive sports, like squash or soccer. Get­ting hurt is com­mon, and a phys­i­cal ther­a­pist can work won­ders to help the injury ease, and reg­u­lar treat­ments quick­en recov­ery. The soon­er you’ve dealt with the injury, the soon­er you’re back on the squash court or play­ing field!

Last but not least!

Every­day liv­ing brings with it a host of phys­i­cal chal­lenges and risks, and the sim­ple process of get­ting old­er brings our bod­ies clos­er to their inevitable decline. But there is no rea­son what­so­ev­er to capit­u­late to that decline; seek­ing help from med­ical pro­fes­sion­als like phys­i­cal ther­a­pists is a sure way to enhance your qual­i­ty of life. Going for­ward in life, tak­ing as few med­ica­tions as pos­si­ble, and stay­ing as mobile and as inde­pen­dent as we can, are goals that phys­i­cal ther­a­pists sup­port and advance with the treat­ment pro­grams they provide. And best of all, in many cas­es, their exper­tise is paid for by your health care pack­age or gov­ern­ment cov­er­age.  But even if your health care plan does­n’t cov­er the prob­lem you’re expe­ri­enc­ing for some rea­son, take advan­tage of the treat­ments offered by these angels of med­ical care! You’ll feel bet­ter and recov­er more quick­ly with the help of a phys­i­cal ther­a­pist, so don’t hes­i­tate to make an appoint­ment when the need arises :).