Why Is Physical Therapy Important?
Since its inception in the late 1800s, physical therapy has helped countless people manage their lives when living with a range of diseases and conditions. For example, physical therapy helps children with disabilities, athletes with injuries, senior adults with the challenges of aging, and other populations that benefit from improved mobility. Continue reading to learn more about the importance of physical therapy in treating medical conditions, injuries, and illnesses.
What is Physical Therapy?
Physical therapy is a specialty of healthcare practiced by specially trained professionals known as physical therapists. Physical therapists receive postgraduate education that equips them to evaluate and treat various impairments to mobility, balance, strength, flexibility, and independence. An essential aspect of a physical therapist’s delivery of care is creating an individualized treatment plan that is specific to each client’s needs.
What is the Purpose of Physical Therapy?
Physical therapy helps relieve pain and other obstacles so you can live fulfilling life you desire. Physical therapists are medical movement specialists who help you move optimally at home, school, work, or in recreational activities. Whether assisting an athlete to recover from an injury or a senior adult to use a walker, physical therapists serve a crucial role in the lives of millions of people.
What Conditions Can Physical Therapy Treat?
Physical therapists treat a wide variety of conditions, including neurological disorders, sports injuries, skeletal and muscular disorders, and hereditary diseases. While the list of specific conditions is extensive, some of the more common ones include conditions, such as:
· Arthritis. This degenerative disease affects joints and causes pain, swelling, and loss of mobility. Physical therapy helps relieve pain and enhance the overall function of affected joints.
· Sciatica. This condition results from compression, inflammation, or irritation of the sciatic nerve, the largest nerve in your body. Sciatica causes pain that begins in the lower back and radiates down the hip and back of the leg. Physical therapy includes many treatments, including strengthening of the core muscles.
· Plantar fasciitis. More than one-half of Americans have heel pain. The most common cause is plantar fasciitis which is inflammation of the thick band of tissue on the bottom of your feet that connects your heel and toes. Physical therapists often prescribe calf strengthening exercises and gait analysis to treat this condition.
· Vertigo. Four out of ten adults in the United States will experience vertigo at least once in their lifetime. This condition is characterized by dizziness and a spinning sensation and can cause a person to take time away from work each year. It also results in a high number of healthcare visits. Physical therapists can help with the issues caused by vertigo that affect your quality of life.
· Back pain. Back pain causes more than a quarter of a billion hours of lost work each year. Physical therapists work with other healthcare providers to prevent, diagnose, and treat the causes that lead to this condition that affects most people during their lifetime.
· Osteoporosis. Although it is most common in older women, osteoporosis can affect anyone, and people of all ages can develop weaker bones. Physical therapists utilize exercises that build bone and minimize bone loss. Proper posture alignment and balance are also critical to help those with osteoporosis live an active lifestyle.
The above list is only a sample of the conditions treated by physical therapists. If you have a question about one of these or any other conditions, please schedule an appointment with one of the movement specialists at Coastal Movement Specialists for an evaluation.
Seven Reasons to Choose Physical Therapy
Physical therapy offers several benefits to help you live an active, independent, and fulfilling life. Here are seven things a physical therapist can do for you:
1. Reduce pain. Physical therapy can minimize the pain caused by inflammation, injury, surgery, or a chronic medical condition. One of the significant benefits to patients and society is treating pain with physical therapy instead of relying on habit-forming narcotic medications.
2. Avoid surgery. Surgery is unavoidable to treat some injuries or impairments, but others can be mitigated with treatment by a physical therapist. Increasingly, physicians are turning to physical therapy as the first line of treatment for many musculoskeletal problems.
3. Improve balance. Maintaining your balance is essential to safely walk, carry out your daily tasks, work, and participate in recreational activities. Physical therapy strengthens the muscles that allow you to remain safely balanced throughout the day.
4. Recover from injury or surgery. An injury or surgical procedure can disrupt your life until adequate healing occurs. Physical therapists can help expedite your recovery time.
5. Strengthen bones and muscles. Elite athletes are not the only ones needing strong bones and muscles. Since muscle mass starts diminishing after age thirty, and bone mass after forty, many older adults benefit from strength training exercises prescribed by a physical therapist.
6. Improve flexibility. Physical therapists can customize exercises that make you less stiff and more flexible. The benefits of more flexibility include less pain, fewer injuries, better posture and balance, and better athletic performance.
7. Improve posture. Physical therapists excel at improving poor posture, resulting in enhanced breathing, less back pain, and proper digestion.
Schedule an Appointment
Located on Johns Island, SC, Coastal Movement Specialists serves the entire Charleston area. Contact us today to schedule an appointment with our experienced physical therapists.