Three Surprising
Reasons to Visit Your Physiotherapist
Your physiotherapist has a wide variety of skills
and can help treat so much more than just pain and injury. Here are a few
reasons to visit your physiotherapist that can keep you healthy and pain-free,
before injury strikes.
Stiffness and Inflexibility
Almost all of us have experienced pain and
stiffness after a day of increased or unaccustomed exercise. This kind of
stiffness usually wears off quickly and is referred to as DOMS (delayed onset
muscles soreness). However, if you find yourself feeling stiff for more
extended periods, or even most the time – it might be time to see a
physiotherapist. There are many different causes of stiffness and
inflexibility; by far, the most common is lack of movement. Our joints and
muscles both lose flexibility if not moved through their range regularly.
Muscle stiffness can feel like a tightness with a bouncy feeling of
restriction, and joint stiffness can create a hard ‘blocked’ feeling when you
try to move.
When it comes to stiffness the evolves from lack of
movement, you may not even notice that you have lost range, as it can be very
easy to adapt your movements to compensate. Your physiotherapist can help you
to identify where you have areas of inflexibility and help you to exercise,
stretch and mobilise your joints to get them back to a healthy range. Disease
processes such as Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis can also cause
prolonged stiffness, and your physiotherapist is well equipped to help you deal
with these conditions.
Reduced Strength or
Weakness
There are many reasons for weakness in the body,
from generalised disuse, weakness in one muscle group following an injury,
neurological weakness or structural weakness of joint following a ligament
tear. Musculoskeletal deficiency of any kind can predispose you to future
injuries and can be surprisingly difficult to resolve without targeted
exercises. Your physiotherapist can determine the cause of your weakness and
determine the best treatment to restore your muscle strength.
Reduced Balance
Keeping your balance is a very complicated process,
and your body works hard to make sure you stay on your feet. Humans have a very
small base of support for our height, and we use all our senses together to
determine which movements we should make to stay upright, including our visual,
vestibular, muscular and sensory systems. As balance is so essential for
walking, if one system that supports our balance begins to weaken, the others
will quickly compensate, so you may not notice that your balance has worsened
until you fall or trip over more often.
As a general rule, balance does deteriorate as we
age, but this does not mean that falling should be an inevitable part of aging.
Actively working to maintain or improve your balance can have a significant
effect on your quality of life and confidence in getting around. Your
physiotherapist is able to test all the aspects of your balance and provide
effective rehabilitation to help keep you on your feet.
If you need help with your balance or want to prevent falls, please check out our free report
here
.
You can also see our
homepage
which has many other self help reports
here
.
The information in this article
is not a replacement for proper medical advice. Always see a medical
professional for an assessment of your condition.
If you need any further information about knee pain then please click here, or call us on 028 92666959, or email info@gavnoble.com
