Physical therapy. It is not an easy thing to go through, especially if you just had a traumatic experience.
Not enough people receive the physical rehabilitation that they need. About 2.4 billion people in the world need physical therapy and rehabilitation. However, in some countries, less than 50% of people receive the help that they need.
If you find yourself in a situation where you need physical therapy, what are you in for? What should you expect?Â
These are some rehabilitation strategies.
Holistic Treatment
The first thing that a physical therapist should focus on is holistic treatment. With this approach, they are treating you as a whole rather than just the part of the body that is injured.
Let’s say that you have a back injury that makes it very difficult for you to walk. You have to go to physical therapy to get your strength back to walk properly again.
A physical therapist is going to help you walk and show you how you can do a little more each time.
However, that is not the only thing they should be doing. They should be talking to you and encouraging you.
These types of unexpected conditions can deplete a person mentally. A physical therapist must encourage and push people mentally to keep them motivated to make progress.
Note Progress
The next thing that a therapist should be doing is noting the progress you make. This is a good reminder of where you started and where you are going if you keep up with the therapy.
It can also help someone put what they could do before and focus on the present and future. Unfortunately, there is nothing that you can do to change what has happened to you that led you to therapy. The only thing that you can do is go forward and find services that can help you note what has changed since you started.
Allow for Time
Finally, something that a physical therapist should do with you is allowing the appropriate amount of time for you to fully recover. Physical therapy is a serious treatment, and it is not something that can be rushed to complete.
For example, say you tear your ACL and now, you are in physical therapy to recover from that injury.
Fully healing this injury can take nearly a year, so you have to be patient and trust that a physical therapist knows how much time it takes to get you back to where you were before.
This means having some trust in a therapist and sticking to the timeline that is provided to you.
Get Physical Therapy Rehabilitation
These are just some of the strategies used when it comes to physical therapy rehabilitation. If you can be patient with the timeline, get encouraged by progress, and remember to treat yourself as a whole, you can be healed in no time.
For more relevant information, see our Health section.
