We tend to think of healthcare as something we experience when we’re injured or ill. A physical therapist is a healthcare professional who can help you to focus on wellness. After surgery or sickness, a physical therapist can help you move from the hospital back into your life.
Regain Your Footing
After a surgery, serious illness, or an injury, you may be completely overwhelmed with trying to figure out what to do next. Time with a physical therapist can help you rebuild your strength through daily activities. Getting care at home can be extremely helpful; a physical therapist who can help you build mindful movements through your regular space while working on
- foot placement
- weight balance
- balance and coordination
Often, a serious illness or injury requires that we move to a transitional care unit or rehab facility where we can rebuild our strength with the help of caregivers. Ask your therapist to help you build exercise into every activity. Depending on the severity of your injury or illness, showering, dressing, and feeding yourself can be therapeutic.
Rebuild Your Strength
To prepare for physical therapy, make sure that you wear garments that are soft, offer some stretch, and fit close to the body. Your therapist needs to see how your joints are moving. Loose or bulky garments may get in the way of that visibility.
Your therapist may also recommend that you spend time in a pool. The best physical therapy clinic in Ogden or other cities near you can help you find a setting that will serve your needs most effectively. Do check in at the end of each session so you can bring the right garments for your next session.
If you’re in a transitional care unit or a rehab facility, you may be able to meet with your therapist on a daily basis for monitored care. Those with balance issues may have the best luck working with a physical therapist in daily sessions. You may also get exercises to do while seated to build up foot flexibility and leg strength. To make sure that you’re improving steadily, it’s a good idea to keep a journal of your home activities.
Push Yourself in Safety
During a physical therapy session, you may find that you push yourself further than you expect you can. It can be painful. However, with a skilled physical therapist monitoring you, you can safely push forward and learn small improvements in your range of motion and your larger muscle movements.
You may well be sore after therapy. You may also get tired of some of the smaller range of motion exercises. However, every set of exercises is a step to your next strength level. From repetitive small movements to balance exercises, your physical therapist can help you to climb back into a state of health.
Your intense time with a physical therapist in outpatient care can also give you some wonderful ideas for aftercare. For example, you may be given instructions on icing, stretching, and elevating your injured limb. Keeping these activities on your calendar, such as on your phone, can make it much easier to do your own unsupervised movements and basic exercises to maintain the strength you’ve built.
Perfect Your Form
Physical therapy can benefit folks with a myriad of challenges. For example, you may struggle with arthritis pain in one area of your body. If your left shoulder is problematic, you may have unknowingly changed how you move. A sore shoulder can lead to subtle changes both in posture and arm movement, which can cause problems at the wrist and elbow.
Accompanying spinal misalignment can also be causing problems with the other shoulder and the low back. A physical therapist can monitor your weight distribution and help you get back in balance. You can relearn how to do daily tasks to hold onto that repaired alignment to fix those physical habits that contributed to your imbalance.
Rebuilding your strength without proper monitoring can actually lead to more pain. You may also end up with injuries that just won’t heal up as quickly as they would with proper movements. Spend your time in physical therapy paying particular attention to your alignment and a healthy range of motion so you can take those good habits home.
Taylor Haskings is a freelance writer born in Denver, Colorado. She graduated with a bachelor’s in English from the University of Colorado, Denver. She enjoys hiking in the Colorado Rockies and loves the fine arts, such as playing the violin. Her true strengths include networking with others and expressing herself through the written word.
