If you have ever been in an accident, had a sports injury or had surgery, you know one of the most challenging parts is the recovery. Sometimes that recovery feels slow and fraught with challenges.
Part of recovery involves giving your body time to heal. Another part of recovery is helping your body to heal. Often doctors prescribe treatment with a physical therapist as part of the recovery process.
A physical therapist will consider your injury, the doctor's orders and do an evaluation. Physical therapists are experts in muscles and joints. Their role is to help your body recover from injury or surgery.
Recovery physical therapy is part of the rehabilitation process. The physical therapist uses a variety of techniques and treatments to work on your body. Learn about three ways recovery physical therapy can help you heal.
1. Increase Mobility And Range Of Motion
Say you've had ankle surgery. Your foot and ankle were immobilized as part of the initial recovery process. Once you are out of the foot/ankle boot, your foot needs to learn how to move again.
A physical therapist will test your range of motion and mobility at the injury site. They will use manual therapy and a careful regiment of exercises to help increase and restore mobility.
Physical therapy exercises are highly specialized exercises that work on the muscles and joints to loosen them, strengthen them and to help them move better.
One example of treatment for increasing range of motion is using a Continuous Passive Motion machine. As the patient, your leg, for example, is put in the machine that helps it to move. It does the work by moving your leg in the motion needed to increase mobility. Learn more about knee CPM machine rentals to see if it's the right option for your PT needs.
2. Decrease Pain And Swelling
Physical therapists are trained experts who know how to help your body heal. Part of that process is understanding why you might have pain or swelling.
If swelling is a result of recuperation, they can manipulate the swelling away from the injury with manual treatments. By reducing swelling they can help to reduce pain.
Another thing a physical therapist can do is work on the muscles and joints to get them moving. By increasing movement, pain can decrease. They also work closely with the nerves in your body to understand their role in pain you may be having.
3. Increase Strength
Part of any recovery is increasing strength so you are back to normal. The physical therapist will work to create a set of exercises to work on your injury.
With more physical therapy and specialized exercises that target your injury specifically, the physical therapist can increase strength at the location of your injury. They have specialized equipment, like resistance bands or traction machines, to help you build strength.
Often as a patient progresses, the physical therapist will send at-home exercises for the patient to continue the strength training.
Get Back To Being Yourself With Recovery Physical Therapy
Physical therapists are trained and specialized in helping you towards recovery from your injury or accident. Use recovery physical therapy to reduce pain and swelling, increase mobility and strength in your injury.
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