Exercise is a key part of staying healthy it can help you maintain a healthy weight, reduce pain and stiffness and feel younger than you are.
It can also help you build muscle strength. However, it is important to know how to properly perform strength training exercises. Incorrect exercise technique can cause injuries and slow down your recovery.
1. Strengthens the Muscles
Physical therapy includes a variety of strengthening exercises that can improve strength these exercises are based on the concept that overloading (progressively increasing resistance) causes muscle cells to grow larger, which leads to stronger muscles.
After performing an evaluation your therapist will observe your posture, gait and movement patterns to find any areas of weakness or imbalances. They may also palpate (feel) the affected muscles and tendons to determine if there are any tight or stiff spots.
Your therapist can use electrical stimulation to help reduce pain and increase blood flow to the affected muscles. They can also apply deep tissue massage to help break up the knots that develop in muscles.
2. Strengthens the Joints
If the protective cartilage in your joints wears down, it can lead to pain and friction between the bones. Physical therapy can strengthen the muscles that support the joints and help reduce this friction.
La clinica PT will also work on correcting muscle imbalances, such as tight, hypertonic or scar tissue-bound muscles. These imbalances can cause your body to use compensatory movements, leading to increased stress on your muscles and joints.
In addition, a PT will often focus on core exercises to increase stability and improve balance. This can decrease the risk of injury and make your recovery time much shorter. It can also avoid the need for surgery and make it easier to return to your daily activities.
3. Increases the Endurance
Physical therapy increases the endurance of muscles by making them work against resistance. The therapist will start with low resistance and gradually increase the intensity of the exercise. This is known as progressive overload and it helps the muscle to adapt.
Performing strength training exercises also provides many health benefits like increased bone density, improved posture, thicker ligaments and tendons, better cardiovascular health and decreased risk of injury. The therapist will help the patient to perform these exercises correctly and safely so that they can achieve all of the benefits.
Besides building the strength, physical therapists can also help in decreasing pain and improving overall quality of life. The therapists can use massage therapy, heat or cold therapy and dry needling to reduce pain.
4. Increases the Flexibility
Those who regularly attend physical therapy increase their flexibility, which reduces the risk of injury during high-intensity activities. It helps the muscles and joints move freely without any pain or discomfort, especially if they are warmed up properly by the stretching exercises that are done during and between sessions.
A physical therapist can help you loosen your tight muscles by providing stretches that are specifically targeted for your needs and following up on the frequency of those stretches.
A good physical therapist can also guide you on how to do the stretches correctly for best results. This ensures you don’t injure yourself further or create hyperflexibility, which is an imbalance of the ligaments and tendons.
5. Improves the Balance
PT provides patients with balance exercises to improve their ability to stand, walk and move around. This can help reduce the risk of falls which may lead to serious injuries.
Depending on the patient’s condition, physical therapy can also be used to improve their inner ear function and eye tracking. Using specific exercise, your therapist can help reduce symptoms such as blurry vision, dizziness and weakness that are associated with these issues.
Muscle imbalances are common and can cause poor posture, stiff joints or other issues. During your evaluation your therapist will perform a full assessment noting static and dynamic postures, movement patterns and muscle strength and extensibility.
6. Reduces the Risk of Injury
When muscles are strong, they can handle more stress and pressure without tearing or becoming fatigued. This reduces your risk of injury in everyday activities as well as sports.
Physical therapists are experts at identifying muscle weakness. They evaluate your posture, balance and movement patterns to see where the imbalance is coming from. They can also review your X-rays and MRI to ensure that the problem isn’t from other factors like nerve issues.
They can teach you exercises to strengthen the weak muscles and improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. This can help prevent injuries in the future and increase your performance levels.