Physical therapy

If your pain is limiting you from performing any day-to-day activities, then is recommended to consult physical therapist (PT). There are different number of treatments and exercises to treat your pain and to regain strength, mobility, and range of motion. Physical therapy is more physical. Mostly the health care workers who completed their physical therapy education and training are called physical therapists.

Physiotherapy:

Physiotherapist is known as Physio. They usually use electrical stimulation to the patient. This is beneficial for patient to decrease the pain and improve the blood flow. In physiotherapy, different types of exercises are also used.  The experts may also use other forms of treatments like acupuncture.

In acupuncture treatment, thin needles are placed into the body. Through this process they stimulate the nerves in the body. Mostly in many parts of the world physiotherapists may use dry needles because due to the dry needling, the needles are inserted into the muscle knot. Due to which tiny twitches in the muscle is caused, this helps to treat painful muscle tension.

Apart from obvious physical appearance, here’s how you can identify if you are having postural imbalance-

• Frequent aches and stiffness in your joints and muscles
• Random episodes of headache
• Curved neck, rounded shoulders and potbelly
• Back pain
• Fatigue

One can follow simple lifestyle recommendations and some common exercises to improve and maintain a healthy posture.

Here are a few ways to fix incorrect posture-

1. Pay attention to your body.

Wherever you are working on the sofa, couch or chair, check for any kind of discomfort or strain. Your body will always tell you if something is not right. A small adjustment will always make the difference.

2. Be aware of your posture.

Try not to be over conscious but always keep a regular check about the way you sit, place your hand around the laptop, and concentrate over the screen. Look down with your eyes, not neck.

3. Move around often.

Do not keep things like water, tea/coffee or related items over hand reach distance. Always get up and move to grab the things you need. Getting up for water will help you move more. One should move around every 30-40 minutes. Make sure you stretch in between the breaks.

4. Work in a good light.

Make sure you have good lighting around. During day time, sunlight would be the best option. It goes the same with the kind of proper ventilation. Lack of both also contributes to postural malpractice.

5. Rest your eyes.

Keep the right angle for viewing the computers or other screens and an ideal head neck position. Along with this, don’t forget to rest your eyes at regular intervals. Intermediately keep changing your view, look outside the window and if needed shut your eyes.

Some general exercises one can perform to improve or maintain posture

• Chin tucks
• Back extension
• Corner of the wall Chest stretches.
• Calf pumps
• Seated stretches
• Bridging

Coronavirus! This word needs introduction. It mainly affects the lungs and causes  pneumonia, type 2 respiratory  failure, ARDS, Lung injury, sepsis. Many people are recovering from Covid and are also facing complications.

These days, many exercise related videos are trending for Covid on social media. Most of the popular exercises are diaphragmatic, pursed lip breathing, spiro, ballon blowing, prone position. But all of this we should know when to do? What kind of exercises we should do? Fret not! We bought you this piece exclusively for these doubts.

• Exercise prescription  should be according to respiratory  rate, heart rate, oxygen saturation (spo2)
• Before doing any exercise  check heart rate, respiratory  rate, spo2  if respiratory  rate  more than 45, heart rate 95 bpm, spo2 less than 90% – one shouldn’t encourage  strenuous exercises  or vigorous  exercises
• Perform Relaxed breathing ( inhale through mouth and exhale through  nose )
• Spiro (slowly ) 5 repetitions then give rest for 10 mins and repeat it again for 5 repetitions

• Diaphragmatic breathing: Diaphragm  is the major respiratory  muscle. Place the one hand over the abdomen and the other hand over the chest. Inhale through mouth and exhale through  nose.

• Pursed lip breathing : Purse your lips as if you were going to whistle and breath out. This is one of the simplest ways to control SOB.
• If person is not comfortable in prone position  or contradictory in prone position, should encourage side lying.
• Side Lying : Diaphragm will be relaxed  due to gravity eliminated position, so it reduces the overload on the diaphragm.

For further information and consultation:

Dr. M.B.shalini (Physiotherapist)

Ramesh hospital

Vijayawada