Physical therapy
What is Physical therapy
Physical Therapy is a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialty that helps to improve or regain mobility, functional capacity and relieve pain by utilizing physical methods and reducing the need for prescription drugs and surgery. Physical therapy can be corrective or preventive. Physical therapists can help correct functional movement impairments due to preexisting injuries or medical conditions or help prevent injury and identify other underlying physical impairments—including weakness, flexibility and joint stiffness.
Who Can Benefit Physical therapy
Anyone having an injury or a medical condition that results in pain, physical impairment, or limited functional movement can benefit from physical therapy. Physical therapists treat people across the entire lifespan from children to the elderly.
At visiting PT services we treat a patient with a holistic approach by creating an individualized treatment plan to help them get back what they love to do and achieve their goal.
Conditions we treat
Geriatric physical therapy is a subspecialty which emphasizes the needs of aging adults. Aging adults can encounter numerous conditions related to the aging process, including Gait and Balance disorders, Posture training, Fall prevention, General deconditioning, Muscle weakness, Osteoarthritis, Osteoporosis. This ultimately may lead to inability to lead an independent life. Geriatric physical therapy focusses on the unique needs of elderly by improving strength and endurance in older individuals to help them lead an independent life. Geriatric physical therapy generally include:
• Reducing fall risk: More than one in four people age 65 years or older fall each year.er injuries. As the age increases, the risk of falling increases in senior adults. Most falls can be prevented by exercising, managing medications, checking vision , and making home safer. A physical therapist can teach fall prevention strategies to prevent falls and fear of falling in older adults.
• Decreasing pain from chronic conditions: Physical therapy can help reduce pain and discomfort due to conditions like arthritis or osteoporosis and improve strength and functional mobility to improve quality of life in older individuals.
• Lessening dependence on prescription drugs: Most older individuals are on prescription drugs to help manage their chronic pain. Physical therapy can help them reduce the dependence on prescription drugs by providing comfort through physical methods.
• Promote an independent lifestyle: Physical therapy can enable older individuals to take control of their bodies and help them move around with more confidence thereby, improving their quality of life.
Orthopedic physical therapy focuses on treating the condition related to the musculoskeletal system which includes muscles, bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments.. The aim of orthopedic physical therapy is to help in healing the injury properly and to improve strength, range of motion, and overall improve functional mobility. Orthopedic physical therapy involves use of different techniques like Manual Therapy, Joint Mobilization, Manual Muscle Stretching, Soft Tissue Mobilization, therapeutic exercises, proprioceptive training and modalities like ice, heat, electric stimulation and ultrasound therapy. Here are a few of the conditions that can be managed with skilled Orthopedic physical therapy
- ACL tear
- Knee instability
- Knee pain
- Prehab before joint replacement
- Joint replacements (total knee/hip/ shoulder replacement)
- Meniscus tearPatella pain
- Knee replacement
- Hip bursitis
- Hip pain
- Achilles tendon injuries
- Sprain/ Strains
- Foot and ankle pain
- Plantar fasciitis
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Tennis elbow
- Wrist pain
- Rotator cuff tear
- Degenerative disc disease
- Herniated disc
- Scoliosis
- Spinal stenosis
- Torn disc
- Arthritis
- Cartilage damage
- Frozen shoulder
- Lower back pain
- Mid back pain
- Neck pain
- Sciatica
- Spondylosis
- Ankylosing spondylitis
- Fractures
Neurological physical therapy focuses on helping people in recovering from conditions related to the nervous system which includes brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves or prevent the progression of chronic neurological conditions. Condition which can be managed by neurological physical therapy include:
- Strokes
- Spinal cord injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Multiple sclerosis
- Parkinson’s disease Cerebral palsy
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/ Lou Gehrig’s disease
- Guillain-Barre syndrome
- Polyneuropathies
- Vertigo, including benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)
Cardiovascular and pulmonary physical therapy focuses primarily on enhancing the fuction of the heart and the lungs . Physical therapy can help to manage a variety of conditions related to the lungs, heart and vascular system, including COPD, hypertension, asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, sarcoidosis, Myocardial infarction and heart failure.
Cardiopulmonary physical therapy may include following different interventions:
• Graded cardiovascular training: This involves performing exercises like running, cycling, swimming or dancing that gradually increase the load on the heart which causes elevated heart rate and respiration and thereby increasing blood flow throughout the body. These exercises are performed while maintaining a close monitoring of cardiovascular and pulmonary functions, to ensure the safety of the patient.
• Resistance training: This involves the use of free weights, medicine balls, weight machines and resistance bands, in order to improve the strength of the targeted muscle. This helps to diminish undue stress on certain parts of the body and ultimately reduces the impaired body mechanics or risk of overuse injuries.
• Breathing exercises: This involves teaching correct breathing techniques to improve the work of breathing and helping the patient to be able to perform tasks of daily living without getting breathlessness.
• Techniques for Airway clearance: when patients have mucus accumulation or chronic blockages in the respiratory system it can impact their ability to breathe correctly and have difficulty in performing the activities due to imapired oxygen delivery. This technique involves training the patient for clearing their blocked airways to open up the tracts for more airflow.
• Chest mobilization exercises: This involves teaching the exercises to restore movement and flexibility in the chest wall. This helps to improve the entry and exit of air through the respiratory passages and ultimately improve the efficiency of breathing.
Neurological physical therapy may include the following different interventions:
- Gait training to improve the ability to ambulate. It also involves training related to the use of assistive devices such as crutches, canes, and walkers
- Balance training to improve static and dynamic balance while sitting or standing or changing positions. It involves training to improve core control and postural control strategies (ankle, hip and stepping strategies)
- Vestibular therapy interventions to improve postural adaptability with changing environment, ability to control posture with head and eye movements, and performing Dix-Hallpike and Epley maneuvers to improve dizziness.
- Therapeutic activities to improve ability to perform transfer like getting on and off beds, chairs, and toilets, ability to safely change positions like bed mobility (rolling) and sitting up from lying down
- Therapeutic exercises to improve flexibility, muscle strength, motor control and coordination muscles for improving the ability to perform daily task with accuracy
- Endurance training to improve cardiovascular response to activities to enhance the efficiency in performing activities of daily living.
Contact Us Free
(516) 872-4227