Understanding Some Different Physical Therapy Approaches

Physical therapists may employ a wide variety of treatment approaches to help optimize patient recoveries. These commonly include manual therapy, therapeutic exercise, and numerous other treatment provisions.

Nevertheless, the goal behind any physical therapy treatment is relying on these therapeutic modalities in Palmetto Bay to help reduce pain while facilitating healing and restoring function.

Our team from Progressive Therapy Center wants to outline a few of our favorite therapeutic modalities in Palmetto Bay that we find work best at helping patients rehabilitate or recovery. We hope the following information demonstrates the usefulness of physical therapy, its applications, as well as some potential expected outcomes.

Cold Therapy

PTs may administer cold or ice therapy to help patients reduce their blood flow and inflammation. These typically take place during the acute phase of healing. Nonetheless, cold therapy can also reduce, and even prevent swelling in injured joints or muscles after strenuous exercise sessions.

For this reason, physical therapists may rely on cold therapies as a useful post-exercise tool. Cold therapy typically follows the next entry on our list of therapeutic modalities in Palmetto Bay: heat.

Heat Therapy

Physical therapists may administer dry heat as a reliable treatment for chronic injuries. This approach is also ideal for delayed onset muscle soreness. Dry heat only significantly impacts superficial tissues. However, these local effects will normally reduce pain while stimulating mobility. Patients depend on dry heat applications to help them move pain-free.

Alternatively, some physical therapists may administer superficial heat therapy with moisture. In most situations, a PT will apply a damp heat pack to a patient’s injury. The moisture often enables the heat’s soothing effects deeper and faster into injured areas while facilitating significant functional improvement.

Electrical Stimulation

This is a generalized term for a variety of therapeutic modalities in Palmetto Bay that involves intervention from electrical signals. The PT applies electrodes to a patient’s skin to deliver a mild jolt to a patient’s muscles and tissues.

PTs will apply electrical stimulation in both pain relief, as well as functional improvement. For some patients, they can even use electricidal stimulation to help them with neurological disorders, as well as functional improvement in palsy.

Ultrasound

We commonly think of ultrasound when we think about developing babies inside the womb. Although commonly known for this imaging purpose, the FDA approves ultrasound use in physical therapy as well.

Physical therapists can deploy ultrasound for a wide variety of therapeutic intentions. These include helping with healing fractures, as well as assisting patients with plantar fasciitis, epicondylitis, and numerous other conditions.

In most forms of ultrasound intervention, the PT will utilize a handheld transducer, moving it in a circular motion of the patient’s injured area. The handheld device produces sound waves that help to head subcutaneous tissues, tendons, and muscles. As a result, patients experience improved blood flow that can help hasten their healing over time.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

TENS is a type of electrical stimulation that PTs employ to manage acute, in addition to chronic pain. The various frequencies help patients activate a variety of pain receptors. TENS assists their body by sending non-pain-related stimuli through tissues, as well as the nervous system, to alleviate painful disorders and conditions.

Manual Therapy

Many patients look at physical therapists, similarly to massage therapists. While some overlap may occur, a physical therapist is a highly-train profession. They maintain knowledge and training on the human body. This includes how to relieve pain while correcting motion or posture impairments.

Manual procedures in therapeutic modalities in Palmetto Bay may treat the extremities, as well as the entire spinal column. Furthermore, manual therapy will include analyzing a patient’s gait and posture to ensure they don’t worsen or reaggravate an injury.

Therapeutic Modalities in Palmetto Bay from Progressive Therapy Center

If you suffer from a pain condition, or recently underwent a surgical procedure, you may experience a notable amount of difficult in rehabilitation, as well as recovery. In these scenarios, you could feel amazed about what therapeutic modalities in Palmetto Bay can do to help your recovery while also mitigating your symptoms.

Our team from Progressive Therapy Center works to help patients feel their best in the most welcoming and comfortable environment possible, our center located in the heart of the Pinecrest neighborhood.

To learn more about what a physical therapy specialist can do for you through employing therapeutic modalities in Palmetto Bay, contact us today!