What does a physiotherapist do?

What type of physio?

To answer “what does a physiotherapist do?” you first need to establish what specialty of physio. This is really done by condition: have you had a stroke, continence problem, breathing problem or something else? At Pure Physio we are musculosketal physios this means we deal with sprains and strains, spinal problems and sports injuries.  We deal with pain in the spine, limbs and occasionally headaches.

What does a physiotherapist do to diagnose my problem?

A physiotherapist can, and in the view of Pure Physio should, aim to diagnose patient problems within a conventional medical framework.  Some physiotherapists choose to use alternative approaches like acupuncture as their primary method.  The main problem with this is that in the rare event you don’t get better conventional physio integrates well with medicine and so can aid doctors and other professionals with efficient treatment.  In this assessment the physio will first talk to you to establish patterns of pain both areas of symptoms and over time. This can gives clues as to the cause of symptoms.  They will also talk about how symptoms started.

This discussion narrows the possible conditions the client may have and allows the next phase to be conducted in a more efficient fashion.  This next phase looks at how much effected joints can move and what hurts.  This will  then lead them to perform actions known as special tests.  These tests are designed to load specific anatomical structures, bits of your body, so that we can work out what is injured.

What does a physiotherapist do to fix your pain?

This may sound like an obvious statement but it depends what the problem is as to how physiotherapy addresses it.  If a  muscle is weak it can load other structures and cause pain, exercises to strengthen that muscle would be best.  If a joint is stiff it can be mobilised (glided back and forth).  Tight and tense muscles could be stretched or massaged.  Scar tissue within a sprain can be broken down to facilitate healing.

A conventional approach to treatment again has strengths over alternative medicine.  There is a raft of research to support it. Also it can be communicated to other professionals so that this can help them make good decisions if it comes to that.

For evidenced based spinal treatment how do we book in with Pure Physio Albany?

To book expert physio with Pure Physio click here. Or to sort an appointment which suits you give us a call on 09 4481277 .