Therapeutic Exercise Can Ease Chronic Aches and Pains
Have you been looking for a way to boost your physical activity while still reducing your pain symptoms? Therapeutic exercise is an excellent way to regain function and live pain-free!
Therapeutic exercise is a healthy and easy way for people of all ages to find relief from pain, and Oklahoma Hand and Physical Therapy physical therapists are proud to provide it in our Tulsa, OK clinic.
Many people believe that someone doing physical therapy is healing from a recent operation. However, that is not always the case. Physical therapy provides a multitude of benefits for anyone wishing to restore their strength, endurance, flexibility, or stability.
Physical therapy and therapeutic exercise can be used as a treatment for any pain, injury, or ailment someone may be facing.
For more information on how therapeutic exercise may benefit you, contact Oklahoma Hand and Physical Therapy today!
Benefits of therapeutic exercise
Exercise programs are aimed at improving health, so you can feel better than you have been feeling. Our goal here at Oklahoma Hand and Physical Therapy is to restore your strength to its previous state, or better!
Therapeutic exercise is similar to exercise programs, however, it also includes targeted activities that are aimed at relieving pain and restoring you to your optimum level of physical function.
Therapeutic exercise can also be used as a way to prevent additional impairment or disability when facing certain physical risks.
There is a wide variety of therapeutic exercises and each one has a unique purpose. These include:
Area-Specific Exercises
It’s easy to think of exercise as something we do with our muscles, but exercise can also help our body’s other systems.
Relaxation Exercises
While it is important to work the muscles, joints, and soft tissues in the body, it is also important to help them relax and loosen.
Even though lying down when you’re in pain is not always the best mode of treatment for pain, relaxation does play a role.
Pain relieving techniques including heat, cold, electrical stimulation, massage, or trigger point therapy, can all help the body relax, improve your sleep, lower your blood pressure, and keep you coming back for more exercise!
Coordination and Balance Exercises
Every time you stand, walk, sit, brush your teeth, cook a meal, or take care of your daily activities, you are testing your coordination between the muscular and skeletal systems in your body.
If you cannot keep your balance or lose your coordination, you lose the ability to care for yourself and you put yourself at risk for falls and injuries.
Your ability to care for yourself or your loved ones depends on your ability to balance and coordinate your arms, legs, hands, and feet. That is why balance and coordination exercises are so important, especially after an injury or illness.
Range of Motion Exercises
These kinds of exercises are aimed at increasing the range of motion in your joints and soft tissues.
This may be done through active, passive, or assisted stretching activities designed to help your joints move better, without pain.
Posture Exercises
Hours spent at desks, bending over keyboards, poor muscle tone, or simply poor posture habits can all lead to pain or injury.
What you may not realize is that posture has a direct impact on muscle strength, balance, and risk of injury.
Posture exercises are aimed at correcting poor posture, not just when you exercise, but also in your daily life activities to alleviate aches and pains.
Muscle Performance Exercises
Increasing power, endurance, and muscle strength are vital to good balance and stability, as well as bone and joint health.
Resistance and endurance exercises are designed to increase muscle strength without injury.
How physical therapist can improve your wellbeing
It is a common misconception that one should constantly rest when they are in pain. When you’re in pain, your immediate reaction may be to lie down or get in bed, however, this can cause your muscles to weaken or atrophy during the healing process. This can lead to decreased functionality and more pain in the long run.
The good news is that physical therapy in our Tulsa, OK clinic can help you. Our physical therapists are movement experts, trained in improving strength, range of motion, and overall function of the body.
At Oklahoma Hand and Physical Therapy, our goal is to help you live a pain-free life with even greater strength and endurance than you had before.
Area-specific exercises target breathing and circulation to help speed healing, improve blood flow, and lower stress on the body.
Our physical therapists will design an individualized treatment plan for you that is equipped with the therapeutic exercises you need to alleviate your pain, strengthen the weak areas of your body, promote the healing process, and restore optimum levels of function.
Let us help you feel better, faster
If you want a life with less pain and greater strength and endurance, request an appointment at Oklahoma Hand and Physical Therapy today to learn more about therapeutic exercise and how it can help you reach your physical goals and allow you to live the life you want!