Do you have persistent arthritis, back pain, or a sprained ankle? Are you dealing with a sports or accident-related injury, or are you recovering from surgery? However, you wanted to avoid medications as they can cause gut-related problems. If so, the ideal solution to this problem is physiotherapy.
If you’re hunting high and low for a physiotherapist, the best physiotherapy in Toronto offers a wide range of services. These services are tailored to specific individual needs and health conditions. Physiotherapy can improve your mobility and flexibility, strengthen your muscles, and recover the sports injuries.
What is Mobility?
In our lives, the free movement of our body parts to perform actions like walking, running, sitting, stretching, or bending has huge significance. If you have done these activities without limitations or pain, this is called mobility, and there is no need to go to a therapist. On the other hand, flexibility refers to the range of movements achieved by engaging the joints during movement.
Both of them are combined to perform any movement successfully but the injury that leads to limited mobility can cause serious issues. To cope with this problem, physiotherapists came up with the solution of physical therapy. It includes a lot of exercises, massages, and manual therapy to improve your mobility and flexibility without taking medications or surgeries.
In addition, except for injuries, constant pressure on the muscles or joints can cause immobility. However, physiotherapy can help you regain your social life, recover your warmth to participate in sports, and enhance the quality of your life.
Physiotherapy Techniques to Improve Mobility
There are numerous physiotherapy strategies for improving mobility; however, before performing these exercises, consult your therapist. He will assess your body and provide proper guidance about exercises you need to follow.
Back Stretching
If you want to recover your flexibility and balance in the hip and spinal area, back stretching can help you with that. It will relieve tension in muscles, relax them, and maintain the flexibility of the body. It can be done by performing a cat-cow stretch, a child’s pose, or a knee-to-chest stretch.
Piriformis Stretch
It is specially performed to relieve sciatica pain by stretching the piriformis muscles found in the buttock. Sciatica pain is felt through the sciatica nerve that extends from the lower back to the legs including hip muscles. It mostly occurs in one side of the body arising from the compression of the sciatic nerve.
Seated, supine, or standing piriformis stretch can help alleviate the pain.
Glute Stretch
Glute stretch can enhance mobility in the pelvic area by relieving the muscle tightness in that region. It can also alleviate lower back pain, maintain muscle balance, and prevent injuries. Glute stretching is a matter of course for athletes as it can improve their flexibility and enhance their posture.
It can be done by practicing seated figure-four stretch, standing glute stretch, lying glute stretch or pigeon pose to enjoy its benefits.
Back Rotator Stretch
It helps enhance spinal mobility by stretching the spinal and rotator muscles of the back. It will release the tension of the spinal muscles, alleviate the stiffness in the middle and lower back, and improve overall mobility. It will also enhance your bad posture. You should try a lying spinal twist or a seated or standing torso twist to promote relaxation and spinal mobility.
Abdominal Stretch
It will help maintain flexibility in the abdominal muscles by reducing the tightness and alleviating the pain in the abdominal area. It will also diminish lower back pain and improve the digestive system. You can do cobra pose stretch, upward-facing dog or standing side stretch to enhance abdominal mobility.
Knee Lunging
Knee lunging helps strengthen the leg muscles, and enhances balance and coordination to stabilize the lower body movements. It will make knee and joint muscles stronger and prevent future injuries. You can do forward or reverse lunge, and walking or side lunge to maintain your lower body health.
Except for the above-mentioned exercises, other techniques can be utilized such as manual therapy, electrotherapy, hydrotherapy, and gait training to improve flexibility.
Factors Affecting the Mobility and Flexibility
The following are the main causes of immobility:
- Aging can cause a loss of flexibility naturally due to loss of bone density and muscle coordination.
- Dormancy is caused by a lack of physical activity which leads to muscle weakness, joint stiffness, and obesity.
- Injury can be caused by persistent stress on a group of muscles resulting in impaired mobility and flexibility.
- Chronic diseases also cause restricted movements such as arthritis, chronic neck pain, spondylolisthesis, or back pain.
- Poor posture also results in limited motion due to muscle coordination issues.
Conditions Treated with Physiotherapy for Enhanced Mobility
The following diseases can be treated with physiotherapy:
- Osteoarthritis
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Rotator Cuff Tendinitis
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Back Pain
- Neurological conditions
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Stroke
- Cerebral Palsy
Education and Guidance
One of the most important things is educating the patient about their health conditions and telling them what to avoid to improve flexibility. The therapist must guide you about the proper exercises you need to follow and incorporate them into your daily life. They will also offer mobility-enhancing techniques such as posture correction and injury prevention.
Final Thoughts
It is possible to regain your lost mobility with the help of physiotherapy by utilizing different techniques such as stretching and strengthening exercises, manual therapy, and electrical therapy. Educating the patient is also important to achieve optimal and timely results. Patients should follow the therapist’s advice to get well soon and resume daily activities.
FAQs
How does physiotherapy improve mobility?
Physiotherapy usually involves movements, exercises, and massages to improve mobility. These exercises can strengthen and balance the body’s muscles.
How do muscles help with mobility?
Flexible muscles aid in movement and increase the body’s range of motion. However, stiff muscles restrict the body’s movement to a certain angle.
Can physiotherapy relieve chronic pain?
Yes, physiotherapy can relieve chronic pain by performing different exercises and therapies during their specialized therapy sessions.
How long does it take to get physiotherapy results?
Well, it depends on the patient’s health conditions but approximately, it may take from a few weeks to months to get results.
