Different Types of Injury Rehabilitation

Injuries can occur in many different ways “ work, sports, traffic or even everyday clumsiness. Some of these injuries can leave long term effects on your body and your mind, requiring you to seek rehabilitation with professionals. It's clear that rehabilitation is absolutely crucial if you want to regain complete function of your body, and in today's article, we'll be taking a look at all the different types of injury rehabilitation.

Outpatient and Inpatient Rehabilitation

This is the primary difference in rehabilitation. Inpatient rehabilitation is the care and therapy you'll receive in the hospital after your injury, before they discharge you. It often happens that patients who suffer orthopedic and musculoskeletal injuries of a high degree need to stay in the hospital for a while and work with doctors and physical therapists daily in order to regain full function of their body.

Then, we have outpatient rehabilitation. These rehab centers refer to therapy outside the hospital itself. Here, you can find therapy for many different issues: injuries, post-operational recovery, psychological and neurological disorders, cancer, etc.

When we're discussing physical injuries, the therapy you'll be seeking is most likely physical therapy.

Physical Therapy

This form of therapy refers to patients who are experiencing pain and reduced motor skills because of a physical injury. It's also not uncommon for people who have suffered a stroke to need physical therapy.

Physical therapy is almost always necessary after a traffic accident! Even if it's a minor accident, it can still cause whiplash, herniated discs or nerve damage. According to County Line Chiropractic, a Lauderhill car accident clinic, these injuries are very common and patients usually need professional assistance in order to regain full control of their body.

Physical therapists most often work with injured people and their job is to, essentially, get your body running again (at least to the degree you can take).

Sports Rehabilitation

It's no wonder that athletes are a particularly risky group when it comes to injury rehabilitation. An athlete's body is constantly under pressure “ pushing the limits of what the human body should be able to do.

As an athlete, you'll most likely live through sprains, muscle tears, strains, tendonitis, even bone dislocations. Compared to the many, many health issues that athletes often have to overcome, this doesn't sound like that big of a deal “ but these are the injuries physical therapists have to deal with day in-day out.

There are also entire sports injury rehabilitation programs mapped out for more complex and more serious injuries. For example, an ACL tear is one of the most career-defining injuries in all sports. Rehabilitation after this sort of injury is absolutely crucial in order for an athlete to return to top form.

Sports injury rehabilitation also often includes post-training massages and pre-training warm up. Warming up properly before training and massaging the muscles after training have proven to be very effective in injury prevention, which is why these activities are often performed by physical therapists.

Methods of Physical Therapy

Physical therapists utilize many different methods in what they do. Firstly, we already mentioned massaging. This is especially useful after practice, as it ensures that the muscles relax and heal properly.

Then, we have adjustments. Sometimes, bones simply won't pop into the proper spot on their own. This is especially common with people who sit around for the entire day. Because of this, a physical therapist sometimes has to set the bones in a patient's body.

It's also common for physical therapists to use electricity to stimulate the muscles. By sticking pads on the affected area and stimulating your muscles, they will contract. This is often used to relieve pain, as the contractions release endorphins. This is especially useful since physical therapy isn't only about recovery and regaining strength, but also minimizing pain!

However, you'll spend most time actually working with the physical therapist on many different exercises. This is the most effective way of returning to full strength and regaining control of your body. During physical therapy exercises, the therapist will gradually work with you, with every exercise becoming more and more challenging, until you can fully function on your own.

A physical therapist might also use ultrasound therapy and hydrotherapy. Ultrasound therapy has had some success in relieving the stress from the veins, increasing blood flow and decreasing swelling. Hydrotherapy, on the other hand, is very useful for patients who have problems with tendons and ligaments, as it takes all the pressure of their tendons and ligaments.