Physical Therapy

What is physical therapy?

When it comes to healing after an injury or surgery, physical therapy is an important piece of the rehabilitation puzzle that focuses on restoring pain-free movement. Through targeted exercises and stretching, the goal of physical therapy is to strengthen weakened areas of your body, help you regain range of motion and mobility, and prevent reinjury down the road.

What are the goals of physical therapy?

At Greater Washington Orthopaedic Group, the team of experienced physical therapists and orthopaedic specialists understand the complexity of the human musculoskeletal system and how your body moves.

Through individualized programs tailored to your unique needs and goals, your physical therapist has five main goals with physical therapy:

Reduce or eliminate pain

It’s hard to heal or regain your quality of life if you’re in pain, so your physical therapist makes reducing or eliminating your pain a top priority. Through therapeutic exercises and manual therapy, your physical therapist works to strengthen your support tissue to take the pressure off the weakened area and reduce inflammation.

Some of these techniques include:

• Ultrasound
• Taping
• Electrical stimulation

These therapies, along with exercises and stretching, can help restore your comfort.

Avoid surgery

While there are times when surgery is the best solution, the team first exhausts every avenue to help your condition, including physical therapy. Often, this nonsurgical approach can garner effective and long-lasting results.

Improve mobility

If your mobility is compromised, one of the first orders of business is to help you make your way through the world again. Through exercises, as well as assistive devices like canes or walkers, your physical therapist works toward helping you regain control of your life through restored mobility.

Improve balance

The work your physical therapist does to improve your balance is always with an eye toward preventing falls. Through a tailored program, your physical therapist helps restore your balance with exercises, assistive devices, and also works toward re-establishing vestibular (your inner ear) functioning to reduce and eliminate symptoms of dizziness or vertigo.

Manage diabetes and vascular conditions

As part of an overall diabetes management plan, exercise can help effectively control your blood sugar.  Physical therapy can also help if you have problems with sensations in your feet and legs, and the team educates you on proper foot care.

What conditions can be helped by physical therapy?

As you can see by the goals above, there are very few times when physical therapy doesn’t benefit your health. Whether you’re healing from a joint replacement surgery, dealing with arthritis, or have suffered a stroke, physical therapy provides you with the tools you need to get back to your life.

To learn more about the physical therapy services at Greater Washington Orthopaedic Group, schedule an appointment online or by phone today.