In this digital era, where everybody is glued to their screens at offices and home, posture problems, back pain and neck pain have become common issues for people of all ages. Apart from a sedentary lifestyle, aggressive workouts and physical activities can also cause pain in joints and muscles.
While painkillers can help provide instant relief, they can also damage the kidneys and cause several side effects. This is where physiotherapy comes into play.
Besides musculoskeletal problems, physiotherapy helps manage several chronic and prolonged conditions and helps restore movement. Conditions like asthma, swallowing disorders, Parkinson's disease, urinary incontinence, and vitiligo can be managed with physiotherapy and rehabilitation. But first thing first. Let us know about physiotherapy.
What is Physiotherapy?
Physiotherapy, also known as physical therapy focuses on the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of physical impairments, disabilities, and pain. Physiotherapists use a combination of hands-on techniques, exercises, and education to help individuals restore, maintain, and optimize their physical function and mobility. It involves:
- Manual Therapy: Techniques like massage, mobilization, and manipulation to reduce pain, improve joint function, and enhance soft tissue mobility.
- Exercise Therapy: Personalised exercise programs designed to strengthen muscles, improve flexibility, and enhance endurance.
- Education and Advice: Guidance on posture, body mechanics, and lifestyle changes to prevent injuries and manage chronic conditions.
Why is Physiotherapy Important?
Physiotherapy has long-term effects and allows painless movement. Physiotherapy helps with:
- Pain Management: Physiotherapy provides non-invasive methods to manage pain, reducing the need for medications and improving quality of life.
- Rehabilitation: Essential in recovering from surgeries, injuries, or illnesses, physiotherapy helps restore function and mobility, enabling individuals to return to their daily activities.
- Prevention of Injuries: By strengthening muscles and improving flexibility and balance, physiotherapy reduces the risk of future injuries and recurrences.
- Management of Chronic Conditions: For conditions like arthritis, diabetes, or cardiovascular diseases, physiotherapy helps manage symptoms, improve function, and maintain independence.
- Enhanced Recovery: Post-surgical physiotherapy accelerates healing, reduces complications, and ensures a smoother and faster recovery process.
- Improved Mobility and Independence: Physiotherapy helps individuals regain or maintain their ability to move and perform everyday tasks, enhancing their autonomy and quality of life.
Common Conditions Managed With Physiotherapy
In this blog, let us explore a few of these conditions that can be managed through physiotherapy.
1. Dysphagia (Swallowing Disorder)
Swallowing requires the coordination of several nerves and muscles. Disruption of their functioning or conditions like cerebral palsy, dementia or a stroke may cause difficulty in swallowing, a condition known as Dysphagia. It is a painful condition that, if it goes on for long, can become severe. Although the treatment depends on the cause, physiotherapy is one such technique that can help cure dysphagia. Some of the physiotherapy exercises that can help with improving the swallowing are:
- Shaker Exercise: strengthens muscles and improves the ability to swallow
- Hyoid Lift Maneuver: Builds swallowing muscle strength and control
- Effortful Swallow: Improves the contact and coordination between the muscles used while swallowing
- Supraglottic Swallow: Improves the ability to swallow food
- Super Supraglottic Swallow Maneuver: Improves the ability to swallow food and strengthens swallowing muscles
2. Migraine
While each person’s response to physiotherapy might be different, therapies and exercises can help ease migraine pain and provide temporary relief. Migraine disorders affect the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord along with peripheral nerves and blood vessels. It causes the neurological symptoms and migraine-like pain.
While painkillers go to the central nervous system and help treat the pain, physical therapy techniques temporarily lessen the pain, especially when done during the beginning of a migraine attack. Massaging, stretching, and manual cervical traction are some of the techniques that can provide relief from severe pain. 
3. Urinary Incontinence
Urinary incontinence is any undesired leakage of urine in which the person faces trouble starting or holding the urine. It can be significantly managed through physiotherapy by strengthening pelvic floor muscles that control bladder function. Pelvic Floor Muscle Training techniques can help strengthen these muscles and improve bladder control. Bladder training techniques like scheduling bathroom visits and gradually increasing voids can help patients regain better control over urinary habits and reduce the episodes of incontinence.
4. Lung Issues
Lung issues like Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Pulmonary Fibrosis and Post-Surgical Lung Rehabilitation can be widely managed through physiotherapy. It improves respiratory function, clears airway obstructions and enhances lung capacity. These interventions help alleviate symptoms, reduce the risk of infections, and enhance the quality of life for individuals with lung conditions.
- Breathing Exercises help patients breathe more efficiently reducing breathlessness and improving oxygen intake.
- Chest Physiotherapy techniques like percussion and postural drainage assist in loosening and expelling mucus from the lungs, particularly beneficial for cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis.
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation Programs combine exercise and breathing strategies to strengthen respiratory muscles, increase endurance and improve overall lung health.
5. Neurological & Spinal Diseases
Physiotherapy and rehabilitation exercises help manage several neurological and spinal conditions like Stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, Cerebral Palsy, Traumatic Brain Injury, Peripheral Neuropathy, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Spinal Cord Injuries and more. Tailored exercises and therapeutic techniques help address specific symptoms like muscle weakness, spasticity, impaired coordination etc. and help improve the mobility, strength, balance and overall functional independence of the patient.
- Gait Training and Balance Exercises can help individuals regain or improve their ability to walk and prevent falls.
- Strengthening Exercises target weakened muscles to enhance movement and support daily activities.
- Stretching and Flexibility Routines help reduce spasticity and maintain joint mobility.
The Centre for Physiotherapy at Sarvodaya Hospital, Faridabad and Greater Noida West is backed by highly experienced physiotherapists and modern technical modalities that help patients restore painless movements post-injuries or chronic conditions. The rehabilitation facilities are available for people of all ages, with dedicated therapists for the physiotherapy of children. Live a painless life and get the freedom to do all movements by consulting with our physiotherapists.
