Why do people go to physical therapy? Typically they have pain or impaired movement. Physical therapy exercises are chosen specifically because they will help reduce your pain or improve your ability to move and function, so they can have an immediate impact on your quality of life. General exercise is non-specific with a goal of improving overall fitness, which can take weeks or months.
The purpose of general exercise.
General exercise doesn’t have a specific purpose but is intended to improve overall health. How many times has your doctor told you that you need to exercise more? If you are like me, you hear it every time you go to the doctor. They tell you how important it is but don’t give you many specific suggestions. General exercise usually has one of three purposes. First, you can exercise to improve heart and lung function (cardiovascular exercise). This is what most doctors mean when they say you should exercise more. If your heart isn’t up to speed, then the rest of your body isn’t either. Second, you can exercise to improve strength (resistance exercise). As we age, we lose muscle mass (termed sarcopenia) which leads to weakness and some loss of function. Think about the old commercial, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. The most common reason is insufficient strength in the legs and core to get off the floor. The third reason we exercise is to improve mobility (flexibility exercise). Advancing age and the postures we adapt all day (like sitting) lead to increased tightness and less motion. Stretching is a good way to minimize or reverse poor mobility.
Physical therapy exercise is targeted to your specific needs.
Unlike general exercise, physical therapy exercises are chosen for you with a very specific purpose in mind. Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants spend a lot of time in school learning how the human body functions and how to fix it when something isn’t working the way it should. During the physical therapist’s examination, they identify individual muscles, joints or nerves that are not functioning optimally. Those affected structures result in your pain or inability to perform your daily tasks.
Based on the results of their examination they select specific exercises to resolve your specific impairments, to reduce pain and to restore your ability to do the things you need or want to. This is referred to as an exercise prescription. Once your pain has gone away and your ability to function is restored then the exercises are no longer needed.
What is an exercise prescription?
When you think of a prescription you think of a particular medicine that you doctor has prescribed you to help with a current illness. You take your prescription until the symptoms or illness has gone away. Well, an exercise prescription is basically the same thing. Much like your doctor, your physical therapist conducts an examination and identifies a diagnosis and treatment plan. Your treatment plan may include an exercise prescription. These are exercises designed to resolve your specific physical impairment or to reduce your pain. You are to perform these exercises until your symptoms resolve or your function improves. Once that has occurred you can stop the exercise prescription.
Physical therapists may also provide exercises to prevent future problems.
A big component of physical therapy treatment is educating our patients about how their body works and how to prevent injury. In addition to an exercise prescription your physical therapist may also suggest maintenance exercises to keep your body functioning well and/or to prevent your injury from reoccurring. Many patients that seek out physical therapy care are not sure how or why they started having problems. It might be something they are doing in their daily routine or might be the result of some age-related changes like decreased mobility or strength. In both cases a physical therapist can work with you to identify factors that contributed to your diagnosis or that put you at an increased risk for future injury, and suggest exercises or modifications to your daily tasks to minimize your risk for injury. Unlike an exercise prescription, these types of exercises are designed to be done long term.
So physical therapy exercises are provided with a specific purpose based on individual needs with a goal of restoring optimal function, getting rid of pain, or preventing future injury. General exercise tends to be just that, with an overall goal of improving cardiovascular health, strength, or mobility.
Your posts are both informative and thought-provoking.
Collin,
Thanks for the kind words and your support of my blog.