Physical therapy is becoming more and more common, as a treatment for a wide range of conditions. This means that many people who have never experienced physical therapy are going to a physical therapist for the first time. This physical therapy guide is a brief ‘what to expect’ for starting physical therapy.
What is Physical Therapy?
Most definitions of physical therapy use a great deal of medical jargon to say that it is a medical practice for treating problems in the muscles and skeleton. However, physical therapy is used for a lot of problem that don’t involve the muscles and skeleton. A better definition might be that physical therapy is a medical practice that uses a wide variety of treatments to increase and improve a person’s physical condition.
Why Go To a Physical Therapist?
Any person who is suffering from reduced capacity in their body – whether they have trouble breathing from asthma, trouble moving from a stroke, are in constant pain from fibromyalgia, or anything else that restricts their body, can benefit from physical therapy.
A physical therapist can help a fibromyalgia sufferer find ways to both reduce and cope with their pain. A stroke survivor can go to physical therapy both to regain lost mobility, and to learn ways to function with the loss of mobility. A physical therapist that specializes in lung problems can help an asthma suffered improve their lung capacity.
And of course, physical therapy can help with muscle strains, recovery from broken bones, carpal tunnel and all the other musculoskeletal conditions it is most known for.
What Happens in Physical Therapy?
In the first physical therapy session, the physical therapist will do an extensive evaluation of the patient’s medical history and current condition. Then they will make a treatment plan; including goals that the patient and therapist determine together.
Exactly what the physical therapist does depends on the goals of the treatment. Stretching, exercise and massage are some of the most common tools in the physical therapists’ box, but they have a number of others. Time might be spent getting the fit right on a cane or walker or figuring out what is the least painful way to pick something up off the floor. (The American Physical Therapy Association suggests this method: Keep your upper body straight, and bend over from the waist. Lift one leg off the floor – this last helps maintain balance.)
What Happens When the Goal is Reached?
Depending on what the physical therapist is being seen for, reaching the treatment goal may mean that the patient is done with treatment, which is common with relatively straightforward problems like a muscle strain, or may mean that it is time to come up with a new goal for the next stage of therapy. This would be common with conditions like a stroke, that effect multiple areas of the body, or hip replacements where a long recovery period is expected.
Will it be Painful?
For some conditions, physical therapy isn’t painful at all. For others it can be very painful. Many people find physical therapy more boring than painful – repeated repetition can get old fast, but it’s often necessary for physical therapy to be effective. Everyone knows one sit up won’t bring great abs, and the exercises of physical therapy aren’t magic wands to fix everything without all the usual work of exercise.
Physical therapy can be a very rewarding experience, bringing renewed health and wellbeing, and increasing quality of life.
