Physical Therapy

Posted by Dr. Lev Kalika on Tuesday, April 3, 2012 · Leave a Comment

What is Physical Therapy?

Physical Therapy is a medical discipline that provides conservative treatment for wide array of neuromusculoskeletal disorders. At the beginning Physical Therapy was playing a secondary role of assisting medical doctors in rehabilitating their patients following surgical procedures and providing palliative pain management. Presently, as the musculoskeletal pain epidemic grew uncontrolled, physical therapists developed their own research establishment and became more independent of the mainstream medical doctors.

Originally Physical Therapy treatments were based on passive modalities heat/cold therapy, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, laser therapy and others applied to the affected areas to promote healing and decrease pain. In the past two decades however there has been a significant shift towards treating the cause of problem rather than providing symptomatic relief. This is largely due to technological advancement in methods of research and diagnostics in the field of the science of movement.

In the past decade there has been much more successful research done in the field of Physical Therapy and other human movement sciences like Osteopathy and Chiropractic than in all other medical disciplines dealing with musculoskeletal pain. Conservative approaches have evolved from passive to active as the result. The new technology-supported research proved that the old Chiropractic and Osteopathic models, when used actively, were triggering and stimulating inherent human compensatory defense mechanisms resulting in much better pain control and more rapid functional gains.

The tradition-prone practitioners are still using passive modalities. However, new and more technologically advanced generation of physical therapists has moved on to innovative, more exciting and more scientifically sound approaches like neuromuscular therapy, neuromotor therapy, psychosocial interventions, sensory-motor training, visceral therapy, developmental therapy, sensory awareness interventions, sophisticated soft tissue techniques, needling, breathing therapy, ergonomic therapy, training under surface electromyography control or under diagnostic ultrasound control, gait analysis and rehabilitation, and virtual reality therapy.

Todays physical therapists and manual medicine professionals are much more proficient in medical diagnosis. New diagnostic approaches based on the movement and motor pattern impairment have been developed with thorough and complete classifications.

Also this new generation of physical therapists and chiropractic and osteopathic physicians has become more adept at integrating various methods of diagnostics and treatment vastly improving the precision of procedure placement and the rapidity of the outcomes. Physical therapy as a discipline and a science is indeed a very exciting field with a bright future.

What does the Physical Therapist do?

The physical therapist evaluates patients condition by testing all parameters of human movement in the neuromuscular system. This involves testing biomechanics of the affected area and surrounding joint systems, soft tissues (muscles, ligaments and fascias), nerve function, sensory awareness, motor control, stability, etc. Physical therapist provides comprehensive intervention to decrease patients pain by normalizing movement at all of above-mentioned parameters.

What kind of Physical Therapy is provided at Dynamic Neuromuscular Rehabilitation?

We provide all types of Physical Therapy with emphasis on functional restoration.

Do modalities like Ultrasound and Electrical Stimulation constitute part of the Treatment at Dynamic Neuromuscular Rehabilitation?

Only when absolutely necessary – yes. We feel that the benefits of these modalities are very, very limited and they should only be used for first few visits if ever at all. We use much more modern and effective modalities like Extra-corporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT).

At our practice we specialize in many unique, cutting-edge manual and neurological approaches:

Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization according to Kolar
Movement impairment System by Shirley Saharmann
Vladimir Jandas Sensory motor training
Diane Lees method
Karel Lewits manual therapy approach
Vojta therapy
Ergonomic therapy
Jerry Hesh manual therapy approach
PNF Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation
Gait Analysis and Gait training
Biofeedback training under SEMG (surface electromyography and diagnostic ultrasound guidance)
Variety of different soft tissue techniques
Virtual reality therapy

We feel that establishing proper functional and structural diagnosis is a priority because it dictates the choice of technique or method, which should be, used in particular case, however; even then, not a single technique is either preferable or superbly efficient in itself. Over the years of practice we have learned to integrate various methods into optimally successful treatment protocols.

Please also check out our Why Physical Therapy page.