As a physical therapist, you play an essential role in helping patients recover from illness, injury or surgery. You’ll help restore movement and function, and make sure patients have the tools they need to thrive.
Personalized care is important, so it’s essential to work with a physical therapist that understands your goals and will tailor their therapy to fit your needs. This will ensure you’re getting the best recovery possible.
Physical Therapy
PT is a non-invasive health care discipline that focuses on the development, maintenance and restoration of optimal body movement. It is an essential part of a successful recovery from injury, surgery or a chronic condition.
A physical therapist can help you regain strength and mobility after an injury or accident, improve your overall health, and return to the activities you enjoy. They use exercise to strengthen and build flexibility, as well as reduce pain.
At Elite Sports Medicine and Orthopedics, our physical therapists work closely with our orthopedic surgeon to ensure your treatment is tailored to your specific needs. They can help you with a variety of orthopedic treatments including post-surgical care, arthritis rehabilitation, spinal orthopaedic rehabilitation and pediatric therapy.
At Empower Physical Therapy and Performance, our Physical Therapists in Minneapolis MN utilize manual therapy techniques. These include joint mobilization, therapeutic exercise and soft tissue manipulation. We also offer instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM), a manual technique where therapists use metal or plastic tools to gently scrape and move muscles to promote healing and relieve pain.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy is the only profession that helps people across the lifespan to do the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of everyday activities (occupations).
OT enables people of all ages to live life to its fullest by helping them promote health, prevent illness or injury, and live better with a disability. They do this by assessing and identifying daily routines that impact health, developing personalized plans, using adaptive equipment as needed, and offering support as patients learn to navigate their new environment.
OTs work with children and adults in a variety of settings including schools, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, long-term care facilities, and private practice. They need patience and strong interpersonal skills to build trust and respect with their clients. They also need ingenuity and creativity to adapt their programs to the individual needs of each patient.
Speech Therapy
When you or a family member has health conditions that impact speech and language, it’s important to find a professional who can help. Speech-language pathologists, also called speech therapists, are trained to assess and treat communication issues that affect speech clarity, fluency and voice quality.
They can also help patients improve their ability to chew and swallow. These services are available for children and adults who have a variety of health concerns, including brain injury, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, head and neck cancer, congenital birth defects, hearing loss or other physical impairments.
A speech therapist’s goal is to restore speech and language skills, as well as improve the patient’s quality of life by treating the cause of the disability. Treatments are based on the needs of the patient and can include medical tests, procedures, and therapy sessions.
The effectiveness of therapy depends on a number of factors, such as how soon the child begins, how often they attend, and how involved the parent or caregiver is. Research shows that a regular schedule of therapy appointments and participation by the child’s parent or caregiver are the most effective ways to achieve speech and language goals.
Orthotics & Prosthetics
Prosthetics and orthotics are medical devices designed to support, align, correct, or replace body parts. They can be a simple commercially made device or custom-tailored to your specific needs.
An orthotist is a healthcare professional who helps patients improve the way they move by prescribing medical devices that fit them. They assess a patient’s specific needs, prescribe medical equipment to help them, and provide training on how to use it.
A prosthetic device is an externally applied device that replaces a missing or deficient limb. The prosthesis is usually designed by taking a plaster cast of the residual limb on to which it will be fitted.
An orthotist and prosthetist work together with a patient to find the perfect medical device for them. The medical device should be comfortable, functional, and affordable. It should also look good and feel natural to the patient. Once the perfect medical device is found, an orthotist and prosthetist will help their patients get used to it.