Who Can Benefit from Physical Therapy?
We explore what PT can do by examining the common reasons for getting physical therapy, and the variety of ways you can benefit from it in your everyday life.
When we think of physical therapy (PT), we often think of recovering from an injury, illness, or other condition. And with up to 200 patients being seen at PT centers each week for a variety of problems, it’s easy to see PT as being a common method of recovery.
Physical therapy is a safe way for patients to convalesce without having to rely on medications, and it helps keep the body healthy. However, there are many other ways PT can help improve your life even if you’re not ill or injured.
Residents of Medford and Grants Pass, Oregon, looking for ways to stay healthy can find assistance from the extensive team of physicians at Southern Oregon Orthopedics. We provide individualized physical therapy treatment for children and adults of all ages and activity levels.
Let’s explore what PT can do by examining the common reasons for getting physical therapy, and the variety of ways you can benefit from it in your everyday life.
Common reasons for physical therapy
PT is frequently used to help your bones, ligaments, and muscles work more effectively while recovering from sports injuries and a variety of medical conditions. These include:
- Heart conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, and post-myocardial infarction heart failure
- Nerve conditions such as stroke, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease, and traumatic brain injuries
- Pediatric conditions like cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy
- Female health conditions including pelvic floor dysfunction, urinary incontinence, and lymphedema
- Skin conditions such as burns, wound care, and diabetic ulcers
- Physical injuries like back pain, strains, sprains, TMJ disorders, and concussions
PT can also help with repetitive injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome and trigger finger, and a variety of other musculoskeletal conditions.
Other ways you can benefit from physical therapy
Here are some other ways physical therapy can help you:
Preventing injury
Rather than waiting to suffer an injury, you can use PT to learn how to improve your posture, move more effectively to avoid injury, and be more aware of how you move in order to improve your habits.
Avoiding surgery
Depending on why you need surgery, PT can be used to effectively reduce pain and improve movement and stability well enough to make surgery unnecessary. Even in the cases when you may still need surgery, you can benefit from PT to help improve your outcome, which is sometimes called pre-hab.
Aging in good health
Getting older means losing strength and muscle mass, and the increase of problems associated with joint pain and fall risk. PT can help you adjust to balancing body weight as your muscle mass changes, modify routine activities to maintain stability and balance, and reduce your risk of falling down.
Improving basic balance and mobility
Even if you’re not dealing with the rigors of getting older, PT can help correct how you move. The physical habits you form will continue to affect how you move over your lifetime, so therapy can help show you mistakes you’re making and help you be more proactive in improving your overall movement.
Physical therapy is a great tool for improving your overall quality of life, and we have a variety of therapies to help you get better and stay healthy.
If you want to find out more about what physical therapy can do for you, make an appointment with Southern Oregon Orthopedics today to see how we can help. Call our office most convenient to you or schedule online today.