Tag: Range Of Motion

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.

The Busy Field of Geriatric Physiotherapy

Clinics that specialize in geriatric physiotherapy never run low on work. The elderly have diseases and disorders in greater numbers than any other age group. Their care is difficult, but rewarding.

Geriatric physiotherapy became a specialty of physical therapy study in 1989. Since then, physiotherapists have worked to understand the problems of the aging. There is a long list of problems dealt with in geriatric physiotherapy.

Alzheimer’s, arthritis, balance disorders, cancer, cardiovascular disease, incontinence, joint replacement, pulmonary disease, stroke, and osteoporosis are only a few of the problems covered by geriatric physiotherapy. Physiotherapists have a whole range of therapies for these ailments.

The types of problems faced in geriatric physiotherapy are grouped into three different categories. One category is the problems that happen because the patient simply does not use their limbs or does not exercise. These problems can be addressed by reconditioning through range-of-motion exercises and other exercises.

Another category geriatric physiotherapy deals with is cardiovascular disease, like heart disease and stroke. The physiotherapy professional has an array of tools at her disposal to work with these conditions. Exercise, aqua therapy, electrical stimulation, and more can be used.

The third category is skeletal problems. Geriatric physiotherapy helps people who have these disorders, such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. These problems require special attention as osteoporosis makes patients frailer, and osteoarthritis is very painful.

Because falls are such a problem, the osteoporosis therapy is crucial. Along with that, geriatric physiotherapy is responsible for preventing many falls because of work with balance and gait. Some clinics focus entirely on balance issues for the elderly.

Much of the work of geriatric physiotherapy is not aimed at returning patients to their earlier states of health. The most important goals are to be able to function at their best abilities. Doing everyday tasks and living an unconfined life are valuable assets.

At the same time, geriatric physiotherapy can have a profound affect on a person’s ability to enjoy physical activities. Golf is an activity that many seniors enjoy. It can be a very hazardous sport for the elderly if they are not in condition to play. It does have many health benefits, too.

Geriatric physiotherapy can focus on physical training to get an older adult in shape to play sports like golf. This strengthens them in many ways. The fact that it allows them to play golf will make them even healthier, both physically and psychologically. Since depression is a growing problem among the elderly, any help they can get in this area is needed.

Another role of geriatric physiotherapy is to help with rehabilitation after knee or hip replacement surgeries. People who have these operations are likely to walk differently. It affects their abilities to do daily chores, and their quality of life. Physiotherapists can help.

Some people turn to physiotherapy as a means of better functioning. Others are referred to physiotherapy clinics by their doctors for specific problems. Still others end up in geriatric physiotherapy care in hospitals or nursing homes after accidents or illnesses. All of these people can be helped.

Relieve Leg Cramps-Hydration Key For Prevention

Having cramps in your legs is never a pleasurable experience, but it’s even worse when those leg cramps strike when you are trying to sleep. They can wake you up out of a sound sleep and keep you up for hours. It’s not as common, but leg cramps can also strike during the day, making walking uncomfortable. Regardless of when they happen, there are things you can do to relieve leg cramps.

You can go most of your life without feeling leg cramps, but then they start to become a problem as you get older. You cant get into a time machine and get younger, so you need to take action and do what you can to treat your leg cramps.

Your first line of defense is to make sure that you drink plenty of water and stay hydrated. This keeps everything in your body moving along. Aim for eight glasses of water per day, but you don’t have to obsess over it. Just do your best to make sure you’re getting a lot of water. Symptoms of dehydration include thirst and cramping, so it makes sense that staying hydrated will help to relieve leg cramps.

Many people have found that taking calcium supplements helps. A few researchers have found a link between leg cramps and calcium deficiency. Try drinking a glass of milk shortly before bedtime and see if that helps; if not, then a supplement may be the answer.

If you are on any kind of prescription then you should check the label carefully to see what the potential side effects are. There are medications that can cause muscle cramps, and some medicines can lower the level of potassium, magnesium or calcium in your body. Dehydration is also a possible side effect of a few prescription drugs. Be sure to discuss any of your concerns with your doctor or pharmacist.

A lot of times leg cramps are caused by a lack of activity, or from not going through their full range of motion. Doing stretches is one way to solve this problem. One stretch to help relieve leg cramps is to stand about two to three feet from wall and put your hands on the wall. Start doing a push-up like motion, but keep your feet completely flat on the floor. If it feels like it is stretching too much, then move a bit closer to the wall; if you can’t feel any stretching, then move back a bit. Be careful to not overdo it.

If, despite all of your best efforts, you end up needing to relieve leg cramps at night, then try this little trick: place your finger directly on your upper lip and then press gently. This is a pressure point that is connected to your leg, and can bring enough relief to get you to drift back asleep. Chances are the other remedies will work just fine, but it’s always good to have another trick up your sleeve just in case.