Do you often wake up with pain all over your body? Do you find it hard to perform daily activities? Getting relief from such pain and regarding your strength back is now possible with therapeutic exercises. Going to work every day and working late nights can be tiring for anybody. But following some regular exercises can help you stay in routine without any extra load.
What are Therapeutic Exercises?
Therapeutic exercises are specific exercises designed by physical therapists for people suffering from specific physical functional problems. These problems may cause pain and limit the physical activity of the individual. Physical therapists, therefore, design a set of therapeutic exercises that are entirely focused on providing pain relief, increasing strength and stability of the affected muscles and the joints, thereby functioning and maintaining the overall physical fitness.
Who can benefit from Therapeutic Exercises?
Exercises are always beneficial in maintaining an individual’s overall fitness, be it your routine gymming exercises or, for that matter, the therapeutic exercises prescribed explicitly by your physical therapist. It helps treat and manage a wide range of medical conditions that limit physical movement and activities.
Commonly treated conditions with the help of Therapeutic Exercises:
- Musculoskeletal Dysfunction: Dysfunctions like temporomandibular joint dysfunction, back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, rotator cuff, ACL injuries.
- Sports injury: It is pretty useful in the management of sports injuries such as sprain, strain, tennis elbow, joint dislocation, fractures, concussion,
- Neurological Conditions: Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, traumatic head injuries.
- Women’s health issues: Health issues especially concerning women, like pelvic floor dysfunction, lymphedema, urinary or bowel incontinence.
- Children’s health issues: developmental anomalies, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, delayed development.
There is a vast application of physical therapy in medical science that helps deal with pain management and restoring the overall health and physical fitness of those suffering from any kind of musculoskeletal problems or any other problem limiting physical activity.
The Different Types of Therapeutic Exercises
Stretching exercises
These exercises help increase flexibility and improve the range of motion of the affected muscles and the joints. Most advised to patients who complain of limited or complete loss of mobility of the limbs. The exercises include small and gentle movements.
Strengthening exercises
These exercises require comparatively more strength than the strengthening exercises. They help improve the strength of the affected region, especially after an accident or an injury, or post-surgery.
Endurance exercises
Endurance Exercises aim to provide strength and improve muscle endurance by incorporating activities that engage large muscle groups like that of the limbs and the back muscles. However, these exercises are practical only if performed consistently.
Balance and coordination exercises
These Exercises help the patient coordinate, balance, and maintain proper posture. These exercises require the full concentration of the patient when performing.
How do Therapeutic Exercises help?
Therapeutic exercises can help in several ways. It helps athletes recover from injuries, helps in faster recovery to patients post-surgery, helps manage balance and gait disorders, and helps relieve chronic pain and any other musculoskeletal issues.
Benefits of therapeutic exercises:
- Reduces and relieves pain: The stretching and the strengthening exercises help alleviate pain, thereby limiting the severity of pain and discomfort.
- Improve the range of motion: Physical therapists work in improving the range of motion of the injured tissues with their therapy, inclusive of exercises that aim to improve the range of motion.
- Avoid surgery: Patients suffering from chronic pain, injury, or an underlying disease limiting the physical movement, helps in preventing surgeries by providing gradual pain relief with the help of the exercises. It helps in saving your pocket and faster recovery.
- Reduces risk of injury: A healthy and fit body is less prone to injuries. And those dealing with injuries, it helps in strengthening the injured area and regaining the lost function as well.
Conclusion
Therapeutic exercises are of great importance. If you are interested in a non-invasive approach for pain management and regaining your strength function, there is no better option than therapeutic exercises or physical therapy. Consult your physical therapist and get started with your treatment.
