Many benefits are available to the public through the widening scope of physiotherapy. Physiotherapy deals with restoring and maintaining functional movement, reducing pain and promoting health in individuals. As physiotherapists, we treat a wide array of conditions including:
- Spinal pain and injuries (e.g. disc prolapse)
- Headaches
- Sports injuries (e.g. ligament tears)
- Fractures (e.g. broken arm)
- Musculoskeletal problems (e.g. carpal tunnel syndrome)
- Post-surgical rehabilitation (e.g. following a knee replacement)
- Biomechanical problems (e.g. “flat feet”)
- Arthritic conditions (e.g. osteoarthritis)
- Neurological disorders and diseases (e.g. stroke)
- Cardiothoracic conditions (e.g. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorders)
- Paediatric conditions (e.g. cerebral palsy)
Physiotherapists are not there just to keep athletes performing at the top of their game, or help those involved in serious accidents to recover from their injuries. Provided you choose the right type of practitioner, they can help you to stay fit and healthy too. There are many benefits to finding a good therapist in your area and booking yourself in for an assessment.
Some of the benefits of seeing a physiotherapist include:
Helping you cope with Aches and Pains
Physiotherapist’s can help reduce those aches and pains that are stopping you from enjoying the things in life that give us joy, whether that be going for a simple walk with our four legged friend, or playing with our children or grandchildren at the park. A good physiotherapist will conduct an initial assessment, and ask a series of questions to find the underlying cause of these pains. They will then prescribe treatment and exercises that will enable you to enjoy your life.
Seeing a physiotherapist for treatment can improve inflammation levels, and relax tense muscles which will help you to feel better almost immediately. Often, using the regime of exercises that your physiotherapist recommends, and ongoing treatment sessions can help you to keep the aches and pains at bay. If you couple this with changes in lifestyle, it is often possible to improve the strength of your body, so that you can stay healthier for longer.
Keeping you Mobile
Many people find that they end up with reduced mobility – sometimes this is because of an old injury, other times it is due to the aging process. Regardless of the reason, this can be very debilitating.
Over time, moving becomes increasingly difficult. Often this means that you move less, and find it practically impossible to do a sufficient amount of exercise. This creates a vicious circle – you cannot move freely, therefore you tend to do less, which undermines your ability to stay mobile. Before you know it, you end up unable to do any of the things you like, and can eventually become housebound and riddled with pain. In this situation, a good physiotherapist can really help you.
Using a treatment regime that is tailored to your individual needs, they can gradually get you moving again, and improve your general fitness levels. That in turn allows you to be more active, and stay fit for longer. Not only does U Physiotherapy and Clinical Pilates offer hands-on treatment, we also have in house Clinical Pilates instructors and Exercises Physiologists, who will work with you to create a realistic exercise program that will get you moving, and generall feeling stronger, healthier and happier.
Saving you from Injury
It is not only those who play sport that are at risk of injury – those with repetitive jobs are at a high risk of developing serious and sometimes debilitating injuries – this is the case even if you do not do physically demanding work.
Many office workers can develop conditions such as carpel tunnel from typing all day, and bad posture has been linked to our increasingly sedantry lifetyles. Even though the jobs of today are not always as physically demanding as those from the past, it is still possible to pick up debilitating injuries that can impact upon your ability to work, and enjoy your life with family and friends.
A physiotherapist can work with you to identify risk factors in your life and show you how to work in a way that reduces your risk of injury. We can also suggest specific devices, aids and exercises that will help you develop and maintain the strength and confidence to complete your tasks at work.
Our Physiotherapists are extensively trained in manual therapy which means we are “hands on” with our patients. This may include massage and joint mobilisation and manipulation, as well as muscle stretching which we achieve using a wide variety of techniques. To complement our manual skills we sometimes make use of different modalities to reduce pain and inflammation including hot packs, ice, TENS, ultrasound and dry-needling treatments. Physiotherapists are also extensively trained in exercise prescription and we often give our patients exercises to do at home to help resolve their conditions. We also offer Clinical Pilates, Exercise physiologists and massage therapists to help you maintain your health and fitness.
If you are finding that you have a lot of aches and pains, booking yourself some physiotherapy at one of our U Physiotherapy and Clinical Pilates clinics could really benefit you.