Physical therapy has continued to be a transformative experience for several people despite their age. You can be surprised by the impacts of physical therapy on your body. For instance, AlaMed Injury Clinics has a team of experts that works to offer the best care for various kinds of injuries. In particular, our clinic provides therapy designed to provide pain relief, improve the functionality of the body and curb future illnesses. The types of physical therapies you can get in our Birmingham injury clinic include:
Exercise
Exercise is one of the critical components of physical therapy. In this case, physical therapy's purpose is to allow you to apply the appropriate amount of physical stress to your body to assist in strengthening it. If you conduct exercise in the right way it can strengthen your tendons, ligaments, muscles, and other tissues in the body. In addition, exercise can enhance flexibility and motion ranges so that your body can accommodate more stress, making you move freely. Unlike regular exercises, physical therapy exercises will consider your condition and cater to routine exercises around it.
Hot and Cold Pack Therapy
Cold therapy works by minimizing blood flow to a certain part of the body, thereby reducing swelling and inflammation which causes pain especially in areas around tendons or joints. It can also reduce nerve activity temporarily. In this case, there are several ways of undertaking cold therapy including ice baths, ice massages, coolant sprays, and ice packs.
On the contrary, heat therapy improves blood flow and circulation in a certain area because of increased temperature. Arguably increased temperature around the afflicted areas enhances muscle flexibility and soothes discomfort. There are two options for heat therapy including dry heat (involves sources such as saunas, dry heating packs) and moist heat (includes moist heating packs and steamed towels).
Traction Therapy
Traction refers to a type of physical therapy that is used by chiropractors to assist in relieving neck pain and back pain. In this therapy, physicians use weights to stretch the spine, leading to the release of compressed nerves. Our chiropractors can conduct traction therapy either mechanically or manually depending on your preference. In manual traction, you will place your legs, arms, and back in a particular manner specified by the physician before he/she stretches your spine.
On the other hand, mechanical traction involves the use of a uniquely designed device in applying pressure to your spine. Although traction therapy can assist people with back paint it can also be used to treat other conditions including spondylolisthesis, spondylosis, arthritis in the spine, spinal stenosis, and herniated disc.
Laser Therapy
Laser physical therapy implies a non-invasive procedure that uses a therapeutic dose of light to decrease inflammation and promote cellular healing. This kind of therapy offers a more targeted and deeper effect which minimizes pain and assists in restoring the normal range of motion around the dysfunctional part of the body.
Moreover, laser therapy boosts the release of ATP energy that accelerates the repair of body cells. Apart from that, laser therapy contributes to the widening of veins and arteries around injury areas that assists to increase the supply of oxygen and nutrients and removal of damaged cellular elements. In most cases, laser therapy is used to complement other existing physical therapy treatments especially before or after the patient has undergone surgery.
Exercise With Oxygen Therapy (EWOT)
EWOT refers to a kind of technique that involves breathing higher levels of oxygen while exercising to increase the amount of oxygen in the blood plasma. This kind of therapy allows oxygen to get into your veins, capillaries, and arteries. By increasing oxygen circulation in the body, your cells manage to get the required amount of oxygen. Moreover, when you exercise through oxygen therapy, you allow all your body cells to receive enough oxygen. As a consequence, your body produces more ATP that acts as a source of energy in the cells.
Ultrasound Therapy
Therapeutic ultrasound refers to a treatment technique used in physical therapy to offer deep healing to the soft tissues such as ligaments, joints, tendons, and muscles. This kind of therapy differs from diagnostic ultrasound which is used to provide an overview of the fetus in the body. In particular, when performing ultrasound therapy, our therapists use a small amount of getting to the injury area before moving slowly a sound head in a circular manner.
In this case, if you have shoulder pain our physical therapist can use ultrasound therapy to assist in improving the extensibility of shoulder tissues before performing other kinds of exercises. Also, ultrasound therapy can be used in treating orthopedic injuries such as joint tightness or contracture, ligaments, and sprains injuries, muscle tears and strains, tendonitis, and bursitis.
Electrical Nerve Stimulation and Electrical Stimulation Therapy
Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) refers to a therapy that offers short-term pain relief. When conducting TENS therapy, our therapists used a small battery-operated device to deliver low-voltage electrical current to the skin through electrodes placed around the pain area. The electrical current stimulates nerves, making this therapy effective in masking several kinds of pain including diabetic neuropathy.
On the contrary, electrical stimulation uses electrical pulses that mimic the signals from neurons. In this case, the mild electrical currents target the body nerves and muscles so that they contract. By causing repeated muscle contractions, you will experience improved blood flow that assists to repair injured muscles.
Physical therapists have the responsibility of caring for patients who are recovering from injury and wish to maintain their physical health. In this case, our physical therapists can help with pre-and post-rehabilitation from disorders or injuries. There are several kinds of therapy services offered at AlaMed Injury Clinics including laser therapy, ultrasound therapy, electrical stimulation, exercise, traction, hot and cold packs.
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