Physical Therapy

Do I need Physical Therapy?

If you have an injury or illness that results in pain, physical impairment, or limited normal movement/loss of function, a physical therapist can help. Physical therapists help people move better and feel better after injury, surgery, or illness. They use a variety of exercise techniques and physical modalities to decrease your pain, improve range of motion, strength, balance, and endurance.

Physical therapists can also help you prevent injury or loss of functional mobility across the entire lifespan. They can analyze your movements before you are injured and offer strategies to help keep you healthy and moving well. Regardless of age, if you have impaired mobility, a physical therapy evaluation may be warranted to offer treatment and a strategy to improve function.

Some conditions that can benefit from Physical Therapy:

Back pain
Tendinitis
Muscle strains
Ligament sprains
Hip surgery
Elbow surgery
Back surgery
Carpal tunnel surgery
Knee replacement
Shoulder replacement/surgery

Coronary artery bypass grafting
Cardiovascular event recovery
Cancer recovery
Arthritis
Cerebral palsy
Autism spectrum disorder
Alzheimer’s disease
Parkinson’s disease
Muscular dystrophy
Developmental delays

Benefits of Physical Therapy

Physical therapy can help you reduce pain and regain a higher level of function when you have been injured. This could include anything like a sports injury, a motor vehicle accident, or even a sore neck from looking at your phone or computer all day.

PT can also help you recover from surgery. Since surgery is a form of trauma to your body, you will need help to relearn how to move your body to get back in the swing of your day-to-day activities. For example, PT helps you speed-up the healing process and reduce your overall pain levels to make you recover faster and move more easily.

Moreover, PT can help you rehabilitate after a variety of health events, enhancing or restoring function and quality of life. For example, build up your strength and relearning skills, and teach you how to function well with a chronic condition or disability to find new ways of doing things.

What to expect during Physical Therapy treatments?

A physical therapist helps take care of patients in all phases of healing, from initial diagnosis through the restorative and preventive stages of recovery to help you decrease pain and stiffness, improve motion and strength, and improve mobility.

You may undergo a physical exam and evaluation, including a health history and certain testing procedures. After that, you will receive a clinical diagnosis, prognosis, plan of care and short and long term goals.

Based on the therapist's evaluation and diagnosis, you will receive physical therapy treatment and intervention based as well as self-management recommendations. You may also be given modifications to make or exercises to do at home to help you function more effectively.