People often wonder when the best time is to go see a physiotherapist. Many are unsure of the extent of their injury or the consequences of poor management of their injury or pain.
Here we will talk about 3 signs that will indicate to you that it is time you go see a physiotherapist and cease your aggravating physical activity.
1. Pain during movement or physical activity.
Pain during walking, running, gym workouts or any movement is a clear indication that you should go and see a physiotherapist. Pain during movement or physical activity is a signal that the body is sending to you to let you know that something needs to be done about your body.
Unfortunately, people have different thresholds of pain, and some are better than others in coping with pain and putting up with it. A vicious cycle of chronic pain and increase in pain level will happen with poor management of pain and injury. Not all pain goes away with just some rest and massage. This is because the pain may not be a simple muscle tightness issue and a complicated issue such as break down of the muscular system due to damage of soft tissues or a biomechanical issue such as poor function/technique or muscle imbalance that is often not noticeable unless assessed by a physiotherapist.
A good physiotherapist can pick these subtle issues up with a thorough history taking of your pain/injury and run through a detailed assessment to pick every detail of your body and give you a solution by correcting the problem.
2. Sensation of stiffness with movement at any time of the day
Any stiffness with movement whether it be first thing in the morning or during the later days is an indication that you need to see a physiotherapist. Our body is made to move freely with no restrictions. The sensation of stiffness can be coming from:
- Inflammation development post physical activity or due to soft tissue damage which has not been addressed properly
- Overworked muscles and joints
- Tendon overloading and Tendon weakness
Physiotherapists can determine the cause of stiffness and work instantaneously to get you moving more freely. A combination of treatment methods including hands on manual therapy like massage, shock wave therapy and joint mobilisations can be used to give immediate effect while therapeutic exercises and loading programs can be prescribed to provide long term effects to prevent stiffness coming back.
3. Swelling after physical activity or movement
If you are noticing swelling after sports, walking or any physical activity then it is time you see a physiotherapist. Swelling is a big indicator of inflammation. Inflammation is the process that occurs when there is damage in our body. The process of inflammation must occur for healing to occur in our body. With poor management chronic inflammation happens as we do not protect or let the injured area take the time to heal.
Physiotherapists are experts when it comes to identifying damage and injuries in our body. We have many medical equipment’s such as LIPUS (low intensity pulsed ultrasound), shock wave therapy and Kinesio taping/braces to reduce swelling and accelerate the bodies healing process. Most importantly we use a medication free approach to reduce inflammation by managing movement patterns and using medical equipment’s that put no harm to the body.
If you have any of the above 3 signs it is time you come in and see one of our physiotherapists at Physio Ready. We have clinics in Ryde & Ermington with convenient parking availability. Contact us on (02) 8622 1681 for the Ermington clinic and (02) 9249 9122 for the Ryde clinic.