A form of treatment called physiotherapy aids in regaining, preserving, and maximising strength, function, mobility, and general wellbeing. Physiotherapists assist patients in regaining muscular strength, joint mobility, and joint position sense following an injury or while undergoing treatment for diseases like Parkinson's disease and stroke. Here's everything you need to know about physiotherapy New Zealand.
What Do Physiotherapists Really Do?
Physiotherapists are members of the allied health field who have a thorough understanding of how the body functions and specialised hands-on clinical abilities to evaluate, identify, and treat injury and impairment. A physiotherapist is trained to identify the underlying causes of injuries and other conditions.
They will first evaluate your overall health and wellbeing before deciding what movements and exercises you can and must do to speed up your recovery. They will take into account a variety of factors, including your specific needs, medical history, and level of mobility.
A physiotherapist may cure and manage your disease using a variety of techniques, such as mobility and exercise, manual therapy, and hydrotherapy.
Here are the common physiotherapy services provided:
Manual Therapy
Our joint movements could be restricted as a result of an injury. Physiotherapists can therefore administer manual therapy, which is defined as "skilled hand movements designed to achieve any or all of the following elements:
- Boost the range of movement of the joint
- Enhance tissue flexibility
- Manipulate or mobilise joints and soft tissues
- Modify muscle function
- Stimulate relaxation
- Decrease inflammation, swelling, or motion limitation
Treatment options include passive movements of the afflicted joint or mobilising joints in particular directions and at different speeds to aid in regaining movement. Although these are actions carried out by someone else and not by ourselves, we nevertheless have influence over them because we can pause them at any time by tensing our muscles.
Another approach is manipulation, which involves delivering a passive, high-velocity, low-amplitude push to a joint within its anatomic range in order to restore its optimal range of movement and function and alleviate pain. Nevertheless, compared to physiotherapists, osteopaths and chiropractors see this more frequently.
Movement and Exercise
Your physiotherapist may recommend a series of physical exercises you may safely perform at home to expand the range of motion in your joints, build muscle, and enhance balance and coordination after evaluating your state, mobility, and capacity for physical activity. This can aid in treating chronic illnesses, injury healing, and prevention.
Hydrotherapy
Exercise is performed in a warm shallow pool that is between 33 and 36 degrees Celsius as part of hydrotherapy, a common treatment for rheumatological, orthopaedic, and neurological conditions. The advantages of hydrotherapy are particularly numerous. First off, the temperature of the water helps to relax muscles and relieves joint pain.
Second, being underwater supports our weight, which relieves some of the strain on our joints and muscles. Additionally, the resistance of the water against our movements helps strengthen our muscles.
Ultrasound
Pregnancy is frequently the first thing that comes to mind when we think of ultrasound. However, in addition to its more well-known usage for creating images of the womb, ultrasound can also be employed in physiotherapy New Zealand.
Thermal and non-thermal effects are two categories under which ultrasound therapy falls. One way that physiotherapists utilise ultrasound is to deeply heat soft tissues, which promotes healing and relieves pain by boosting blood flow. Additionally, it has been hypothesised to accelerate healing and raise the standard of tissue restoration.
Dry Needling
Dry needling is one of the physiotherapy services techniques used by certain physiotherapists in which a thin needle or acupuncture needle is placed into the skin and muscle. It can be used on superficial or deep tissue levels and targets myofascial trigger points to relieve pain and regain muscular activity. In diseases including low back pain and stroke, dry needling has been found to be effective in reducing pain and regaining muscle activation and strength.
Traction
Traction is a manual procedure that involves "stretching" and "distracting" the spine to modify the disc-nerve contact of painful vertebral discs and relieve pressure. Sciatica, herniated discs, degenerative disc disease, and numerous other back disorders are frequently treated with it.
Who May Need Physiotherapy?
You can benefit from physiotherapy New Zealand at any age and at any stage of your life. Even though musculoskeletal problems are frequently associated with physiotherapy, being injured is not a requirement for its benefits. Beyond that, physical therapy can genuinely assist with managing chronic medical illnesses like asthma, getting ready for a sporting event, or even giving birth.
Physiotherapists can help with a number of problems, including:
- Neuromusculoskeletal
- Respiratory
- Neurological
- Paediatric conditions
- Sports-related
- Women’s health and pelvic floor dysfunction
Human bodies are designed to move. Our muscles contract, our joints flex, our heart beats more quickly, and our breathing gets deeper when we move. All of these contribute to preserving and enhancing joint mobility, blood flow, recovery, and respiratory health.
It is crucial to rest and allow the body to heal while we are ill. However, resting excessively after the body has recovered might have the opposite effect and cause the repaired tissue to stiffen up. When we resume our old activities, the chance of re-injury and chronic pain may increase due to weak or uneven muscles.
