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How Physiotherapy Enhances Musculoskeletal Function
Musculoskeletal disorders, whether it is pain in your joints, muscles, tendons, or ligaments, can cause uncomfortable experiences at some point in our lives.
Various factors can contribute to musculoskeletal pain—overuse of a specific body part, injury during exercise, and disease. However, the recommended treatment for each musculoskeletal disorder is specific and unique. Physiotherapy plays a significant role in your treatment and recovery.
What Is Physiotherapy for Musculoskeletal Problems
Physiotherapy is a simple yet powerful tool for treating various health conditions, including musculoskeletal disorders. While many people think that it consists of mainly manual therapy, exercises, and repetitive movements, this field is constantly evolving to embrace different branches of medicine.
Musculoskeletal physiotherapy is a specialized physical therapy procedure for patients struggling with musculoskeletal conditions. It strengthens affected areas, alleviates tension, and improves your biometrics to boost mobility and function.
The treatment addresses the factors that impact your movement—how your muscles and joints work together. An injury in your feet, ankles, legs, arms, hands, or shoulders, can have a significant impact on your life as it makes movements painful and difficult.
Among musculoskeletal injuries treated by physiotherapy:
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What Is Musculoskeletal Injury?
Musculoskeletal injury is the most common type of human injury. It refers to the damage to the muscular or skeletal system due to strenuous or repetitive activities that cause impairment to the bones, muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, and other soft tissues. Other causes include postural strain and prolonged immobilization. Poor body mechanics and changes in posture can potentially result in spinal alignment and muscle shortening, causing pain and misuse of muscles.
Symptoms of musculoskeletal injury:
- Aching and stiffness
- Fatigue
- Poor sleep quality
- Pain that worsens with movement
- Muscle twitching
- Burning sensation in the muscles
The pain associated with the musculoskeletal injury can be acute (sudden and severe) or chronic (long-lasting). A person with musculoskeletal injury may experience localized pain or pain in the entire body.
How Does Physiotherapy Work
Physiotherapy is often used to assess, treat, and manage new and longstanding conditions, as well as prevent the reoccurrence of injuries and promote overall health and well-being. A registered physiotherapist will help restore and maintain your physical well-being and strength by improving your balance, flexibility, fitness, and range of motion.
To help achieve your goals, a physiotherapist will work with you through awareness, education, exercise, and personalized treatment plan and techniques. Its ‘whole-body’ approach to physiotherapy is ideal for patients of all ages and conditions.
Understanding Physiotherapy Techniques
Physiotherapists use different treatment techniques to rebuild and improve your strength and mobility. These include:
- Manual Therapy
It involves the use of hands to manipulate, mobilize, and massage body tissues to help:
- Ease pain, tension, and stiffness
- Boost blood circulation
- Improve range of movement and flexibility
- Drain fluid efficiently in specific parts of the body
- Promote relaxation
Manual therapy does not only treat musculoskeletal problems but also a range of health issues that do not affect the bones, muscles, and joints. For instance, incorporating massage therapy helps reduce anxiety levels and boost sleep quality, improving the quality of life for patients with serious health conditions. People with certain lung conditions can also benefit from manual techniques.
- Education
Physiotherapists are an excellent source of education and advice, particularly about exercise, diet, and proper postural habits. They can also provide you with helpful insights that you can integrate into your daily activities to reduce the risk of pain and injury.
- Movement and Exercise
Physiotherapists may prescribe exercises designed to boost your mobility and function. These exercises can help manage pain in the long term and lower the reoccurrence of injury.
The Role of Physiotherapy in Musculoskeletal Disorders
With regular treatment sessions, musculoskeletal physiotherapy aids in your quick recovery and builds coping mechanisms to prevent undesirable complications.
- Strengthen Affected Body Parts
Weak muscles inflict more pressure on the surrounding soft tissues and joints. Injured body parts can be serious and require longer recovery, emphasizing the need for musculoskeletal physiotherapy.
Engaging in physiotherapy-guided exercises to strengthen specific weak areas is an essential step for recovery. These exercises are designed to boost function, movement, and flexibility, lower the risk of future injury, and prevent muscle atrophy due to prolonged periods of immobility after surgery or rest.
Physiotherapists are trained and knowledgeable on various body parts and exercise variations that improve muscle strength in a safe and effective way. Physiotherapy exercises are beneficial for people struggling with disabilities or mobility issues.
- Alleviates Tension
Muscle fibres contract and relax, which enables you to make movements. However, there are various factors that contribute to muscle contraction and tension, resulting in pain and discomfort in different parts of the body.
Physiotherapy treatments help the body cope with muscle tension in a number of ways. The most common form of physiotherapy used is massage therapy, which integrates manual therapy techniques to relieve pressure. This boosts blood flow to the affected areas, allowing muscles to move more freely.
Another method used as an alternative to massage therapy to ease muscle tension and pain is chiropractic treatment. This non-invasive and drug-free approach to musculoskeletal disorders helps restore proper spine, joint, and muscle functions. The chiropractor uses spinal adjustment techniques to stimulate the body’s natural healing abilities to reduce pain, improve joint mobility, and promote overall health and well-being.
- Improve Biomechanics
Education and awareness play a vital role in physiotherapy treatment. In most cases, chronic musculoskeletal disorders are a result of improper movement or poor posture. This happens when athletes fail to use the proper movement techniques, increasing the risk of injury. Additionally, individuals with back issues who do not practice good posture may put unnecessary stress on their spine.
With the help of a well-trained and experienced physiotherapist, you can correct these problems and improve your biomechanics. Also, regular exercise can help correct imbalances in the body.
How to Prepare for Your Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Appointment
Whether or not you got a physiotherapy referral from your physician, you must have all information your physiotherapists might need. Before coming to your appointment, be sure to prepare the following:
- List of medications you are currently taking
- An overview of your symptoms—when they occur and pain intensity
- Make sure to wear loose, and easily-removable clothing
- Health goals that you want to prioritize in our treatment
Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy: Final Thoughts
Physiotherapy is a safe and effective treatment for different musculoskeletal problems. If you are struggling with pain and discomfort in your musculoskeletal system, consult a physiotherapist ASAP. Musculoskeletal physiotherapy reduces pain and boosts your quality of life, helping you resume your normal activities.
Get the Relief You Have Been Waiting For!
If you are looking for a trusted Cambridge physiotherapy clinic, count on Preston Chiropractic and Physiotherapy Clinic. Our team of healthcare professionals uses specialized techniques to treat various musculoskeletal problems.
Give us a call today at (519) 653-7139 to book a consultation. Our staff will be happy to answer all your queries. Visit us and discover the amazing benefits of physiotherapy!
BY: PrestonchroAdmin
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