What is physical therapy?

Physical therapy is a cornerstone of most treatments for musculoskeletal problems — conditions that affect the muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, and nerves. It also plays a vital role in recovery from stroke, managing conditions like Parkinson’s disease, and post-surgical rehabilitation.

Injuries, illnesses, and surgery all impact your ability to stay active, which can lead to loss of muscle tone and weakness. If you don’t use them, the connective tissues (tendons and ligaments) start to atrophy, shortening and stiffening. Physical therapy helps to prevent problems like these and keep you mobile.

Physical therapy can:

• Improve strength, flexibility, and balance
• Increase range of motion
• Mobilize joints and soft tissues
• Increase blood flow to injured tissues
• Help speed up healing

Improving the flow of blood to your damaged tissues increases levels of essential oxygen, stem cells, and platelets containing growth factors. These are all critical to healing.

For many patients at Vital Orthopedic & Spine Institute, physical therapy combined with activity modification (avoiding activities that could make a condition worse) is highly effective in resolving numerous causes of musculoskeletal pain.

For others, it’s an integral element of their rehabilitation in combination with injectables, minimally invasive procedures like radiofrequency ablation, or surgery.

What techniques does physical therapy use?

Physical therapies have two forms:

Active physical therapy

Active physical therapy involves doing low-impact aerobic exercise, stretching, and other gentle workouts with your therapist that help repair damaged tissues and build up strength in the surrounding muscles. Your therapist also gives you personalized exercise programs to do at home.

Passive physical therapy

There are many kinds of passive physical therapy, which are treatments that your therapist performs while you stay still. Examples include therapeutic ultrasound, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, hot and cold treatments, and therapeutic massage.

What conditions can physical therapy treat?

Physical therapy programs that the Vital Orthopedic & Spine Institute team offers can aid in the treatment of numerous disorders. Some of the more common examples of conditions that benefit from physical therapy include:

• Back pain
• Neck pain
• Joint pain
• Ligament sprains
• Muscle and tendon strains
• Arthritis
• Bursitis
• Tendinitis
• Fibromyalgia

Physical therapy can also help with sports and automobile injuries and after slips and falls. If you make a workers’ comp claim, your treatment plan is likely to include one or more forms of physical therapy.

To find out more about the importance of physical therapy in treating musculoskeletal conditions, call Vital Orthopedic & Spine Institute or book an appointment online today.

Shoulder pain can make it hard or even impossible to move your arm, causing significant inconvenience as well as discomfort. If you have shoulder pain, Robere Missirian, MD, Asif Shafiq, DO, and their Vital Orthopedic & Spine Institute team can help. At their Pompano Beach and Fort Myers offices in Florida, the team offers a comprehensive array of treatment options for shoulder pain ranging from physical therapy to surgery. Call Vital Orthopedic & Spine Institute to get help for your shoulder pain or book an appointment online today.