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What Spinal Cord Injury Patients Can Accomplish with Physiotherapy

Sports injuries and car accidents, among other injuries, can cause spinal cord injury. The range of spinal cord injury is wide. Some of these injuries are fairly minor and will heal well with a limited amount of physiotherapy, while others need physiotherapy for the rest of their lives.

As always with physiotherapy, the first step is evaluation. A plan is formulated that will include therapies specific to the kind of spinal cord injury the patient has. Neck injuries can cause quadriplegia, which requires special treatments.

An important issue in spinal cord injury is the level of the damage. If a physiotherapy program is not followed faithfully, the spine will begin to atrophy below the level of the spinal cord injury. The spine will shrink and the whole body below that point will become weaker as time goes by.

It is important that spinal cord injury patients get exercise of some form. They are prone to osteoporosis and heart problems, among other conditions. If there is a total lack of exercise, these risk factors become even more pronounced.

Physiotherapy for spinal cord injury involves exercising and stimulating the nerves and muscles below the level of the damage. This will allow patients with spinal cord injury to stay in good physical condition where they can. That way, if a cure becomes available, they will not be too weakened to benefit from it.

Every exercise the physiotherapy personnel go through with the spinal cord injury patient should be video-taped. This allows work to go on at home with an example of each exercise. Range-of-motion exercises are done by a caregiver, who moves the limbs so that they will not become set in one position.

For spinal cord injury patients who are not quadriplegics, there is physiotherapy using mats. These mats are raised off the floor, and can be operated by a hand crank or a power system. The physiotherapist will give exercises where the patient lies on the side, back, or stomach and works out or sits up and works out.

There are many restorative therapies in physiotherapy for spinal cord injury patients. These include electrical stimulation, biofeedback, vibrational therapy, laser therapy and other stimulation activities. Aqua therapy is also a physiotherapy method that is conducive to progress in spinal cord injury patients.

With all these therapies, spinal cord injury patients can sometimes restore themselves to earlier functioning. Other times, they can simply keep their bodies from deteriorating as they wait for a cure.

Spinal cord injury research is being conducted constantly. Physiotherapy is one of the fields that are being explored. One study is putting spinal cord injury patients in harnesses over treadmills stimulating walking. They are trying to find a way to help people walk again who had given up hope of doing so.

Physiotherapy gives hope for spinal cord injury patients. It allows them to have the most normal functioning that they are currently able to have. Perhaps when a cure comes outcomes will be even better. However, physiotherapy will probably always be needed for spinal cord injury patients.

What Physiotherapy Has to Do with Cardiac Surgery

One may feel fatigued and sore after cardiac surgery; it is only natural. On the other hand, it seems altogether strange to think of embarking on a course of physiotherapy afterwards instead of just resting. Yet, that is just what is recommended.

Types of cardiac surgery include bypass surgeries, angioplasty, stents, heart valve replacements, and even heart transplants. Patients having all of these surgeries can benefit from physiotherapy. Patients who have other cardiac problems can use the help too; they include victims of heart attacks, heart failure, peripheral artery disease, chest pain, and cardiomyopathy.

Physiotherapy will usually begin within a couple of weeks of cardiac surgery, if not sooner. The first step is for nurses or doctors to administer a stress test to determine how much exercise one can handle. This involves walking on a treadmill or riding on a stationary bike while having one’s vital signs monitored.

When the data is gathered and analyzed, a program of physical therapy will be put into place. For safety’s sake, it is often the routine to bring cardiac surgery patients into the hospital or an outpatient clinic for their exercise at first.

Under the watchful eyes of nurses and physiotherapy personnel, cardiac surgery patients will be looked after as they perform their exercises. This way the professionals will be alerted if the cardiac surgery patient is having troublesome symptoms. The exercises done are cardiovascular exercises like walking on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike.

After the initial period of the monitored physiotherapy has passed, cardiac surgery patients will be sent to do their exercising at home. Before they go, though, they will have been taught warm-up and stretching exercises, and when to stop. Generally, they should exercise three to five times a week unless they are having problems.

Swimming is another form of exercise that is especially good for cardiac surgery patients. It is a cardiovascular exercise that is not hard on the joints, so it will often be kept up longer. The only thing to remember is that all wounds must be completely healed first.

Physiotherapy for cardiac surgery patients is often not carried out by physiotherapy staff. Nurses in hospitals and clinics who are trained to deal with these areas of rehabilitation for cardiac surgery will do the work. However, physiotherapists sometimes help, and the principles are the same.

The physiotherapist will instruct the patient about what activities are acceptable in the weeks and months after surgery. During the first six weeks, there will only be a few activities allowed, such as light housekeeping or going to movies, for example. From then until the third month, more activities will be added. You may be able to return to work, at least part-time, you may be able to drive. After this time, your physiotherapist will work with you to ease you back into all your old activities.

