Physical Therapy

What is physical therapy?

Physical therapy combines active techniques with passive treatments that form an essential part of most rehabilitation programs.

The active forms of physical therapy involve performing specific exercises that help you stay flexible and build strength in damaged tissues. Passive treatments are those where you relax while your therapist uses various techniques and devices to ease your pain and stiffness.

Pain Specialists of Cincinnati's highly skilled and knowledgeable physical therapists treat a wide range of patients from children to adults and non-athletes to professionals. You can benefit from physical therapy when you're healthy as well as after an injury.

What are the benefits of physical therapy?

Physical therapy offers numerous benefits. First, it prevents soft tissues from deteriorating and shortening, a common problem following injury, illness, or surgery. When you're in pain, your instinct is to move as little as possible to minimize your discomfort.

Unfortunately, this allows the muscle fibers and connective tissues to weaken and degrade, increasing stiffness and loss of function. Your physical therapist at Pain Specialists of Cincinnati, however, can keep these tissues moving and healthy without damaging the injured area.

Physical therapy also plays a significant role in healing. To repair themselves and produce new, healthy cells, your tissues need oxygen, nutrients, stem cells, and growth factors, all of which come from your blood. Physical therapy increases your circulation, ensuring that your tissues receive plenty of oxygenated blood.

Without physical therapy, you would find it much harder to recover from your injury, illness, or surgery, or manage a chronic condition. In many cases, optimal recovery isn't possible without expert physical therapy.

What conditions can physical therapy help treat?

Physical therapy is an essential treatment for most forms of musculoskeletal pain and injuries, as well as conditions like stroke and Parkinson's disease. Disorders the physical therapy team at Pain Specialists of Cincinnati treats most frequently include:

• Neck and back pain
• Scoliosis
• Sports injuries
• Concussions
• Tennis elbow
• Restriction of motion
• Neurological dysfunctions
• Migraine headaches
• Arthritis
• Whiplash
• Muscle spasms
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Fibromyalgia

Pain Specialists of Cincinnati offers specialized physical therapy treatment for shoulder, arm, lower back, hip, leg, and spine pain, and addresses both acute and chronic pain.

What treatments are used in physical therapy?

Physical therapy uses a wide variety of treatments to restore function and ease pain, including:

• Stretching and strengthening exercises
• Therapeutic massage
• Electric stimulation
• Hot and cold packs
• Manual therapy
• Spinal decompression
• Joint mobilization
• Graston Technique® therapy
• Kinesiology taping (KT)
• Therapeutic ultrasound
• Laser therapy
• Advanced myofascial techniques

Pain Specialists of Cincinnati's comprehensive physical therapy services begin with a thorough physical evaluation, where the team creates a personalized training program unique to you.

To find out more about physical therapy at Pain Specialists of Cincinnati, call the office or book an appointment online today.