What are the Benefits of Ortho Physiotherapy?
Being injured sucks.
Rolling an ankle, throwing out your back, or pulling a muscle can happen in an instance.
Has this happened to you?
Stephen Uhrbach, registered physical therapist, is an ortho physiotherapist who owns and operates a physiotherapy clinic, MOMENTUM Physical Therapy & Sports Rehab, in Okotoks Alberta. He has spent the last 10 years helping people recover from all types of injuries. Daily he works with people just like you who are dealing with a new injury and uncertain of what to do next.
Having pain, without an understanding of what is going on or how to make it better, can be a helpless place to be. Have you found yourself Googling your symptoms only to be left more confused at what you might be dealing with?
You are not alone!
Meet Nick.
Nick threw out his back while lifting a box at work. He had pain running down his leg and couldn’t sit for more than 3 minutes without having excruciating pain in his leg. Google told him he needed surgery. Yikes!
Fortunately, there are experts to help in instances like this.
Physical therapists are here to help you!
What is Ortho Physiotherapy?
Orthopedic (or ortho for short) physiotherapy is a branch of physiotherapy dedicated to diagnosing and treating injuries to bones, joints, muscles, and ligaments in the body.
Physiotherapists who focus on ortho physiotherapy dedicate their career to:
Properly diagnosing pain
Teaching you about your injury
Developing plans (including hands on treatments and exercises) to promote healing
Our goal as physiotherapists is to fully heal your pain and then implement strategies to prevent re-injury. Physios are the experts you need to connect with when faced with an injury.
What are the Benefits of Ortho Physiotherapy?
Ortho physiotherapists will help you understand your injury, develop a recovery plan, and then meet your goals to get you back to what you love to do!
Ortho physios are experts in:
Evaluating your injury so you don’t need to guess what is going on.
Developing treatment plans so you know what you will need to do to get better.
Delivering hands on treatments and exercises designed to get you relief (and promote healing).
Helping you reach your recovery goals.
Before we dive deeper into ortho physiotherapy, you might be wondering how Nick fits into the picture.
Nick found Stephen, the ortho physical therapist in Okotoks, online and booked an appointment with him.
At his first appointment, Nick found out that he was dealing with a minor low back disc injury. Stephen built Nick a physiotherapy treatment plan that included an explanation of his injury, a pathway to success, and all the steps that Nick would need to take to fully recover.
After a few weeks of treatment, Nick has had his pain fully resolve. He is now working at building strength through his low back so his pain doesn't come back again and he is back to his regular running routine.
Below you will find a deep dive into the benefits of an ortho physiotherapist. You will learn all the benefits of ortho physio and how they can help you today.
Ortho Physiotherapy Will Help You Understand Your Injury
Did you know that the adult human has 206 bones, 360 joints, and over 650 muscles in their body? On top of that, there are many other structures including tendons, cartilage discs, bursae sacs, arteries, veins, lymphatic vessels, and other structures?
If ANY of these tissues get overloaded, they will break down.
When they break down, you will feel pain and are officially injured.
Ortho physios are specially trained to evaluate injuries to figure out exactly what is going on.
By carefully asking you what happened before you got injured, ortho physios will narrow down your possible injury. Your injury story will give your physiotherapist clues as to what might be going on in your body so they can better focus their assessment.
Questions they might ask may include:
What were you doing when you first felt your pain?
Where do you feel your pain?
Can you describe your pain?
What makes your pain better?
What makes your pain worse?
Did you see any swelling or bruising after your first felt your pain?
Once your physio has a few clues, they will begin a physical examination of your injury. This physical examination will be hands on by your physio so they can get a feel for exactly what is injured. This process will likely include:
Having you move your injured body part (to the best of your ability)
Feeling for any swelling, warmth, or pain
Activating of muscles around the injury site
Stability testing of ligaments around the injury site
Feeling for motion in the joints around the injury site
By carefully listening to your story and physically feeling your injury site, your physiotherapist will be able to identify what is going on in your body.
Your physiotherapist will take the time to review their findings and teach you about what is going on in your body. As experts in the physical body, your physiotherapist will tell you what your injury is while explaining it to you in terms you can understand.
This will take the guesswork out of “what is wrong with me” so you will know exactly what your injury is.
Ortho Physiotherapy Will Develop An Action Plan For You
Once you know what exactly your injury is, the next important step is to make a recovery plan.
Essentially, this recovery plan will be your roadmap to recovery.
Your physiotherapist will take the time to outline a treatment plan that will lead to your full recovery. This will include a description of what types of treatments will help promote healing, approximately how long each of these steps will take, and what you can do to help facilitate this process quicker.
This success roadmap will hinge completely on your goals.
Different goals require different plans and strategies. Without knowing what your goals are, your physiotherapist will struggle to create a unique program geared towards maximizing your recovery.
