What is physiotherapy?

If you have ever had a stroke, joint injury or some other condition that caused you to lose some or all of your functional movement, you would most likely have been referred to a physiotherapist. Physiotherapy deals with restoring and maintaining functional movement in individuals throughout the lifespan. Such movement may be compromised through aging, sickness, disease or injury.

Physiotherapy is concerned with the physical, psychological, emotional and social well being of the individual. As such the benefits of physiotherapy are many and varied. For the individual suffering from cardiopulmonary disorders (COPD) physiotherapy can help the person regain condition through supervised ambulation and manual therapy to assist in clearing lung secretions. In orthopedic cases, like hip or knee surgery, physiotherapy can train a person how to use an assistive device to ambulate safely until he/she can walk independently without a device. Strengthening exercises also form part of the treatment to help regain lost strength. Neurological disorders like stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and others also respond well to physiotherapy.

In helping to rehabilitate the patient, a physiotherapist makes use of a lot of different modalities to achieve the desired outcome. Hot packs may be used to treat pain and loosen tight muscles in preparation for exercise. Cold packs also help to relieve pain while other modalities like TENS, E-stim, ultrasound and laser treatment help get rid of pain and trigger points that cause pain.

A physiotherapist can sometimes work as a part of a team of rehabilitation specialists all working together for the benefit of the patient.

Patient safety is a major issue in physiotherapy. A patient who is unsafe in his/her ambulation or in using a walker or some other assistive device is a patient who is prone to recurring injury. To ensure your safety, we take much care to train you in the proper methods of transferring from one area to another and in the safe way to use an assistive device. We also make recommendations on the best type of mobility aids for your condition. Training in the proper way to exercise and in the use of exercise equipment also fall within the domain of physiotherapy.