You might have heard from your relatives or friends that physical therapy had performed miracles for them. If unfortunately, you have suffered from an accident or an illness and want to know about physical therapy, keep on reading. We recommend that you have a detailed assessment of your body, especially the respiratory, cardiological, and neurological functions by your doctor/physical therapist before starting any physiotherapy sessions. Complete recovery means that you are able to perform whatever tasks you please without any pain and fear.

Rest, Recovery, and protection of injury

The first stage of physical therapy involves plenty of rest and protection of the injured site or your body in case of illness. Your body needs time to heal and further damage should be avoided. You might experience inflammation at the injured site. There are chances you would need to use ice packs to ease the pain. You might also need protective casts, slings or tape to guard the affected site. Manual therapy and gentle rhythmic stabilization exercises might be incorporated to reduce pain.It can also be the longest stage depending on the graveness of your injury or disease. Do consult your physical therapist to understand what techniques you should be used for relieving pain.

Repair and regaining motion

Due to pain and swelling, movement can be difficult. To regain your motion, careful soft tissue and joint mobilization training as directed by your physical therapist is recommended. In this stage, perform suitable flexibility training exercises so that you can start moving easily. Manual therapy as required should be done to continue to relieve pain and inflammation. Small weights can be used during the physical therapy session if it is suitable. Intense training exercises must be avoided. Excess training will do more harm than good, hence it is discouraged. 

Recovering Strength

           After restoring the range of motion, the next course of action is to restore your strength. All that rest taken in the first stage can lead to muscle atrophy, weakness, and loss of endurance. Muscle weakness and wasting will be noticed after four to six weeks of injury or surgery. The main aim of this stage is to build back strength both muscular and cardiovascular. The use of weight machines is advised. With this, strength training can be done safely and precisely without worrying about the risk of new injuries or negatively affecting the already injured site. More dynamic joint stabilization exercises are introduced in this stage. Exercise selection solely depends on the patient’s goals and activities. Manual therapy is done based on the needs of the patient. Maintaining good posture and using proper technique to strengthen the local, regional and central muscles should be observed. This stage of physical therapy is extremely important. Ask your physical therapist to suggest you some exercise based on your condition. 

 Restoring Function and going back to perform daily activities

This is the last stage of physical therapy. In athletes, this stage of rehabilitation is used to recover sport-specific function. This stage involves restoring coordination and balance, agility and sports specific skills ranging from simple to complex. Plyometric force is applied to the joints. It should be chosen specifically by your physical therapist based on the demand of your sports activity. A detailed assessment and effective treatment will help identify any deficiencies in performing higher level tasks which you performed before being injured or ill and help find how important they are and also how to recover from these injuries. Other such capabilities aside from the once mentioned before include:-

  •    Change of direction capability and
  • Rate of force of development, that is , the speed at which force is produced

 

The Right Treatment plan

      That is all the stages of physical therapy. The duration of treatment and of each stage varies from patient to patient. That is why it is extremely important to figure out a proper treatment plan.This way you will understand how to properly apply this framework in your recovery. This analysis takes your lifestyle, occupation, habits and the impact of your wounds into account. We strongly recommend against relying merely on pictures and descriptions of exercises as they can be ambiguous. Physical therapists are trained in the area of rehabilitation and even more trained in helping you recover your mobility. Seeking their help is absolutely recommended. Also, exercises should be performed before meals or one and a half or two hours after meals. Since we live in these covid times proper sanitation and hygiene is absolutely essential. One should also warm-up before starting their physical therapy sessions. This can be done by taking a warm shower for approximately ten minutes.

 I hope this article proved to be useful and do share it with your near and dear ones so they can become more aware of physical therapy.