This plan will also outline what exercises you should be doing at home as ortho physical therapists are experts at exercise.
Ortho physios will review exercises that can:
reduce your pain
improve your movement
build strength
promote healing.
Exercise is essential to recovery and your physio will provide you with specific exercises (and their dosage) to maximize your healing.
This roadmap will also include important elements about how frequent you should be attending physiotherapy and for what duration of time.
Generally speaking, injuries are treated at twice per week when they are NEW or PAINFUL and will drop to once a week once the focus shifts towards re-strengthening and injury prevention.
Therapy programs generally run for 8-12 weeks that transition injuries from new to a full recovery.
Ultimately, this roadmap will give you the opportunity to ask your physiotherapist any questions you may have about your recovery. By the end of this process, you will understand what your injury is and what the necessary steps are for you to lead to your recovery.
Ortho Physiotherapy Will Provide Hands on Treatment to Give You Relief
Ortho physical therapists not only identify injuries, but also are trained to provide treatment to provide relief and promote healing from injuries.
There are countless treatment options that ortho physiotherapists can employ, but they are all geared towards one goal - reducing your pain while promoting your healing!
Physiotherapists undergo countless hours to learn techniques to:
improve joint movement
loosen tight muscles
stimulate healing processes
reduce pain
break down scar tissue
Common treatments physios use to loosen muscles include trigger point muscle release, Intramuscular Stimulation (IMS), and hands on massage.
Common treatments physios use to improve joint movement include manual stretching and joint adjustments.
Common treatments physios use to promote healing include tendon massage, scar scraping, and cupping.
Common treatments physios use to reduce pain include Kinesiotaping, applying ice/heat, using electrical tools such as TENS or IFC.
This is not an exhaustive list, but ortho physical therapists will use their hands (and their heads!) to give you relief from your injury.
The benefits from hands on treatment is endless. Highlights of treatment for you may include:
Reducing (and quite possibly removing) your need and use of medications
Reducing (and abolishing your pain)
Improving your ability to move your limbs
Improving your balance
Improving your strength
Avoiding unnecessary injections
Avoiding of unnecessary surgery
Ultimately, your ortho physio will be giving relief from your injury on day 1!
Ortho Physiotherapy Will Help You Reach Your Goals
By now, you probably can see that your ortho physio will have identified your injury, provided you with a recovery plan, and began treatment to promote your healing.
All of this hinges on helping you.
As you progress down your recovery plan, you will be guided towards meeting your goals.
Maybe your goal is to resolve your pain? ... run a marathon? … push a shopping cart? … downhill ski? … or even make the NHL?
It doesn’t matter what your goal is, it just matters that you reach it!
Your ortho physio will guide you from day 1 of your recovery all the way to your physio graduation. Graduation from physio will only occur after you reach your goals and your physio will be right there to celebrate with you.
Is Ortho Physio Right For Me?
Now you might be wondering if an ortho physiotherapist could help you?
If you have pain - the answer is yes!
If you got injured playing a sport you love - the answer is yes!
If you have recently had a surgery and cannot do everything you love - the answer is yes!
If you have been in a car accident and are looking to heal - again the answer is yes!
If you have been hurt at work and are trying to get back to work - you guessed it - the answer is yes!
What Do I Do Now?
Physical therapists are your go to expert in evaluating and treating any injury or pain. Regardless of how you acquired your pain, physio can help. A physiotherapist will be able to identify what is injured (so you can stop Googling it), provide you with a plan of action of recovery (so you can rest easy that you will get better), and then guide you through your recovery process (so you can get back to what you love as fast as possible).
If you have recently found yourself injured, call us at MOMENTUM Physical Therapy, in Okotoks, today at 403-982-5600 to connect with one of our expert physical therapists to start you on your recovery journey today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the advantages of physiotherapy?
Physiotherapy is an effective treatment option for people looking to recover from an injury. Physiotherapy will help you understand your injury, provide hands on treatment to help reduce pain and promote healing, and will provide you with exercises to promote your full recovery.
Does physiotherapy actually work?
Physiotherapy is extremely effective at helping people recover from injuries. Countless researchers have studied (and proven) the effectiveness of physiotherapy in reducing pain and promoting healing after injury or surgery.
Is physical therapy really effective?
Physical therapy is extremely effective at promoting healing. Not only has physical therapy been shown to provide healing for injuries, it has also helped people get off of pain medications and avoid unnecessary surgeries. Physical therapy is an effective tool that provides natural healing.
Momentum Physical Therapy, located in Okotoks, Alberta, is ‘Here for YOU’.
If you are experiencing any posture related pain, or you just want to learn more about how physiotherapy can improve your posture or help fix your bad posture habits, don’t delay and call Momentum Physical Therapy today. You can reach a registered physiotherapist at Momentum by calling 403-982-5600. We look forward to helping you feel you best again.