If an injury, health condition, or disability is affecting your normal physical function, you may benefit from physical therapy. A physical therapist is a trained professional who diagnoses and treats a range of injuries and conditions.
Approximately one in every two American adults is affected by a musculoskeletal condition. These affect the bones, joints, muscles, tendons, and/or ligaments in the body. This can have a major impact on a person’s range of motion and overall quality of life.
Working with your physical therapist, you will be able to develop a personalized program designed to address your specific issue or condition. In this blog post, we will highlight three important benefits of going to physical therapy.
- Improve Your Balance
Each year in the United States, around 36 million falls are reported among older adults. Around one in five of these falls result in an injury, such as broken bones. Approximately 300,000 older people are admitted to the hospital each year as a result of hip fractures.
Physical therapy can help to improve balance and prevent falls. Your therapist will work with you to perform exercises designed to improve coordination and strength. This reduces your likelihood of injury as a result of falls.
If you have sustained an injury as a result of a fall, physical therapy is also recommended.
- Improve Range of Motion
Your range of motion may have been reduced following an injury or as a result of a health condition or disability. Improving or restoring range of motion, movement, and strength is one of the key aims of physical therapy.
Depending on your particular condition, a physical therapist will be able to provide a range of stretching and strengthening exercises. This can be personalized to match your condition and specific goals. Many of these exercises can be performed at home as part of an ongoing, including on a mat platform, long-term recovery strategy.
- Reduce or Eliminate Pain
Decreasing pain is one of the primary goals of physical therapy. From manual therapy techniques to therapeutic exercises, your physical therapist will work to relieve pain and prevent it from returning.
For example, physical therapy is effective at managing the symptoms of joint conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis.
Physical therapy is also often recommended as part of the recovery process following a surgical procedure. On this point, another of the physical therapy benefits is that it may also prevent the need for surgery in the first place.
Important Benefits of Going to Physical Therapy
Physical therapy is an effective and popular type of rehabilitative care. It focuses on improving or restoring range of motion, strength, and movement. If you are interested in learning more about how physical therapy can help your specific injury or condition, speak to your local physical therapist.
Like this blog post on the important benefits of going to physical therapy? Be sure to check out our other informative articles on a wide range of interesting topics.
