How Physical Therapists Help You Heal

When you find yourself in need of help from physical therapists, you may be left wondering what these repeated visits to the therapy center are really accomplishing. Because it can often hurt at the beginning, and sometimes the road to recovery is "two steps forward, one step back," many are tempted to forget about therapy and attempt to heal on their own. If you are wondering about the benefits of therapy, here is what you should know about how it truly helps.

After an injury, your muscles are left damaged and weak. While you could, in theory, get your strength back doing exercises on your own, the sad truth is that doing exercises improperly could leave you with further damage or a new injury. Those weak muscles are simply too risky. Therapy helps systematically and properly strengthen those muscles so you can have full use of the limb again.

Physical therapists are specially trained to study your body and find weaknesses or inefficiencies with your biomechanics. They know how to target the specific areas of weakness with stretches and strengthening exercise so that you strengthen those areas and make them no longer a point of weakness. They also have training about surgical procedures, so they know how to systematically help the body recover.

Therapy can also help stretch tight muscles and joints. After an injury and period of rest, it is common for muscles to be left tight and with limited mobility. While this is common, it is not necessarily a good thing, as tight muscles and joints can be more prone to injury. A therapist can help you learn to stretch these joints in order to limit this tightness. This also works to break up scar tissue after surgery or an injury that caused a scar. Breaking up scar tissue will help improve mobility and range of motion for you.

Physical therapists can also help you know what you can do at home to help promote your healing. For instance, ice and heat can both be helpful to the healing process, but only when used appropriately for your injury or recovery. A therapist will know how to help you properly use these tools, and will give you instructions as to what to do at home. Another area is with at-home exercises. The therapist will teach you how to do the right exercises for your particular difficulty, and give you the instructions and tools for doing it properly at home. Follow up appointments allow the therapist to see if you are properly following directions to aid in your healing.

Finally, physical therapists have access to tools you cannot use at home. Ultrasound therapy and electrical stimulation, for instance, have been found to be quite helpful in boosting blood flow, limiting pain, and promoting healing. They can also break up scar tissue. However, it would not be safe for you to use these tools at home without proper supervision. Only by going to therapy regularly will you have access to these valuable healing tools.