A physical therapist is a specialist trained to work with a patient to restore their activity, strength, and motion following an injury or surgery. Physical therapy (PT) can teach patients specific exercises, stretches, and techniques, and use specialized equipment to address problems that cannot be managed without PT training.
Physical therapists have many rehabilitation tools available, some specific aspects of physical therapy which you may encounter include:
Stretching
Stretching is vital to maintain good range of motion around a joint. If a patient has stiff joints, normal activities such as opening a jar or climbing stairs can be severely affected. By proper stretching, these functions can be preserved. After an injury or surgery, scar tissue forms, and soft-tissue contracts; this is when stretching is most important.
Strengthening
Strengthening exercises are performed to help the patient improve the function of their muscles. The goal is to improve strength, increase endurance, and maintain or improve range of motion. Common types of strength training include:
Closed Chain
The closed chain exercises are performed with the foot locked in position on the ground--for example a leg squat. These exercises aperformed to help balance the muscle strength. By performing closed chain exercises, the weak muscle (e.g. the quadriceps) and its antagonist (e.g. the hamstrings), will both be exercised and balanced. Open chain exercises, such as a leg extension, do not balance themuscles this way.
Proprioceptive
Proprioception is the sense of knowing where a body part is in space. This can be a difficult concept to grasp until you lose it, because so much proprioception occurs without out conscious thought. When you lose proprioception of, for example, an ankle joint after a sprain, patients often complain of an unstable sensation of the joint. Proprioception training reteaches your body to control the position of an injured joint.
