Physiotherapy, also known as physical therapy, is used to restore function to many parts of the body. It can be used for people of all ages and is often part of recovery after an injury or accident but can also be used to treat certain illnesses and diseases, and more importantly, identify causative factors to injury and prevent their reoccurrence.
Prevention is always better than cure, and physiotherapists are trained to prevent injuries not just treat, therefore saving your dollar and your health in the longer-term. The goal of Nelson Bay Physiotherapy is to improve your body’s function and ensure a high quality of life, fulfilling our vision to help you “live your whole life better”.
There are many benefits that go along with physiotherapy, including those that follow.
Control Pain
Many times, after an injury or accident, you’ll be in a certain amount of pain. Physiotherapy can help reduce this pain dramatically, and in some cases, can even eliminate it altogether.
Methods such as manual therapy (massage, mobilisation), dry needling, electrotherapy (ultrasound, electrical stimulation), education and exercise prescription are all forms of physiotherapy used to manage pain.
Improve Mobility and Stiffness
Another primary goal of physiotherapy is to improve your mobility, including standing, walking and moving in general. By strengthening and stretching your muscles, you improve your ability to move.
This is usually customized based on your needs and may include the use of exercise, manual therapy, dry needling, involvement in balance classes, or the prescription of braces/splints/mobility aids (moon boots, walking stick, walkers, crutches or other assistive devices to help you get around).
Improve Strength and Muscle Control
Often weakness is an underlying cause to many of the injuries that physiotherapists treat. Addressing weakness before an injury may prevent injury occurrence or some of the associated symptoms such as pain and stiffness that people associate with an injury.
When you are injured, pain can inhibit your brain from activating your muscles to support the area resulting in loss of strength and often more pain (this is very often the case post-surgery). Addressing weakness associated with injury is therefore not only an important part of rehabilitation from that injury but also important in preventing a secondary injury related to a biomechanical fault resulting from the weakness.
This weakness can be due to your brain signals not getting through to the muscle and/or the muscle losing function because of its non-use. Your physiotherapist is best trained to identify the cause of the weakness and address it appropriately to prevent injury, rehabilitate you effectively to a stronger body allowing you to live your whole life better.
Prevent Falls
If you have certain health conditions or you are recovering from an injury, stroke or accident, it may alter your balance, putting you at a higher risk of falling down and getting hurt. If you’re considered a high fall risk, your physiotherapy plan can help by using exercises to improve your balance.
Manage Chronic Health Conditions
Certain physiotherapy exercises can be used to manage a variety of health conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, lung disease and other vascular conditions.
For example, some exercises improve blood flow for patients with diabetes, while others condition the lungs and make breathing easier. Physiotherapy can also help you recover your body function after having a stroke.
Prevent Surgery
If you can control your pain and health symptoms by using physiotherapy, you may be able to avoid surgery for your condition. Even if you must have surgery, physiotherapy can help you stay stronger and recover more quickly afterwards. Avoiding surgery can save you quite a bit of money so trying physiotherapy first is a good idea.
We offer Nelson Bay Physiotherapy from an award-winning practice. Call us or pop in to our clinic on Salamander Way to discuss appropriate treatment.
We are first contact practitioners meaning you don’t need a doctor’s referral to see a physiotherapist (only all third party claims require a referral), and in many cases, your physiotherapist will work as part of a team with your doctor and other health professionals to plan and manage treatment for your specific condition.
So don’t delay, get it fixed before it’s a problem.