What is physiotherapy?

What is physiotherapy? There is a popular misconception about physiotherapy in Malaysia. The first thing that comes in mind of Malaysian when the think of physiotherapy is people who make money by massaging people. This post is to makes things clear. Guys, there is a reason why there is also a field called massage therapy and people who are called masseuse and that's why that Chinese massage parlors and spas are not called physiotherapy centre. So lets understand first what is physiotherapy is all about.

According to Chartered Society of Physiotherapy of UK,Physiotherapy helps restore movement and function when someone is affected by injury, illness or disability. So what does a physiotherapist do? Physiotherapist help people affected with injury,illness, or disability through movement and exercise,manual therapy,education and advice. So please erase your concept about physiotherapist and reset it with the bolded golden words. Basically what physiotherapist do is treat your injury or illness with non-invasive techniques (non-invasive as in not using medication or surgery.Just to make it clear). I wont say we do not do massage, but massage as to pain relief on muscle injured areas. We will learn more about it as we move on.

So in what kind of illness can physiotherapy play role?

• Cardiovascular(heart,lung and blood vessel) condition-such as post heart bypass surgery rehabilitation, lung infection, thoracic surgery(surgery around your chest area), weak cardiovascular fitness. We help to improve your cardiovascular fitness with breathing exercises(Yeah! u heard that right) and fitness exercises. We will discuss the techniques used in upcoming posts.

• Electrophysical therapy- therapy that uses modalities to cure muscular and nerve problems such as hot-packs, cold-packs,ice cube massage,electrical modalities to stimulate nerves and muscles(Don't worry,no electric chairs are involved).

Ultrasound therapy machine-used to heal internal soft tissue injuries

• Geriatrics(aging population)- We prescribe exercise for the seniors citizens to maintain their available strength and mobility. We also help with patients who have condition popular with old age such as Parkinson, Alzheimer, arthritis and osteoporosis to slow down the advancement and to prevent further complications 

• Neurological- We treat patients with neurological conditions(nerve problems) such as stroke,nerve injury,paralysis, facial paralysis,wrist drop,foot drop and other nerve conditions that affect the use of muscle.

Rehabilitation of a stroke patient

• Orthopedic(bone and muscle related)- Conditions such as fracture,post fracture stiffness, muscle weakness, muscle pain, ligament sprains,muscle strains, posture correction, scoliosis, preventive education and other orthopedic related conditions(which i cannot think of at the moment)

Crutch walking education for leg fracture

• Peadiatric(condtions involving children)- We help development delay children, premature babies with lung problems,babies born with torticolis, cerebral palsy children, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy and   other conditions

Typical appearance of cerebral palsy patients

• Sports- We also treat sport injuries like muscles strains and ligament sprains,soft tissue injuries and help in overall recovery and prevention of injury of athletes. The faster they recover, the lesser they lose.
• Womens health- We also help with women patients issues related to child birth and postnatal( after birth) complications that might arise.Our education and advice might help you go through child birth with ease and recover easier and faster after the child birth.

Hopefully this post was and eye-opener for everyone. What i posted here was the things i did not know when i was first offered to study physiotherapy course. I also encourage new students to read this post before choosing physiotherapy as your career. Do not say no this field just because some uncle of yours said it massaging people work. If i was wrong in anything i said, please comment below so that i can correct myself. Issac Newton once said,"known is a drop, unknown is an ocean". So i have given a very small drop in this post about physiotherapy. Hope that drop will quench someones thirst of curiosity  Thanx. Have a great day ahead of you. And definitely no electric chair was involved. :)