Physical therapy

What is Physical Therapy

Physical therapy is a health care profession with the focus on enabling the client to return to a pain free lifestyle by promoting pain free movement. Physical therapy involves the treatment of pain, disability and restricted movement by means of massage, mobilization and myofascial techniques. During a Physical therapy session the client is examined during a consultation to determine the correct treatment plan for them. In the consultation the client will be encouraged to explain previous injuries to the physical therapist in order to determine the connection to the current injury via the kinetic chain or from referral throughout the body including visceral referral.

What is the difference between Physical Therapy and Physiotherapy

This depends on the country you live in, based in Ireland what this generally means is that a Physiotherapist will be trained to enter the hospital environment using means of electrical modalities alongside some hands on treatment with the view of strengthening weak muscles through exercise development. Physiotherapists will branch in the hospital and will become specialised in a particular area after full qualification, eg. Respiratory, neuro, musculoskeletal

Physical therapists main training involves more hands on approach dealing with the body from a kinetic perspective (how the whole body interacts). A physical therapist will be more involved with massage, treatment of myofascial trigger points and myofascial techniques.

Common Treatments at AMG Therapy

frozen shoulder
tennis/golfers elbow
sciatica
back pain
hip pain
knee pain
and many more

Clearly there is then a migration of approach between a physiotherapist and a physical therapist as they incorporate specific approaches from the opposing profession in order to best suit particular clients. You will have private Physiotherapists who gain more time from being out of the hospital environment and therefore able to incorporate more consultation time, massage and myofascial techniques. Physical therapists will also involve strength based exercises and electrical modalities in their treatment but with the hands on treatment as their main goal in the treatment.

For more information or to enquire about appointments please contacts us at any time.

What does Physical Therapy Treatment Involve

Assessment of the problem

Aiden will spend time at the start of your session to consult you to best discover how your pain has developed. This will involve the completion of a pain pattern diagram, in which the client and Aiden discuss pains or sensations that have occurred throughout the body. There will then be a postural assessment in which Aiden will be able to determine the tension and imbalance throughout the kinetic chain.

Treatment of the problem

After the consultation has concluded Aiden will begin treatment of the problem. The treatment includes the treatment of the nerves, joints, muscles and fascia in order to reintroduce pain free movement to the clients lifestyle. Treatment methods will vary depending on specific client needs, and this will all be determined in the initial consultation

Identifying underlying causes

The main reason for reoccurring injuries is not treating the source. There are many incidents where clients continue to only get treated were they are experiencing the pain. In amgtherapy the first goal will be to remove that localised pain but to have a main goal of removing the source in order to best prevent reoccurrence.

Preventing reoccurrence

As mentioned by identifying the cause we can prevent reoccurrence, however in amgtherapy, preventing reoccurrence will also be advice on how to adopt the clients lifestyle in order for the kinetic balance achieved to remain in balance.