Physical therapy is often recommended for new injuries or after a surgical operation, but would it be effective in treating a condition that has been bothering you for years? In today’s blog, we take a closer look at how physical therapy may be just what you need to put an end to those nagging injuries that have lingered for months or years.
Physical Therapy For Old Injuries
If you’ve been dealing with pain or discomfort from an injury for an extended period of time, could physical therapy help, or are you stuck with that discomfort for the rest of your life? While we can never speak in certainties, there is a good chance that even old injuries can respond well to physical therapy.
One of the biggest reasons why old injuries tend to respond well to physical therapy is because oftentimes the initial injury left an area of your body weakened, and it never really recovered. This is problematic for a couple of reasons. For starters, let’s say you sprained your ankle and damaged the lateral ankle ligaments that support the ankle joint. If that injury never fully heals, you’re not going to have as much confidence in that ankle, and it may not be able to support as much pressure without giving out again. This puts you at an even greater risk of another injury.
Another issue with leaving an old injury unaddressed is that other structures are often left to account for this deficit. If your ankle is weak, your foot, calf and leg muscles all have to handle more stress in order to help stabilize the ankle. As these areas absorb more stress, over time, they are at risk of degenerating faster. It’s not uncommon for injuries in the ankle to lead to additional injuries in the feet, knees and hips. This is why it’s so important to target these old injuries with physical therapy.
It’s also worth considering trying physical therapy for old muscle and soft tissue injuries because even though they have been left unaddressed for so long, these ligaments and tendons still tend to respond well to targeted care. It’s never too late to strengthen ligaments or supportive tendons, and as these areas begin to safely handle more stress on their own, odds are your symptoms or discomfort will decrease.
Expert Physical Therapy Advice
Finally, it’s worth visiting a physical therapist if you have an old injury that has failed to resolve because they have an extensive depth of knowledge of all types of injuries and treatments. Maybe you’ve been pursuing the wrong treatments, or maybe you’ve been misdiagnosed, and a physical therapist can help bring clarity to your situation. Even if you’ve correctly identified the issue, you may not be aware of the best ways to target the areas that have been affected, and that’s where a physical therapist comes in. We can use simple tests or exercises to pinpoint deficiencies and figure out how to safely target areas in need of improvement.
So if you have been dealing with an injury that has lingered for months, years or even longer, know that you could be living life without pain in as little as one session if you sync up with a physical therapist. It may end up taking longer to address your discomfort, but considering how long the problem has already affected you, what’s a couple of weeks of physical therapy if it means a lifetime without constant pain? For more information, or for help with any of your physical ailments, reach out to the talented team at OrthoRehab Specialists today.
PT of Costa Rican National Soccer Team for 2007 World Cup in Victoria, CAN. Clinical Instructor for University of Minnesota Doctor of Physical Therapy Affiliations
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