5 Physical Therapy Techniques to Accelerate Healing

If you’ve been injured in a car accident, suffer from arthritis, or have other problems with mobility or pain, your doctor may prescribe physical therapy (PT). Your physical therapist uses a variety of techniques that create strength and resilience in your joints and muscles. 

One of the benefits of PT is that you see for yourself how your body can heal from extreme trauma or degeneration. With the help of your therapist, you execute or receive a series of exercises that ease pain and stiffness and increase mobility. You also learn how to perform many of these exercises yourself to continue your healing and rehab process on your own.

Our caring providers at Advanced Medical Care in Queens and Brooklyn, New York, prescribe physical therapy to address a wide variety of acute and chronic conditions, including:

• Back pain 
• Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis
• Other problems affecting joints 
• Balance and vestibular problems
• Headaches
• Fibromyalgia
• Sports injuries
• Broken bones and other acute injuries
• Muscle, tendon, and ligament injuries
• Pelvic floor issues
• Cardiovascular disease
• Respiratory disease 
• Stroke recovery
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Spinal injuries or degeneration
• Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis rehabilitation

What are some of the most effective PT services you can receive? Following are five that are extremely beneficial for accelerating the healing process. 

1. Cold laser

Cold laser therapy – also known as low-level laser therapy (LLLT) – triggers beneficial biochemical changes in cells, which helps those cells repair and recover from injuries. Your physical therapist uses a device that emits wavelengths of 600 to 1000 nm. 

This therapy helps your cells produce more fibroblasts, which in turn aids your body in producing collagen and other proteins that help create new connective tissue. Applying LLLT to damaged tendons, for instance, helps produce strong, new tendon cells to rebuild the area of injury.

The photostimulation from LLLT significantly reduces the pain from acute injuries. It also reduces swelling and inflammation.

2. Electrical stimulation

Electrical stimulation accelerates wound healing both on the surface of the skin and deep beneath, at the level of organs and other subcutaneous structures. Like LLLT, electrical stimulation works on the cellular level to accelerate wound healing and organ repair. 

The body is regulated not just by chemical processes, but by electrical ones, too. Undamaged skin has a natural electrical potential of 10–60 mV between your epidermal layer and sub-epidermal layer. However, when your skin is wounded, its natural electric potential is short-circuited. Injuries produce a higher electric current than undamaged skin.

Electrical stimulation amplifies the body’s own tendency to “turn up” the electricity at wound sites for benefits such as:

• Reduced inflammation
• Increased blood supply
• Control of bacterial growth
• Increased fibroblast migration
• Increased cell rebuilding

These benefits apply both to acute and chronic wounds. 

3. Manual traction and joint mobilization

If you have back pain, we may recommend manual traction, which reduces pressure on the spine. Manual traction and joint mobilization can improve other joints as well. The physical therapist uses their hands to physically pull on joints or the spine to ease pressure. It’s especially useful when your back pain is due to a compressed spinal nerve root.

4. Massage therapy

Massage therapy is particularly effective after a joint injury to help increase the circulation to the area. Massage also helps to drain lymphatic fluid to reduce swelling and inflammation. You can expect both physical and emotional benefits from massage, including:

• Less pain
• Improved circulation
• Decreased stiffness
• Increased joint mobility
• More flexibility
• Better sleep
• Stronger immune system
• Lower stress levels
• Improved mood
• More energy
• Increased sense of well-being

You may feel sore directly after your massage, but the soreness and stiffness should go away within a few hours or a couple of days.

5. Acupuncture

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese form of medical treatment that uses extremely thin and flexible, stainless steel, single-use, sterile needles to stimulate points throughout your body that trigger healing, relaxation, and well-being. Although you may feel a brief tingle or shock when the needle is inserted, the needles don’t cause pain. 

Your practitioner may place five to 20 needles for every area treated while you lie comfortably on a treatment table. You relax and may even fall asleep while the needles stimulate healing.

Why acupuncture works to treat pain is still not completely understood. However, numerous studies have demonstrated its benefits. The American College of Physicians recommends acupuncture as a first-line, nonpharmacologic treatment for chronic low back pain. 

Are you in pain from an acute injury or chronic condition? Accelerate your healing with physical therapy today. To schedule a consultation with one of our expert providers, call us or book an appointment online today.