Working out if and when to see a physiotherapist for your injuries, aches and pains can be a tricky decision to make. Especially if you have never seen a physiotherapist before and are not too sure what they do or when you should contact them for treatment.
In order to have a good grasp on when to see a physiotherapist, it is important to have an idea as to what services a physio can offer.
Your experience with a physio varies depending on where you go, but overall, a physiotherapist provides rehabilitation, education and support, performance training, as well as assisting with stress relief in many aspects of your life. Many physios have different certifications so it is important to search around for a physiotherapist who may best be able to assist with your problem.
What are the signs I should see a physiotherapist?
Below are some pointers to some of the most common signs and symptoms of when you should seek out physiotherapy assessment and treatment to help you get back to the things you love doing.
Recurrent Injury
If you’ve been struggling with the same injury for an extended period, it is likely an injury that needs more in-depth assessment and treatment to understand the underlying cause of why it continues to happen. For these kinds of injuries, just resting and letting time pass without any specific management or rehabilitation will not always heal the injury. A detailed assessment and treatment plan from a physiotherapist can put you on the road to recovery.
Work on Posture
Your posture may not be something you pay close attention to throughout your work day but if pain or injuries to your back, neck, and legs start to appear, then your posture may be one factor.
One of the most common reasons for frequent headaches in office workers is poor posture caused by improper ergonomics. With that in mind, a physio can help you to develop better awareness of your position, advice on your work set up and improve the function of your postural muscles so that you can avoid those nagging postural pains.
Long-Term Conditions
Many people think they should avoid exercise or certain types of activity with a long-term condition such as osteoarthritis. Or even that they are likely to have a joint replacement which is not always the case! Physiotherapists are experts in managing and treating these conditions by helping to build the strength and stability of a joint.
Perhaps you do not have a specific injury causing pain. Widespread, generalised pain can be linked with conditions such as fibromyalgia, hypermobility and many systemic rheumatological diseases which need to be investigated further by your doctor.
Physios have a wide spectrum of tools they can do to help your pain. Physios utilise hands-on techniques to alleviate pain by stimulating certain nerve pathways to be less sensitive. They can also provide education on ways to cope with fatigue, how to best pace your physical activity and everyday chores and how to gradually increase your ability to do the things you need to do. A graduated exercise program can also help to reduce pain and develop more fitness, strength and stamina.
Heal from a complicated procedure
One of the lesser-known services a physio provides is healing from complicated surgeries. After surgery, you may be unable to be active or to exercise for quite some time. This may result in a lot of muscle weakness and a loss of physical fitness, making it much harder to return to your normal activities.
A physio can help you to progress through a post-surgical rehab program, helping you to regain your muscle strength and fitness safely and effectively.
Post-partum exercise conditioning
Having a baby is a stressful situation for the body and the female body is subjected to many bodily changes during the months of pregnancy. For this reason, seeing a physio can help to strengthen areas that may have been stretched or weakened during pregnancy and they can help guide you on a plan to safely increase your activity level and help lose that extra baby weight as well. A women’s health physio can also help specifically with pelvic floor or bladder and bowel problems
At Home Physio Group, when you see one of our physiotherapists, they will start with an in-depth assessment. This will give you a detailed understanding of not only what your injury diagnosis is, but also a good idea of the underlying reasons why your injury came on. That could be lifestyle-related, muscle weakness, joint stiffness, lack of flexibility or incorrect exercise technique for example.
Our physiotherapists will develop a bespoke exercise and treatment plan, based on your lifestyle and goals, which could include a variety of options to help your recovery such as sports massage or acupuncture. This plan will aim to gradually build you back into pain-free exercise and pain-free daily life!
For more information, please contact us on 0330 335 1016 or alternatively please fill out our contact sheet and we will get back to you.