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What is physiotherapy?

What is physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy is a profession that assists the body through evaluation, treatment and activation of the motor system with its various components, to set an optimal system for the recovery of the body or to provide guidance and/ or preventive training to avoid further injury.

There are many systems in the body that operate in harmony with one another: the vascular system, the central and peripheral nervous system, the lymphatic system, the skeletal system, the muscular system etc. 

Injuries occur due to many reasons: whether traumatic, due to negligence, accumulated damage due to previous injuries, faulty posture, wrong or maladapted work environment, one of the body systems or more experiences an overload. The overload is always defined according to the load ability of each system or bodily structure. Because of that overload, that system cannot function in its original capacity. The direct result is either pain, discomfort and/ or limitation in performing a certain function, whether sports or an ADL (activity of daily life e.g brushing teeth, showering, getting up from a chair etc.

The physiotherapy which I perform sees in a holistic way how all these systems influence each other and how a dysfunction of one system influences the other. Sometimes a small isolated dysfunction in one body structure such as the ankle can influence the function of another segment or structure such as the low back or hip for example.

The physiotherapist is an expert on the locomotive system and his job is to asses all that information and how all these systems eventually influence one another in the conclusion of a clinical diagnosis. With that diagnosis, based on the information derived from the evaluation, the physiotherapist is building a treatment plan that will bring the affected systems back to their original function and load ability.

The means of the treatment vary from manual therapy such as joint mobilization, soft tissue massages, stretches, athletic and kinesio-taping, electrotherapy modalities such as short waves or ultrasound and giving a specific exercise program for strength, stability, flexibility and more. After the treatment, the physiotherapist releases the patient with instructions on how to prevent the injury from recurring by for example continuing the exercise regime, adapt the work environment, acquire insoles or correct footwear etc.

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