Physiotherapy is a treatment that helps people with injuries, chronic pain, and other health concerns. It can be done as part of your care at home, in the hospital or as an outpatient service. Your physiotherapist will talk about how often you need therapy. This blog post will help you understand how often you need physio treatment.
How Often Do You Need Physio Treatments?
Physiotherapy is usually a short-term treatment, but it depends on the reason for your treatment and how you respond to it. For example, you may need to have physiotherapy once or twice a week, then gradually reduce this until you only need treatment every few weeks or months. Your physiotherapist will tell you how often they recommend continuing treatments after this initial period and any other advice about managing your pain or injury.
What Can I Expect From Physiotherapy Treatments?
The treatment you get will depend on your symptoms and the reason for your visit to a physiotherapist. Your treatment may include:
- Gentle massage: Your physiotherapist may gently massage your muscles to ease tightness (myofascial release), or you may get a hot pack. It can help reduce pain, improve flexibility and prevent injuries. However, these treatments are usually short, and you shouldn’t be left feeling uncomfortable or in pain after receiving them.
- Heat or cold packs: Your physiotherapist may use heat or cold packs to help relieve pain. It can be a harsh treatment, lasting between 10 and 20 minutes. They’re often used before or after exercise to help recover after an injury.
- Exercises to help improve mobility and strength: You may be given exercises at home, or your physiotherapist may show you how to do them in the clinic. These can help improve flexibility, strength and endurance. They’re often done regularly for between six and 12 weeks before being reviewed again by your physiotherapist.
Different Physiotherapy Treatments
Your physiotherapist will work with you to decide which treatment is best for you. They may recommend a combination of treatments, such as exercise and manual therapy.
- Acupuncture treatment: Acupuncture treatment can be a safe alternative to surgery for many conditions. Acupuncture is a technique used to stimulate acupuncture points along the body’s meridians or energy pathways. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that an imbalance in these meridians causes health problems and that restoring balance helps restore health. Acupuncture has been used for centuries to treat pain and many other ailments, including arthritis, back pain and headaches. Research shows that acupuncture is effective for treating these conditions because it stimulates certain areas of your brain to relax and reduce stress levels, improving your overall well-being.
- Bowen Therapy is a dynamic muscle and connective tissue therapy used to treat musculoskeletal conditions and emotional imbalances. It improves blood supply to areas that are in spasm, promotes flexibility, and cures reflux problems. The Bowen move stimulates muscles, tendons, and ligaments under the skin. It can help relieve pain caused by conditions and improve overall health.
- Remedial massage: It is a treatment that can be gentle or strong, deep or shallow. Specific techniques are used to locate and repair damage within soft tissues in the body caused by postural dysfunctions or sporting injuries. All remedial massage therapists work with muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves to reduce pain, improve circulation and restore the function of injured areas. Remedial massage can also be used to treat chronic pains that have been present for months or years – these include arthritic conditions such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis; headaches; migraines; sciatica; back pain; tension-type headache (TTH); carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).
- Osteopathy: Osteopathy is a non-invasive manual therapy that focuses on restoring optimal function to your body by improving the mechanical function of your bones, joints, muscles and connective tissue. Osteopathy treats the cause of pain or dysfunction rather than just treating symptoms. The patient is at the centre of our practice, where the diagnosis is thorough, and treatments are individualised for each patient’s problem(s), emphasising self-care.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that there are many types of physio treatments, each of which has benefits. It all depends on what you are looking to achieve with your treatment. If you have any questions or want to discuss your condition further, don’t hesitate to call a reputable physiotherapist.
