Injury Prevention and Recovery: How Physiotherapy Can Help

Dr.Minakshi Fullara , 5 mins read

Struggling with an injury? Or want to boost your recovery after surgery or injury? If so, physiotherapy can help you!

Physiotherapy, also known as physical therapy, is a medical treatment that uses a holistic approach to restore movement and function. It helps in injury prevention, rehabilitation, sustainable healing and improving fitness. It also aids in recovery from trauma, any other related pain or anything that restricts your daily life activities. 

Physical therapist uses a combination of manual therapy, excercise therapy with conventional electrotherapy to treat conditions which can give relief to patients of almost every age. 

They are experts in movement and functional therapy and work in close integration with their patients. They utilise their knowledge and experience to improve dysfunction related to different systems of the body. Here are a few benefits of considering physical therapy:

• Treat muscle spasms
• Improve body balance and posture
• Help with muscles flexibility and stretching
• Post - Surgery Rehabilitation
• Joint Movement
• Motion Analysis

Let’s know how it can help in injury prevention and recovery: 

Injury prevention

A physiotherapist will work with you and create a plan to help you prevent future injuries during a sport or during your work hours or any other activities. To create that plan, they will evaluate your overall health, medical history, lifestyle and previous injuries.

Based on that, they will tell you a few recommendations to avoid things that can make you susceptible to injuries. Here are a few key aspects of physical therapy that help in injury prevention:

Education

Your physical therapist will tell you about your injuries and their underlying causes. They can recommend treatment, exercises and therapies that can help in present injury recovery and prevent re-injury. A physiotherapist will also educate you on certain measures to help you avoid any injuries due to any physical activity you regularly do. 

Exercises

Exercises are integral aspect of physiotherapy. Physiotherapy will help suggest and support you in doing various exercises that will improve the strength of your muscles, soft tissues and tendons. Also, exercises will improve your mobility, balance and other core abilities of the body.

Correct posture

These specialists also suggest proper postures and body positioning. This will improve your core physical strength and prevent injury.

Boost recovery

Here’s how physiotherapy can help you in improving recovery:

Reduce tissue damage

An injury can cause tissue damage, which can lead to several problems, like pain, stiffness, limited range of motion, swelling and weakness.

In such cases, physiotherapy is a wonderful treatment that helps reduce tissue damage. It can also help in increasing muscle strength and flexibility, reducing muscle spasms and improving range of motion. A physiotherapist helps relieve pain and swelling by applying various techniques, like ice or heat.

Improve flexibility and strength

Flexibility and strength are two critical factors that help prevent re-injury. Physiotherapy is the best option to improve both of these factors. You can work with a physiotherapist to create an exercise and stretching routine for yourself. Your physiotherapist will monitor how different exercises impact your body.

Reduce muscle spasm

Muscle spasms can be very painful and can limit the range of motion of the affected area. To help you decrease muscle spasms, a physiotherapist uses a combination of techniques, like soft tissue massage, heat or cold therapy and electrical stimulation, depending on your condition.

Electrical signals use current that helps in muscle contraction. This, in turn, loosen tight tissue that allows the physiotherapist to work more efficiently.

Reduces inflammation

Inflammation is observed as the body’s immune response to any injury. If this inflammation persists for a longer time and becomes worse, it can turn into chronic inflammation. 

Chronic inflammation can cause pain and swelling and affect your daily life. At this point in time, physiotherapy can help you reduce inflammation and continually move in life. 

Also, Read: Chronic Pain Management: The Role of Physiotherapy in Managing Pain