If a patient has cardiac surgery and then does nothing to regain strength, that patient will soon weaken. Physiotherapy offers a means to stay in shape, or get into shape. It lends more purpose to the cardiac surgery by making the patient much healthier than before the surgery ever took place.

What Is Physiotherapy?

If you have a musculo-skeletal problem or injury, you might be given a referral to a physiotherapy clinic. If you have gone to one before, you know what to expect. If you are new to this service, you might ask, what is physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy is also known as physical therapy. That answers the question of what is physiotherapy for many people. However, if you have not had any dealings with this form of treatment, you need to know more.

A type of health care, physiotherapy concerns itself with providing physical healing methods for many different kinds of injuries and illnesses. Some of these techniques are done in a hands-on manner, by using massage or manipulation of the musculo-skeletal system. Knowing what is physiotherapy is crucial to getting this kind of help.

Education is a part of what is physiotherapy. A physiotherapist will teach a patient how to care for their injuries. He will teach exercises to do at home so that therapy can continue beyond the walls of the clinic or hospital. He will teach ways to overcome difficulties that cannot be cured.

Another part of what is physiotherapy is rehabilitation. Patients have injuries from sports, car accidents, or assault. These injuries can be treated through physiotherapy. Given the right treatments and an injury that will respond to treatment, much progress can be made. Full functioning may be regained. It may even be possible for them to go back to work rather than being laid up at home.

An answer to what is physiotherapy is what kinds of treatments physiotherapists use. Heat, ice, and ultrasound are used to relieve pain and stiffness. Massage, chiropractic, and other hands-on methods are important. All these methods tend to promote better health, both physical and psychological.

Equipment for helping patients regain their strength and mobility are a part of what is physiotherapy. This equipment may allow a person who is partially paralyzed to get the most exercise possible. This is crucial in maintaining the integrity of their spines and muscles.

What is physiotherapy? It is a carefully planned and executed treatment strategy. It is based upon assessments of the conditions that patients suffer. If all goes well, the patient will return to their original condition. If this is not possible, the goal is for the patient to reach a goal that is the best movement and lack of pain that is possible.

People who are referred to a clinic may ask, what is physiotherapy? However, they will be given quick answers to this question. After an initial evaluation, they will be scheduled for treatments like ultrasound or acupuncture. They will be assigned exercises to do at home. A good physiotherapist will begin treatment right away.

People, who ask what is physiotherapy, often do not consider the preventative side of the field. It is a part of the work of practitioners of physiotherapy to encourage exercises and postures that will help patients avoid physical injuries and conditions requiring their services. An excellent physiotherapist will have fewer return patients, but the flow of people needing physiotherapy continues.

What Is Chronic Airways Disease and How Can Physiotherapy Help?

Chronic airways disease is actually a group of diseases. These diseases are also called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Chronic airways disease can cause a major change in the quality of a patient’s life. However, physiotherapy can help.

Diseases included in chronic airways disease are chronic bronchitis and emphysema, for example. Many other diseases that restrict or limit breathing are included. It is most often caused by cigarette smoking, but also can be caused by inhaling other irritants such as those in the workplace. Chronic airways disease is more common among the elderly.

Along with having shortness of breath, the patient is likely to wheeze and cough frequently. He will produce sputum in copious amounts, and sometimes that will be streaked with blood. The lips and fingers can take on a bluish tint because he is not getting enough oxygen, and heart trouble may follow for the same reason.

Physiotherapy can help with chronic airways disease in many ways. One is in breathing retraining. This is just what it sounds like. A physiotherapist works with the patient to teach him ways to breathe that will draw the most air while eliminating the most wheezing. This can be a great help for those with chronic airways disease.

Another method used by physiotherapists for those with chronic airways disease is called clapping and postural drainage. The postural drainage part is done by positioning the body so that the affected lung is above the trachea.

Many people do this at home by lying on a bed and bending the top half of the body over it. The physiotherapist teaches one how to do this so that the lung will drain. Before long, the patient with chronic airways disease will be doing this procedure on his own.

The other part of the help for chronic airways disease patients is called clapping. This is done by cupping the hand and clapping the back to loosen secretions in the chest. It is also called chest percussion. The physiotherapist will do this procedure, and will teach it to a family member or caregiver.

People with chronic airways disease often have a problem with weakening legs. This is because, as they have trouble breathing, they avoid walking or doing physical exercise of any sort. The goal of physiotherapy in this case is to strengthen the legs through treadmill-walking or stationary-cycling. This can only be done, however, if the patient is well enough to start out.

Conditioning the arms of chronic airways disease patients is just as important. Most daily jobs rely heavily on the arms to do the work. Exercises which focus on the arms not only strengthen the muscles of the arms. They also help the patient start breathing better.

Chronic airways disease is a condition that can benefit from physiotherapy. The physiotherapist treating the patient must have specialized knowledge for this type of treatment. Simple methods can be overlooked as modern treatments come to the forefront. Yet, physiotherapy personnel who know this technique can make a big difference in patients’ lives.