Learn About The Various Forms Of Therapeutic Exercise And How It Relieves Pain And Promotes Healing

By Coleen Torres


Injuries to the muscles and other soft tissues of the body often require a course of physical therapy in order for the patient to regain normal body movement. Therapeutic exercise is an important component in most physical therapy regimens and it can effectively aid in not only easing pain, but also restoring range of motion, balance, strength, and flexibility.

The physical therapist will evaluate the patient's condition by conducting an assessment of his or her ability to move, and taking a medical history. This information will be used to formulate a specific course of exercises which become progressively more challenging as the patient improves. Once the pain is overcome, the focus will be on restoring the body's strength, endurance, and flexibility.

A combination of different exercises are implemented in a physical therapy program, these are classified by the nature of the movement and how it affects the body. With passive exercise, the muscles don't have to do any work, manual or mechanical force is applied externally, which helps restore normal movement to the joints. Whereas with active exercises, the cooperation of the muscles is needed, either alone or with assistance, this not only improves motion of joints, but also strengthens neuromuscular control.

There are other type of activities designed to build endurance and strength in damaged muscles. Once the patient has progressed to the point where he or she can safely carry out range-of-motion and flexibility exercises, it's time to begin strength and endurance training. Gradually increasing resistance is added steadily so the body can respond by naturally gaining strength in the tendon, ligaments, muscles, and bones.

Exercises for regaining strength are generally grouped as either static or dynamic. The former are those which do not involve joint movement, with the length of the muscle fibers remaining the same since the resistance and tension are equal, rather it is the angle they are performed at which makes the difference and helps the patient increase strength, so using varied angles in practice and holding each movement for several seconds is recommended.

Dynamic exercises differs in that it does involve movement of the joints and muscles, in particular concentric and eccentric movement, which refers to a repeated shortening and lengthening of the muscle fibers that produces force and develops strength. This type of exercise can be grouped into isotonic, isokinetic, variable-resistance, and manual movements.

An isotonic movement is one that applies an external force to the muscle which alters the angle of the joint, lengthening the muscular fibers. Some common examples of this are many weight machines, free weights, and ankle weights. Training equipment for variable-resistance movements are built to impose correct joint alignment and apply resistance relative to force, or the therapist may do this manually as well, deliberately placing the muscles in range-of-motion extremes that will limit the force produced.

Isokinetic exercises are carried out with a fixed speed and equal muscle force and resistance. Machines to generate this type of movement deliver force to match the user's level of muscle resistance and often have adjustable settings in terms of concentric and eccentric actions with varying velocities.




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