You’ve left the doctor’s appointment with a prescription slip to receive physical therapy. What now?

“People of course know when they’re in pain, but many don’t know when or how physical therapy might help relieve their pain,” says the doctor. Through guided exercises and education about how your body is meant to move, physical therapy aims to make lasting improvements to your mobility and strength helping to prevent or relieve injuries and/or disease.

What is the reason physical therapy is vital?

If a muscle feels swollen or joint pain, the first reaction is likely to use medication to relieve pain, then take some sleep and apply cooling or heating. However, if pain persists even after these simple home treatments, it may be time to consider a physical therapy service Houston residents trust for effective relief and recovery.

Physical therapy is a great way to help

• Build your muscles and reduce the stress on joints
• Enhance balance or mobility
• Relieve joint pain
• Prevent injury
• Stability, function, and mobility following an injury

Physical therapists at Advance Physical Therapy are trained to identify biomechanical deficiencies that are either currently leading to pain or might lead to pain or injury in the future. From therapeutic exercises and manual therapy with our hands to newer techniques and modalities, a physical therapist has a range of noninvasive treatment options he or she can use to help address or prevent movement issues.

One of the most significant aspects of physical therapy is the education in particular, the process of teaching how to strengthen your muscles to move and stretch your muscles. This is crucial if you’re using muscles that you’re not using correctly.

Everyone knows how to simply move their body, but that doesn’t mean everyone is doing so correctly. We always try to make physical therapy a life-changing learning experience that has lasting results on how a person moves and views their body.

Who would profit from the physical therapist?

Physical therapy is a great way to relieve the most common injuries and forms of discomfort, such as:

• Arthritis
• The back is aching and there are strains
• Herniated disc
• Knee Pain in the knee
• The rotator cuff tear
• Sciatica

Not only can a physical therapist help correct an injury or pain a person is already experiencing, we’re also trained to identify and address subtle issues that could lead to pain or injury in the future. Additionally, there are several sub-specialties of physical therapy, including sports, pediatrics, geriatrics, neurology, cardiac and respiratory physical therapy.

As an example, a child physical therapist concentrates on helping youngsters with muscle or bone problems, injuries from sports or genetic movement issues and on the contrary, a cardiac physical therapist can provide rehabilitative coaching and instruction for people recovering from heart attacks and heart failure as well as surgery that can often be found through a trusted Houston therapy service.

What can you expect at an appointment for physical therapy at Advance Physical Therapy?

When you know the benefits of physical therapy and when you’re ready to visit physical therapists one of the most important questions that you’ll need to answer is what you can expect.

Physical therapy begins by evaluating the patient

The first appointment is always an evaluation, which has three main parts: a subjective conversation about your issue; an objective assessment of your biomechanics; and an explanation of your final diagnosis and treatment plan.

Then, your physical therapist will meet with you, and ask questions regarding your discomfort or injury along with the behavior or incidents that could have brought you to the point at which you are. A Q&A-style discussion assists your physical therapist in understanding the reasons why you are in the physical condition you’re in.

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If you sign up for our newsletter by registering, you’ll be notified of our monthly newsletter that includes videos, articles as well as health and fitness tips. Your physical therapist will conduct various functional tests to gauge the strength of your body and range of motion whether throughout your entire body or to determine the joints and muscles that cause problems.

The final part of your examination is your final diagnosis as well as the explanation of your treatment plan. We pair the subjective and objective assessments together to determine what’s causing your issue and create a plan of action to correct it. We then explain your diagnosis and the specifics of your treatment plan to you, such as how long you’ll need physical therapy and how many visits are needed.

What should you expect during your follow-up sessions with physical therapy?

After the initial examination, you’ll start your session of follow-up where your physical therapist works together with you to implement the stretches, exercises, treatment and procedures required to fix your problem.

At Advance Physical Therapy, The exercises and stretches your physical therapist guides you through are the cornerstone of your treatment plan. They’re meant to help improve your strength and mobility, reducing pain and strain on your joints and they’ll continue to be important to help you stay pain-free.

Furthermore, there are several alternatives that your therapist could employ to ease discomfort and speed recovery, such as:

•         Dry needling uses small needles to relieve the tension caused by knots, and tight muscles
•         Dry cupping applies suction on the area of pain to improve circulation and thereby lessening any swelling
•         Kinesthesiology Taping provides a slight help to a muscle or muscle, helping to reduce discomfort and encouraging a correct alignment
•         Blood flow restriction uses specially designed blood pressure cuffs that assist a person to build up endurance without straining an existing injury

Your physical therapist may also use manual therapy to improve joint mobility, reduce scar tissue buildup caused by injury, or help relax tight muscles. In addition, you’ll have homework during your follow-up appointments stretching at home and doing exercises that will help you continue your rehabilitation. Through your appointments, the physical therapist will reassess the condition of your body to ensure that you’re making progress.

Are you going to require undergoing physical therapy throughout your entire life?

Physical therapy treatment plans and timelines look different for every single person, even for people with identical injuries. Still, our goal is always the same: To help you establish good habits and exercise practices so that you hopefully won’t need physical therapy in the future. We always like to find out what you like to do to stay active and make sure that you finish your treatment plan feeling confident that you know how to maintain your activity level pain-free.