Fun Facts about Physical Therapy:
Physical therapy began as a female-only profession.
Begun in 1921 (in part in response to WWI), the first professional association was known as the American Women’s Physical Therapeutic Association. With 274 members, and its first president—Mary McMillan—physical therapy was known as a “women’s health” profession. However, in 1922, the name was changed to the American Physiotherapy Association, and men were allowed to join. Currently, the organization goes by the moniker of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and represents over 95,000 in the U.S. alone. You go, girls!
Many of today’s physical therapy techniques are actually thousands of years old.
Hippocrates (yes, the Greek philosopher) and later Galen are believed to be among the first to advocate the use of massage and hydrotherapy as far back as 460 BC. It’s not all Greek to us, though; other ancient writings from Persia, China, and Egypt also describe the benefits of exercise, movement, and massage for ailments.
There are numerous types of physical therapy.
Lumping all physical therapists under one label is both inaccurate and unfair to them. Like any other form of healthcare, there are a number of specialties that address different types of injuries and various parts of the body. Examples include: orthopedic, acute care, post-operative care, cardiovascular and pulmonary rehab, lymphedema management, wound care, and neurologic rehabilitation.
Physical Therapy (PT)—otherwise known as physiotherapy.
Is defined as the treatment of disease, injury, or deformity by physical methods including massage, heat treatment, as well as exercise. Instead of relying on drugs or surgery, this more natural form of self-healing is often used to help improve quality of life and range of motion in patients who have experienced a significant physical set-back. But there’s more to physical therapy than meets the eye!
Physical therapy can reduce treatment costs for patients.
According to the Health Services Research journal, patients with lower back pain who turned to physical therapy as a treatment first reported, on average, 72% fewer costs within the first year than those who did not. Another study by the University of Pittsburgh found that patients who received physical therapy and patients who underwent spinal surgery had the same end levels of recovery; but the physical therapy patients spent roughly half of their operated-on counterparts did.
Physical therapy originated as a professional group that dated back to Per Henrik Ling, who is known as the "father of Swedish gymnastics." He founded the royal Central Institute of Gymnastics in the year 1813 for massage, manipulation and exercise.
Physical Therapists Have a Long History in the United States
The army utilized nurses in World War I to rehabilitate soldiers who had been wounded. Physical and occupational therapy techniques were common. Before that, physical therapists treated individuals with polio beginning around 1916. Until the advent of the polio vaccine, physical therapists would use exercise, traction, and massage to ease symptoms.
Physical Therapists
Although many people think physical therapists only rehabilitate injuries, they actually work to prevent injuries as well by educating patients on safer movements and motions.
Physical Therapists Have an Even Longer History in the World
Historians suspect that Hippocrates and Galen were among the first physicians to utilize physical therapy. They treated their patients with the help of hydrotherapy and massage. Hippocrates was especially inclined to use natural therapies and studied anatomy thoroughly in order to do this. It all makes sense when you consider that Aristotle claimed that physical exercise would be the key to physical health.
In a nutshell, physical therapy is a type of treatment that is used to address many different ailments, including disease, injury, or deformity. Physical therapy utilizes massage, heat treatment, and exercise in order to help patients get back on their feet without needing to take drugs or undergo surgery.
Is a Physical Therapist A Doctor?
A Doctor of Physical Therapy or Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT) degree is a qualifying degree in physical therapy. A DPT is a practitioner who is educated in many areas of rehabilitation. ... As of 2015, all accredited and developing physical therapist programs in the US are DPT programs.
THERE ARE NUMEROUS TYPES OF PHYSICAL THERAPY.
Lumping all physical therapists under one label is both inaccurate and unfair to them. Like any other form of healthcare, there are a number of specialties that address different types of injuries and various parts of the body. Examples include: orthopedic, acute care, post-operative care, cardiovascular and pulmonary rehab, lymphedema management, wound care, and neurologic rehabilitation.
PHYSICAL THERAPISTS CAN TREAT VERTIGO.
Positional vertigo is when you experience very brief bouts of dizziness with changes in position or movement of the head. A dysfunction of the vestibular system in the inner ear, this annoying sensation can be successfully treated in as little as one session with a physical therapist.
Physical Therapy Is a Cost-Effective Treatment
Physical therapy patients report spending less money on average than other patients, particularly when they reported symptoms like back pain. For patients with chronic health conditions, like diabetes and obesity, regular treatments may ease some of the costs associated with necessary pain relief treatments. In some cases, individuals who have completed physical therapy have reported the same recovery as individuals who have undergone surgery.
There are different types of physical therapies, not just one.
These include orthopedic, heat or cold therapy, post-operative care, cardiovascular, ultrasound, manual therapy, pulmonary rehab, acute care, and even neurologic rehabilitation in addition to exercise and strength training.
Dry needling treats absolutely nothing! Yet, it treats absolutely everything!
The physiology that occurs when a needle is inserted into the tissue is extremely complicated but here are the three key things to remember: when we insert a needle into the body, we have a local, a segmental and a central reaction to healing. Locally, when a needle is inserted, CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide), histamine, bradykinin, and substance P are released locally.3 These things promote vasodialation and formation of new blood vessels, thus facilitating repair after injury in the local tissue. Segmentally, the needle stimulates the small myelinated nerves in the body (A beta, A delta) and unmyelinated fibers (C fibers), triggering the stimulation of the ascending pain pathway via the dorsal horn, and terminates in the thalamus, hypothalamus, and periaquadal gray matter (PAG).3 The descending pain pathway is initiated, and the release of enkephalin at the dorsal root ganglion of the spinal cord along with GABA and Glycine inhibit pain sensations at the spinal level the nerve originates from. And finally, systemically, beta-endorphin, endomorphin, and dynorphin and more are released in the brain (opiate neuropeptides) at the PAG and provides an overall analgesic effect in the body. This is the same opiate that is released when we receive spinal manipulation, and is in the same family as morphine. There you have it. A local, segmental and systemic response. THAT is why this modality is so powerful.
IS PHYSICAL THERAPY REALLY EFFECTIVE?
Not only can physical therapy precede surgery, it may be able to prevent it! In fact, physical therapy has proved to be as effective or more effective than surgery for many musculoskeletal conditions, depending on their severity.