The common myth surrounding physical therapy is that it’s only required if you’re suffering from an injury, chronic pain, or some sort of health condition. Moreover, when you think of physiotherapy in Richmond Hill, you imagine medical rehabilitation experts, trainers, or even elderly people over the age of 60.
Reliving the mind and body with the help of physical therapy experts might not be something you picture when you think of physiotherapy treatment. This is quite understandable, as physical therapy has always been prominent in the field of injury and recovery. But treating the person’s body and trying out different exercises to strengthen the core has been linked to increased emotional well-being as well.
Role of Physical Therapy for Your Mind and Body
The exercises and physical activities suggested by trained physiotherapists can help your physical and mental health in a number of ways. Everything from using the muscles properly for overcoming an injury to training your body to prevent injuries is taught by expert physical therapists. Our body consists of numerous muscles that we have not noticeably put to use before and we might need to learn how to engage these muscles in order to compensate for an injury caused to a major muscle.
Physical therapists can educate you on the patterns of movement required to engage these different muscles, as to not stress the injured areas. These teachings and routine physical development will help your body and mind adapt to the new alternative movements. It will eventually improve your functional mobility and help you re-engage in the everyday activities that you love, hence creating a positive impact on the body’s entire biochemistry
With the prescribed physical therapy exercise routines, you will also be able to significantly increase the serotonin and brain-derived neurotrophic factors in your brain. This is essential for your mind as it boosts the endorphin levels and improves sleeping patterns, moreover, physical therapists can provide you with better sleeping positions to reduce pain.
All of this contributes to a better mood and is critical in reliving your mind. Furthermore, physical therapy also creates a sense of accomplishment, when patients witness their progress and how much they have overcome their physical challenges. Hence it leads to a sense of heightened motivation and reduces the feelings of hopelessness, providing patients with a better perspective on life.
5 Types of Physical Therapy That Can Help Relieve Your Mind and Body
Sports injuries, osteoporosis, joint aches, back pain, body deformity, and other health conditions can significantly affect a person’s quality of life, irrespective of their age, gender, or social status. This is where the different types of physical therapy play a pivotal role because they can be leveraged by anyone without any restrictions. PT can be highly beneficial for kids, elderly people, and adults, as the treatment plans are custom created based on the patient’s requirements. Here are five types of physical therapy that can help relieve your mind and body.
1. Pediatric Physical Therapy:
Pediatric physical therapy is entirely dedicated to children. This physiotherapy treatment focuses on multiple issues faced by kids, such as:
- Birth defects
- Slowed physical growth
- Management for acute injuries
- Hereditary disorders
- Injuries and fractures
These health conditions can severely limit a child’s everyday activities and can also have a heavy toll on his/her mind. With the help of pediatric physical therapy treatments, children can improve the affected areas and can significantly refine their motions. Moreover, physical therapists include different activities for kids that keep them interested in therapy. These activities along with improving physical health not only benefit their body but also relieve their minds.
2. Neurological physical therapy
Injuries to the nerve or other issues related to the neurological system can cause severe muscle weakness, clumsiness, and tiredness in patients. It can result in mood alteration and could even end up in depression. Physical therapists are experts in treating functional disorders arising due to problems in the neuromuscular and neurological systems. They can help relieve the mind and body by helping patients overcome neurological issues and can help patients regain movement, balance, and synchronization. Physical therapy can also help in:
- Restoring the range of motion
- Improving movement and strength
- Postural realignment
- Balance retraining and reduces the risk of falling
- Core stabilization
- Visual Perceptual Skill retraining
- Cardiovascular endurance
3. Geriatric physical therapy:
Elderly people are often affected by health conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis, and other chronic diseases. It can cause significant pain, difficulty in sleeping, and walking, and even can affect their everyday activities. Geriatric physical therapy is a great way to address age-related health conditions. With geriatric physical therapy, physiotherapists leverage multiple treatment methods to relieve pain and enhance mobility, flexibility, and strength. This physical therapy treatment method can help our grandparents by:
- Keeping them active
- Preventing deconditioning
- Preventing muscle atrophy
- Enhancing body balance and reducing the risk of falls
- Helping them maintain independence in performing daily activities
4. Physical therapy for orthopedics:
Orthopedic physical therapy involves the treatment of your entire musculoskeletal system, which includes bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons, joints, and connective tissue. Orthopedic therapy is mostly a part of sports physiotherapy and accident recovery. The immense benefits of orthopedic physical therapy have not only helped athletes in recovering from their injuries but have also maximized their performance and strengthened the injured sites. It has helped people quickly get back to the activities they love without having to go through the difficulties of surgery. Orthopedic physical therapy is also a great way to treat:
- Arthritis
- Neck or back pain
- Knee conditions
- Work-related injuries or accidents
- Post-orthopedic surgery recoveries
- Shoulder, foot, hip, and ankle conditions
5. Cardiovascular and pulmonary physical therapy:
Cardiovascular and pulmonary physiotherapy focuses primarily on improving the lungs and heart. There are several lung and heart conditions, such as:
- Asthma,
- Emphysema
- Chronic bronchitis
- Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
- Sarcoidosis and heart failure
These health conditions can significantly cause problems in breathing and performing intense activities. It can prevent a person from doing daily tasks and can lead to exhaustion and shortness of breath. Moreover, heart conditions also increase your risk for brain problems such as stroke and dementia. All this toll on physical health due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases can affect the patient’s mind as well.
Cardiovascular and pulmonary physical therapy is created to help patients enhance their breathing and aerobic capacity. It includes effective breathing techniques and exercises that are performed under fully-monitored conditions. With these exercises, individuals will be able to improve their cardiopulmonary function, hence enabling their body to become more efficient at using oxygen, resulting in less shortness of breath and improvement in overall quality of mind and body.
Conclusion
Even after the innovations and discoveries in modern medicine, physical therapy is still necessary to ameliorate body pain, reduce disability, and improve the overall quality of life. Physical therapists have an understanding of the mind-body connection and will focus on effective treatment plans that not only improve your physical health but also relieve your mind. Moreover, physical therapy treatments can help you avoid expensive, painful, and in some cases, invasive surgeries. Therefore, if you are trying to improve your physical and mental well-being, then hire a trained physical therapist and begin your transformational journey today.
Author Bio:
Cindy Williams is a blogger in Canada. She graduated with honors from the University of British Columbia with a dual degree in Business Administration and Creative Writing.
