Many people view physical therapists as experts who help people recover after an injury or surgery, but we serve a much larger clientele. You may be surprised to learn that we also treat a range of sleep disorders and deficiencies at our clinic, including insomnia. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at why you should consider syncing up with a PT if you’re having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.
Physical Therapy For Insomnia
Insomnia is a sleep disorder that is categorized by difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep for an extended period of time. Those with insomnia oftentimes feel restless, lethargic, fatigued and tired because of their disjointed sleep schedule, and that can have a significant impact on other areas of life. Poor sleep can affect your performance at school or work, and it can put strain on your relationships. Don’t slog through the day because of your insomnia, sync up with a physical therapist and begin treating the issue with some simple changes.
In order to be able to effectively treat your insomnia, we first need to get a comprehensive understanding of all the factors that are contributing to your disjoined sleep. Oftentimes it’s not just one issue that’s triggering your insomnia, and instead it’s a variety of factors that lead to sleep issues. Some factors that we’ll discuss and examine while we work to uncover the root cause of you insomnia include:
- Daily stress
- Physical health
- Sleep apnea
- Sleep environment
- Underlying health conditions
All of these factors will be assessed during your initial diagnostic exam to help get a better understanding of what’s contributing to your sleep issues. From there, it’s about crafting an individualized plan to help you fall asleep and stay asleep without medication. Sleep medication can certainly play a healthy role in the treatment of some conditions, but they have some potentially unsafe side effects, and physical therapy can help to treat the underlying causes so that you can learn to fall asleep naturally.
Finding the Underlying Cause
Treatment is typically focused on helping the patient understand two main things – how underlying problems are causing insomnia, and what actions they can take to mitigate these factors. We can start by analyzing how your work or family life may be causing stress and anxiety that manifests in the form of a sleep disorder. We can also then discuss ways to relieve this stress so that it’s easier for you to fall asleep, like through exercise, yoga or meditation. We can also discuss how your diet and your sleep environment can factor into the equation, and we can help you make changes so that they contribute to treating your insomnia instead of making it worse.
There’s no straightforward path to insomnia treatment like there is with a torn Achilles, but we’re confident that we can help discover what’s causing your insomnia, and more importantly, how to effectively treat it. For more information, or to talk with a physical therapist about your sleep issues, reach out to the 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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