Therapeutic Modalities in physiotherapy

In view of my last post on breakdown of rehabilitation procedures in the management of hip arthroplasty, lets quickly take a look at Therpeutic modalities in physiotherapy

Let dive in

Now when you hear therapeutic, it mean a form of treatment used to achieve a desired result in individuals with a particular condition which in most cases would have affected their quality of life. And of course if there is therapeutic intervention, there would definitely be therapeutic modalities.

So therapeutic modalities are basically anything ( tools, devices and even natural phenomenon) that you use to achieve a treatment goal or aim in individual with certain condition that affect their quality of life. Basically these modalities make use what we call ENERGY which is a phenomenon that cannot be destroyed but can be converted from one form to another.

Now this so called energy used to achieve therapeutic purposes can range from heat, sound, kinetic, electrical, light, even waves such as electromagnetic waves. These energies are usually employed by we physiotherpists to basically help affected individuals improve their quality of life which might have in one way or the other have been hampered by certain health condition.

Some of the purpose that these therapeutic modalities are used to achieve can range from but not ever limited to:

Relief of pain which is mostly rated before treatment using outcome measures like VRS and NRS scale

Reduce inflammation, a process involved in any healing process going on in the body. Usually characterised by the presence of inflammatory markers

Boost circulation by helping to improve blood flow around localised region of applications. This same improvement in blood flow also play another role by helping to repair damage tissues.

Treat various skin conditions.

Improve scar tissue. Some Physiotherapy modalities can help alot in breaking down scar tissues, this usually serve for cosmetic purpose.

Increase Range of Motion. If there is one thing using the right therapeutic modalities in physical therapy can achieve, its the ability to improve range of motion of an affected body part. One of the ways therapeutic modalities does this is by reducing pain.

One of the things that therapeutic modalities can help with is muscle activation, as much as it can do this, it can also help to decrease unwanted muscle actvities like unwanted contaction and relaxation of muscle fibres

Helps to preserve the physiological properties of muscles especially after an injury or surgery.

One way therapeutic modalities can help to preserve the physiological properties of the musculatures is by prevention of swelling or oedema.

Therapeutic modalities are sometimes electrophysical agents which basically means a physical agent or an electrical agent (uses electricity) used to achieve the desired result.

Examples of Therapeutic modalities or electro-physical agents are:

Electrical muscle stimulators (EMS) - This is basically an electrical devices used for muscle strengthening

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator (TENS) - This is also an electrical device majorly used to improve pain by employing the principles of pain gait theory

Cryotherapy - This basically the use of solid ice to achieve therapeutic result. This works by increasing blood flow to affected area and in other cases it could be used to reduce swelling by reducing inflammation

Interferential current - This is also used for pain reduction, just like TENS

Thermotherapy - This is basically heat used to achieve therapeutic effect. This icludes heat modalities like: Short Wave Diathermy, Microwave Diathermy, Infrared light,

Ultrasound - This employs sound waves(ultrasonic sound wave which is inaudible to the human hear for the achievement of therapeutic effect. This also sometimes referred to as phonophoresis. Ultrasound is also a modality which has been proven to be effective in the reduction of scar tissues, especially keloids

Mechanical traction - This employs the use of mechanical force to improve joint spaces or reduce contact between joint structures. Most common examples are the lumbar traction mostly used for the lumbar spine, cervical traction which mostly used for the cervical spine.

Hydrotherapy - This is the use of water(H2O) to achieve therpaeutic effects

Biofeedback- Biofeedback is mostly used to correct poor posture which one way or the other has affected an individual.

Laser therapy

Shockwave therapy

Massage

These Modalities in physical therapy are not limited to what is seen above. There are more you can check this if you interested (

Thanks for reading, Sayonara 🖐️

References