What is physical therapy? How does it work? Successful physical rehabilitation requires not just a knowledgeable medical professional, but also one who is caring and supportive. You’ll receive that one-on-one rehabilitation therapy and care at Bailey Health Solutions in St. Augustine, Florida. Our medical team provide many types of physical therapy, helps you recover from surgery, teaches you pain management techniques for chronic conditions, and helps you heal after an injury. Get started on your rehab treatment by calling the office. You usually can begin your rehabilitation within a few days.
Your physician might write you a prescription for rehabilitation if you’ve recently undergone orthopedic surgery, if you have a chronic degenerative condition — like certain types of arthritis — or if you need to heal after an injury. It might seem inconvenient to head to a St Augustine rehab center a few times each week, but it’s essential to your recovery.
It depends on your needs and how quickly you recover. Most patients start out by coming to our physical rehabilitation center two to three times each week for at least a month. As you continue to gain strength and mobility, you can gradually cut back to one to two times per week. You continue to decrease your therapy sessions as you improve. But you should expect to go to rehabilitation appointments from two to six months or longer, in some cases.
Yes, but it’s not the only part. Your rehab plan is tailored to your specific injury, as well as to your progress. In the beginning stages, when you’re in the most pain, you perform passive or static exercises. These are gentle movements made by your therapist, meaning they gently stretch the area for you.
For example, if you recently had rotator cuff surgery, your therapist will let you relax while they move your arm around for you. These exercises promote flexibility and mobility without straining the fragile area. When you’re ready, you will start learning some exercises on your own. Your physical rehabilitation therapist will teach you both flexibility and strengthening exercises and will ensure you have proper form with each movement.
You will also work on ways to get back into your normal routine at home and work, while learning tricks to improve pain and inflammation between visits. Each session generally includes some sort of soft tissue treatment such as electrical stimulation therapy, ultrasound, massage therapy, cold laser therapy, or simply applying heat or ice packs to minimize inflammation.