OUR APPROACH
Chartered Physiotherapy in Blackpool, St. Annes, Lytham, Poulton, Cleveleys and FleetwoodWe’ve broken our rehabilitation process down into five distinct steps. This helps both our patients and therapists keep track of progress – and tailor objectives along the route to recovery.
1. Reducing swelling and pain
Using either exercise, physical therapy or manual therapy (or a combination), your therapist will start by focusing their efforts on reducing any pain and swelling. Applying ice and plenty of rest are also key in this phase of recovery. Playing a key role in setting you up for further work, these therapeutic techniques can act as the perfect complement to more traditional treatments, like medication.
2. Restoring movement and joint mobility
Once pain and any swelling have been reduced, your therapist can get to work on restoring a full range of motion to a joint or re-enabling a specific movement without pain. They will use a range of techniques to achieve your objectives, including muscle stretching and joint mobilisation – techniques that should often be started as soon as possible to obtain a swift and complete recovery.
It’s in this phase that our team come into their own. The success of this step in your recovery relies on their skill and taking a firm but gentle approach, avoiding anything overly aggressive that could increase inflammation, yet staying firm enough to avoid stiffness in joint articulation.
3. Recovering endurance and muscle strength
The objective in this phase is to help rebuild your endurance levels. Your therapist will progressively add loads, focusing on your aerobic capacity. It’s also a stage where your progress will be closely measured using the latest isokinetic tests and a range of functional assessments to ensure your recovery is moving in the right direction.
4. Reinstating coordination
Every lesion in the musculoskeletal frame creates changes in your body’s proprioceptive mechanisms – the ways your body senses the spacial positioning of your limbs. Again, this stage is heavily reliant on the skill of your individual therapist. Our highly experienced team will tailor this phase to your specific pathology and goals.
5. Regaining sporting movements
Building on the tailored approach taken by your therapist in previous phases, this final step will enable you to retrieve the complex technical movements specific to your sport or activity. This often takes place where you would normally train or perform, taking an active and highly idiosyncratic process that can be adapted day by day according to your responses to help you reach your final goal of being able to fully return to your sport.