Musculoskeletal disorders can affect a person’s daily life and ability to perform everyday tasks. These include arthritis, fractures, spinal injuries, and joint replacements. Additionally, an individual may be unable to perform these tasks after musculoskeletal surgeries. In many of these cases, doctors recommend orthopedic rehabilitation to ensure that patients restore normal body functioning of the affected areas.
Also known as musculoskeletal rehabilitation, orthopedic rehabilitation is a physician-supervised medical program that helps patients manage musculoskeletal conditions and injuries and recover from surgeries. It aims to restore motion and flexibility while strengthening the specific body parts needing rehabilitation.
An orthopedic surgeon oversees orthopedic rehabilitation. This is a doctor who prevents, treats, and rehabilitates bone and joint conditions using medical and surgical methods. Besides orthopedic surgeons, rehabilitation involves physical therapists, exercise physiologists, occupational therapists, and rehab specialists.
There are three areas of orthopedic rehabilitation: physical therapy, occupational therapy, and sports rehabilitation. Orthopedic physical therapy involves caring for the whole musculoskeletal system comprising the bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and connective tissues.
Usually administered in skilled nursing facilities, outpatient clinics, hospitals, sports facilities, and at home, orthopedic physical therapy entails determining movement diagnosis, creating a treatment plan, and giving therapeutic care. The patient also receives guidance on managing a condition or injury and preventing these from occurring in the future.
Physical therapists specialize in treating specific patients. For instance, some therapists work with elderly patients, assisting them through medical programs that improve their balance, strength, and mobility to prevent incidents such as falls. Additionally, they help them recover after surgeries.
In occupational therapy, the patient learns how to better perform daily tasks and activities. This may involve splitting a task into small manageable activities or learning new and simple ways of doing things. Besides, it may call for the individual to change environments to perform some activities. Sometimes, a patient may use adaptive equipment such as canes, splints, orthotics, and reachers.
Last, sports rehabilitation centers on exercise-induced and sports-related conditions and injuries. Here, therapists guide athletes on how to move safely and avoid injury. If they become injured, they help them recover.
Patients require orthopedic rehabilitation in three broad scenarios. First, after a surgery, orthopedic rehabilitation aids in normalizing walking, reducing pain, preventing scar tissue buildup, and improving motion range. Again, it helps restore balance, mobility, and strength. Common surgeries requiring orthopedic rehabilitation include rotator cuff repair, knee replacement, hip replacement, and knee arthroscopy.
Second, an individual requires orthopedic rehabilitation after an acute injury. Acute injuries result from trauma to the body, and include ankle sprain and Achilles tendon rupture. A physical therapist will help an individual manage pain, restore movement, and rebuild strength.
Third, some patients experience chronic injuries. These injuries happen over time, affecting movement by injuring the bones, joints, and ligaments. Tennis elbow and shin splints are common examples. Orthopedic rehabilitation helps manage chronic injuries by isolating the injury’s source and managing symptoms.
There are various treatment types in use, including exercise therapy, hydrotherapy, joint mobilization, soft tissue manipulation, dry needling, and laser therapy. Exercise therapy involves creating an exercise plan. Included in the plan are balance-building, mobility, and strengthening exercises. Thermotherapy and cryotherapy use heat and cold, respectively, to manage musculoskeletal swelling and pain.
In hydrotherapy, a physical therapist guides the patient in a water environment such as a swimming pool. Since water has gentle resistance, it is good for people with joint conditions. Additionally, the buoyancy from the water minimizes the impact on the joints.
A common manual treatment method is joint mobilization, where a physical therapist moves a patient’s joints firmly and carefully in a specific direction. Similarly, soft tissue manipulation involves using the hands to perform certain techniques on the fascia, ligaments, and muscles.
Other advanced methods include dry needling and laser therapy. With dry needling, the therapist inserts thin needles to specific body parts, similar to acupuncture, while laser therapy uses a low-level laser to treat muscle fatigue and enhance muscle repair.
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