Physical therapy is one of the important final chapters to a patients recovery and injury management. You may be referred to a physical therapy medical center if you have recently undergone orthopedic surgery, or if you have a non surgical condition which has affected the musculoskeletal system. The musculoskeletal system incorporates the bodies muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, joints and bones. One can imagine this is quite the labyrinth of intricate and complex components, and when one part of the system is affected it can impact on the rest of the body dramatically.

A physical therapists role is to restore function, motion and strength to the affected area. This can be after orthopedic surgery, or can be recommended as part of an injury management and rehabilitation plan. Some breaks and fractures respond very well to physical therapy as do sprains and strains of muscles and tendons. It is important to know that whereas the advice patients were once given post injury was to rest and not move until the area healed, physical therapists now acknowledge that returning to strength training and carefully monitoring movement and activity can provide the patient with a more successful outcome.

Often times an athlete is assigned a physical therapy plan in order to return to their sport as soon as possible. This plan may include heat therapy, perhaps deep tissue or remedial massage or even ultra sound to promote blood flow and healing to the affected areas. Many times, a patient that does have a trauma or injury that has a pain and injury management plan will return to their sport sooner than the patient that does not. With specialized strength training and injury specific therapy, the condition can be closely monitored by the orthopedic surgeon so as to comply with the recovery goals that have been set.