A regular physical therapy plan can be massively beneficial to people of all ages, who want to reduce pain and improve their ability to move and function.
Let’s dive into some of the basics of how physical therapy can be beneficial, and why you should consider it before making the leap into expensive surgery or treatments.
What is Physical Therapy?
Before we get into the benefits, let’s get very basic: what exactly is physical therapy?
Physical therapy is very broad, but in simple terms: it’s the treatment of pain, injury, mobility, and physical ability by physical methods such as exercise, stretching, or external treatments vs surgery or medicine. People often think of physical therapy for muscles and movement, but it can also be used for virtually any area of the body.
The Benefits of Regular Physical Therapy
No matter your situation, needs, or treatment plan there are universal benefits from physical therapy that you will experience.
1. Reduce or eliminate pain
This is the big one – and often the primary reason why people start physical therapy in the first place. Nearly all physical therapy treatments are aimed at reducing or eliminating pain. Even for plans where that isn’t the explicit goal, it’s often the top side benefit. Consistent pain reduction oftentimes allows our patients to continue to exercise or perform hobbies that are more physically demanding. Regular physical therapy plans that consist of routine tune ups help keep pain at bay to continue to live a life free of painkillers and improved independence.
Read Now: Why Physical Therapy Is Your Ticket To A Pain-Free Life
2. Avoid or delay surgery
Sometimes, surgery is unavoidable. However, we’ve found with our patients that in many cases their problems can be resolved through physical therapy, without the need for surgery altogether. A PRO Therapy plan will target your pain at its source, to help your body. For many patients, this resolves their pain such that they no longer need to consider surgery as a treatment option. It is important to continue
3. Manage chronic conditions
For those with chronic conditions – chronic low back pain, chronic headaches, etc.; seeing PRO Therapy routinely, even after a course of consistent physical therapy is a great option to continue to see progress and keep nagging pains under control. Regular or routine PRO Therapy visits will reduce the need to take Ibuprofen daily, help you to stay active and healthy, and promote a lifestyle not controlled by your chronic pain.
4. Recover from a sports injury and improve performance
You don’t have to be an athlete to reap the benefits of improved sports performance – even if you walk regularly or occasionally run, your body can benefit from regular physical therapy. Sports physical therapy will help ensure that you know ideal pre-workout stretches, as well as becoming more aware of the position of your body. Both things help drastically reduce your potential for injury.
Read Now: Can Physical Therapy Really Improve Sports Performance?
5. Fine tune your movement quality
Part of physical therapy is a keen awareness of your body and its position, as well as treatments aimed at improving your body’s ability to move. Whether you are new to exercising or are looking to fine tune your techniques, PRO Therapy Physical Therapists are licensed and trained to observe and critique movement quality to help you move more optimally. Whether that is running or walking form, proper deadlift technique, or Olympic weightlifting video analysis- our experts will breakdown that movement and provide their knowledge on improving that movement with manual therapy, strength and accessory exercises, and mobility drills to improve your specific activity.
