Exercise rehabilitation is the foundation for all successful musculoskeletal treatment protocols. Without rehabilitation, recovery from injury is incomplete. Following injury there are a number of detrimental effects on the muscles, joints, connective tissue and nerves which can effect function and contribute to pain.
- Post injury there is rapid muscle wasting due to a cellular response to pain, inflammation, and immobility. The longer the period of immobility or disuse following injury the more pronounced muscle wastage becomes.
- Following injury and depending on where the injury has occurred certain muscles will become inhibited. This leads to abnormal muscle activation and compensations in other groups. These are usually subtle and not apparent until specific tests are carried out.The results from this are that we move incorrectly/less efficiently leading to further injury or possible lack of performance.Often it is not how strong we are but how we activate muscles that matters. Exercise rehabilitation will address this.
- After tissue injury muscle tension occurs due to muscle guarding for protection. This limits muscle movement and reduces flexibility.
- Following injury there is often associated damage to the nerve receptors (proprioceptors) that supply information on joint position and limb movement to the brain, this affects our ability to balance and coordinate movement.
Premier physiotherapy aims to return you to normal and efficient movement following an injury or period when you have experienced pain.
We do this by:
- Strengthen weak muscles. We address muscles displaying increased tension thus resulting in reduced flexibility. Teach movement correction and improve movement efficiency.
- Retrain balance through use of proprioceptive exercises.
- Address biomechanical abnormalities which may have contributed to injury or have developed as a consequence of injury.
- Strengthen new tissue which has been laid down post injury and reduce to the formation of weak scar tissue. This is facilitated by the application of appropriate tissue loading through the specific phases of tissue healing.
