Benefits of Physical Therapy

You may need physical therapy to:

• Ease pain
• Improve movement or ability to do daily tasks
• Prevent or recover from a sports injury
• Prevent disability or surgery
• Rehab after a stroke, accident, injury, or surgery
• Work on balance to prevent a slip or fall
• Manage a chronic illness such as diabetes, heart disease, or arthritis
• Recover after you give birth
• Control your bowels or bladder
• Adapt to an artificial limb
• Learn to use assistive devices such as a walker or cane
• Get a splint or brace
• Improve sports performance

What Does Physical Therapy Help Treat?

Physical therapy may help treat many different medical conditions, including:

• Neck pain
• Back pain
• Knee pain
• Hip pain
• Wrist pain (carpal tunnel syndrome)
• Sports injuries
• Tendinitis and other tendon problems
• Rotator cuff tears
• Knee injuries
• Jaw problems
• Concussions
• Strokes
• Spinal cord and brain injuries
• Lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Cerebral palsy
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Muscular dystrophy
• Parkinson’s disease
• Cystic fibrosis

What Does a Physical Therapist Do?

At your first therapy session, your PT will examine and assess your needs. They’ll ask you questions about your pain or other symptoms, your ability to move or do everyday tasks, and your medical history. The objective is to determine a diagnosis of your condition, why you have the condition (including impairments that either caused or are a result of the condition), and then develop a plan of care to address each.

The PT will do tests to measure:

• How well you can move around, reach, bend, or grasp
• How well you can walk or climb steps
• Your heart rate and blood pressure
• Your posture or balance

Then, they’ll work with you to create a treatment plan. It will include your personal goals, such as functioning and feeling better, plus exercises or other treatments to help you reach them.

You may take less or more time to reach those goals than other people in physical therapy. Everyone is different. You may also have more or fewer sessions than others. It depends on your needs.

Physical therapy treatments

Your treatments might include:

Exercises and stretches: Getting your muscles moving, toned, and loosened is a critical part of physical therapy. The goal is to help you get stronger, with better balance and coordination.

Massage: If you have ever had a massage, you know how good they feel. But physical therapists use gentle rubbing and kneading to ease pain.

Manual therapy: In this form of hands-on treatment, a physical therapist uses human touch to help patients recover from injuries and other medical conditions.

Cold therapy: Some physical therapists use or recommend ice packs or other forms of cold therapy for treating injuries such as ankle sprains.

Hydrotherapy: If you are recovering from an injury or surgery, your physical therapist might recommend exercising in water, which allows you to regain strength safely.

Rehabilitation after receiving an artificial limb: If you had to have a limb (such as your lower leg) removed due to disease, a physical therapist can help you adjust to using an artificial limb.

Your therapist will watch your progress and adjust your treatments as necessary. You can do the exercises your therapist teaches you at home between sessions. This will help you stay on track and improve your fitness.

Learn more here.