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Physical Therapy (Physiotherapy)

Physiotherapy (PT) is concerned with providing services, where functions and movements are hampered by injury, disease, or environmental factors. It covers physical, social, psychological and emotional well-being of an individual. Physical therapy is used to give maximum mobility and functional ability throughout the life of a person. Basically, it involves focusing on a specific part, which has undergone trauma, for example, a fracture or a torn ligament and giving it certain kind of exercises. In the early days of physical therapy, it was only restricted to exercise, massage and traction.

There are areas of specialization for physical therapists as well. They are Cardiopulmonary, Geriatric, Neurological, Orthopedic, Pediatric and Integumentary. It is usually performed by a trained physical therapist or an assistant physical therapist. Different countries have their different criteria for a person to be designated as a trained physical therapist.

To provide a proper physical therapy, an individual’s history and physical status is checked in order to come up with a diagnosis and plan a course of action by the physical therapists. It is practiced in various settings from offices to hospitals to rehabilitation centers, schools, fitness centers and sports training facilities.

Occupational therapy and physical therapy are very much related to each other, as they both solve the purpose of maintaining the health and fitness of the individual. Both of them strive to cover all the aspects of human health – psychological, mental and physical. In case of a mentally challenged individual experiencing an injury, these therapies working in tandem, can prove to be very helpful. In another situation, if a healthy person encounters an accident and that leads him to some mental disturbance, a combination of these two therapies will act in contributing to his or her overall health.