Physiotherapy Exercises and Exercise Prescription: More Than Just About Keeping You Fit

Employing a non-invasive, more physical approach to evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases, conditions, and injuries, physiotherapy is gaining popularity as a health science. Physiotherapists, also known as physical therapists, are able to offer a wide range of services from physiotherapy exercises, stroke rehabilitation, and ultrasound therapy.

Physiotherapists or "PT's" are highly trained professionals who can identify weaknesses or imbalances in the body. Physical therapists can help in targeting specific areas in the body where weakness or pain is felt and then prescribe the suitable treatment plan. Physiotherapy exercises are methods that can truly help relieve and soothe stress, as well as help the body function without pain and limitation.

How Exercise Helps the Body

When you incur an injury, the pain felt should serve as a guide to where the sensitive areas are located. Physiotherapists stress that there are two major types of pain: first is the pain due to stiffness and the second is pain due to damage. Pain due to stiffness may be quite bearable when you are doing exercise, and may be relieved gradually once you finish an exercise. Experiencing pain indicates that your muscles are damaged and need to be repaired to prevent worsening of the injury. Pain due to damage can be unbearable which is an obvious indicator that your muscles are damaged, and are not ready for any exercise yet.

Once your physiotherapist determines the extent and cause of your pain, he or she will ask you to perform an array of physiotherapy exercises. There are practically hundreds of PT exercises for different injuries, from injuries to the neck, lower back, shoulders, spinal cord, legs, and feet. Your PT practitioner may also specify some stretching exercises for you. Stretching, as you should know, is important for maintaining proper range of motion of the joins, and also promotes flexibility of muscles.

For example, if you have tight muscles or stiff joints, performing normal activities like climbing the stairs or reaching for items above the cupboard may be tough to do. With proper stretching exercises, the normal body functions can either be preserved or enhanced. Scar tissue is formed and soft tissue becomes contracted as a result of an injury or a surgery. It's important that you regularly perform physical therapist-assisted stretching exercises, to ensure that the scar formation does not impair your movements.

How Prescription Exercises Help to Improve Muscle Strength

Prescription physiotherapy exercises are generally employed to specifically target muscle deficiencies, and also to help rehabilitate patients after an injury or after undergoing surgery. Therapeutic or prescription exercises are often used to improve the patient's strength, function and mobility, as well as to significantly lessen pain and swelling in the affected part of the body. Family doctors and PT practitioners often prescribe simple and easy home-based physiotherapy exercises, and also provide their patients with handouts and easy-to-understand instructional manuals or guides. Many agree that supervised physiotherapy exercises are more effective than home-based exercises, especially in patients who have osteoarthritis of the knee, low back injury and intermittent claudification. Still, physiotherapy exercises performed at home have their own advantages as well, more so for the post-operative recovery of anterior cruciate ligament.

Exercise is truly vital for the treatment and management of a wide array of chronic health conditions and injuries. Supervised physical therapy exercise programs consist of individualized prescription exercises that are specifically designed by trained physiotherapists, and are done in conjunction with the patient's condition and fitness level. Physical therapists are specialists in movement impairments, and are effective in developing or designing therapeutic exercise programs and modalities which suit a patient's specific needs.

One past study by a group of physicians from The Netherlands concluded that supervised physiotherapy exercises also result in less pain and improved function for tested patients, both in short term and long term durations.

Resources on Physiotherapy Exercises and other Information

A number of helpful physiotherapy resources are available online, to give you more helpful information on new and improved modalities for easing pain and improving strength and mobility. One online resource website you can visit is that of the American Family Physician which provides helpful information regarding physiotherapy exercises. The Canadian Physiotherapy Association, or CPA, also offers a wide array of information and resources about physiotherapy exercises and quick reference guides about the physical therapy community.