Have you recently gone through an injury?
Are you suffering from pain or decreased mobility?
Physical therapy can be a huge help after an injury and there are a lot of benefits of physical therapy that you may not realize. If you’re suffering from an injury it can help you in more ways than one.
Whether you’ve experienced an injury through playing sports, a car accident or for some other reason, physical therapy services are a must.
Below are the top 10 benefits of physical therapy after an injury that you need to know about.
Top Benefits of Physical Therapy
1. Manage Your Pain
Physical therapy can help greatly when it comes to reducing, or completely eliminating pain, after an injury.
The therapeutic exercises and the manual therapy techniques used during physical therapy can be invaluable when recovering from an injury.
Whether you’re suffering pain from whiplash, fractures, disc herniation, or another type of injury, a physical therapist can help work with you to reduce pain and build strength in the body.
As a result, you won’t need to rely on pain medication as much after undergoing an injury either.
2. Improve Mobility
Physical therapy can also go a long way in helping you to improve mobility after an injury or accident.
If you have trouble with standing, walking, or other movements due to your injury, physical therapy can be a great help. A physical therapist will help you with exercises that will stretch and strengthen your muscles and improve your ability to move on your own.
However, if you need assistive devices, a physical therapist can help you with this as well. They can fit you for assistive devices, crutches, or a cane so that you will have everything at your disposal to move properly.
3. Prevent Falls and Strengthen Balance
In addition to increasing your general mobility, physical therapy can be crucial if you need to strengthen your balance or if you are at risk of falls.
When you start physical therapy, your fall risk will be assessed. If you’re at high risk, physical therapists will know the right exercises to provide you in order to improve your balance.
A physical therapist will help guide you through exercises that will improve your balance safely and challenge you at a manageable level. They’ll also help you go through maneuvers that will help you to manage feelings of vertigo and dizziness.
4. Quickens Recovery
One of the best benefits of physical therapy is that it also makes your entire recovery faster and easier. Compared to individuals who don’t go through a physical therapy regimen, you will recover faster than you would have. You will be back to your old self sooner.
The exercises used and the guidance of a professional physical therapist can help you in many ways.
Your recovery period will be much shorter as a result. Injured people who go through physical therapy also tend to have a better range of motion and more muscle strength after the quick recovery as well.
5. Helps Prevent Chronic Pain
Physical therapy is essential in the moments after an injury or accident.
However, the benefits will continue on for years to come. While physical therapy is a great way to manage chronic pain, it is also an excellent way to prevent it from occurring in the first place.
Many people who have experienced an injury experience pain and symptoms for years, long after the initial accident. Certain car accident injuries will even get worse in time.
The sooner you attend physical therapy for an injury, the better off you will be and people who do attend physical therapy usually experience much less chronic pain than they would have.
6. Prevent a Future Injury
In addition to helping prevent chronic pain, physical therapy also makes you stronger and less likely to face a future injury.
By helping you build up your flexibility, your strength, and your coordination, a physical therapist can help your body become less susceptible to accidents.
A physical therapist will be able to recognize the areas of your body that have muscular and skeletal weaknesses. They can determine the likeliness of you experiencing an injury and what areas you may experience it.
During physical therapy, you will learn exercises that will strengthen the areas of your muscles, joints, and particular parts of your body that are at the greatest risk of injuries.
7. Improve Strength and Conditioning
Going through physical therapy can also help you to improve your strength and endurance. You may even end up becoming stronger than before your injury. Through conditioning, strengthening, and breathing exercises you will be able to improve your range of motion and flexibility.
The guidance of a physical therapist can be a huge help in helping your entire body become stronger after an injury. You may be surprised at the strength and flexibility you have when everything is said and done.
8. Avoid the Need For Surgery
One of the best benefits of physical therapy after an injury is that it may eliminate your need for surgery. In many cases, the benefits gained from physical therapy end up making surgery unnecessary.
Physical therapy can work just as well as surgery for some conditions.
Surgery can come with a lot of risks, and it can be great to find out that physical therapy has eliminated your pain. If possible it’s ideal to avoid the lengthy recovery process that can come after a surgery. As an added bonus, it can reduce your healthcare costs as well, easing your financial burden.
Even in the cases that a surgery can’t be avoided altogether, physical therapy can be a great help. Pre-surgery physical therapy can allow you to go into a surgery healthier and stronger.
This will, in many cases, lead to a faster recovery afterward.
9. Helps With Other Conditions
While physical therapists can help with the trouble you face recovering from an injury, it can also help with other conditions you may have.
Physical therapy can help to prevent lung disease, heart disease, and vascular conditions. Exercises can go a long way to helping you improve your cardiovascular function.
Physical therapy can also help in the fight against diabetes. The exercises you go through in physical therapy can help to control blood sugar.
If you have additional conditions along with your injury, a physical therapist can help immensely with improving your overall health.
10. Slows Aging and Improves Long-Term Health
No matter what age you are currently, taking physical therapy after an injury also comes with the added benefit of improving your long-term health. Physical therapists can help you to slow down the aging process by helping you strengthen your muscles and joints.
Physical therapy can also help you prevent conditions such as joint pain, arthritis, and osteoporosis. Or if you’re already experiencing these conditions, it can help give you relief.
Physical therapy can be an excellent help if you’re an older adult. It can help you prevent the need for more difficult procedures such as joint replacement surgery.
Experience the Benefits of Physical Therapy
If you’ve just gone through an injury, you owe it to yourself to try physical therapy. Physical therapy comes with a lot of benefits that can not only relieve you of your current symptoms but can also help you become stronger and feel better throughout the rest of your life.
Ready to get started with physical therapy? Request an appointment with Premier Physical Therapy and get started on your road to recovery.