HealthCare Support Guide: Physical Therapist Vs Physiotherapist

Choosing the right medical support can be exceedingly important. It not only helps in preventing any further damage to your current medical situation but can also contribute towards a speedy recovery. Physical therapist and physiotherapist sounds very similar, but there are differences in the two medical support types. It might be surprising to know that around 80 % of world population is unaware of the difference between the two. Both therapists share similar goals, but their way of treatment is different.  Since both have different educational requirements and medical support plans, read the sections below to know everything about them:

What is Physical Therapy?

A Physical Therapist is a highly educated and licensed health care professional who helps patients to deal with and reduce pain. These practitioners reinstate mobility, in most of the cases, without expensive surgery, long term use of prescribed medicines and side effects. They teach patients how to manage their conditions so that they can achieve a long term health benefits. Using treatments and techniques, the physical therapists examine each patient and develop a plan to promote the ability to reduce pain, restore body function and prevent disability. The physical therapists help patients to attain optimal fitness and wellness regimes and encourage them for a healthier and more active lifestyle.

The professionals take care of their patients in a number of sittings at a physical therapy clinic, hospitals, private practices, home health agencies and many other medical institutions. Most of the medical practitioners are in private practice, though some do prefer a small setup using their own homes for private space.

What is Physiotherapy?

People around the world are perhaps more aware of the term ‘Physiotherapist’ than the physical therapist. A  Physiotherapist gives physical therapy to their patients to help them manage medical conditions like joint pains, movement problems, sprains, sports injuries, and others. The medical help is offered through manual therapy, electrotherapy, exercise therapy and various other physical therapies. Nowadays, the physiotherapy clinics and special medical help centers available to offer immediate medical support and progressive solutions for musculoskeletal pain, foot pain, joint pains, etc.

The modern physiotherapy clinic is well versed with all the modern and advanced facilities to cater the ever-growing needs of the patients. These therapies are either suggested by medical practitioners or are advised by special surgeons to ensure speedy recovery of the injury or to get immediate relief from constant pains.
 
Explore the web to know more about the physical therapy and physiotherapy support solutions and choose the right one for your injury to recover speedily.

Podiatry to the Rescue of Sportsmen

While sports has a positive impact on human health in every possible way, right from maintaining fitness to building up strength, injuries that occur during sports can be quite dangerous to the person involved. For instance, there are brain injuries that can cost a player their life. There are other injuries that may not impact the life of a person but may bring about an unwanted halt to their sports career.

Awareness can help reduce the number of injuries related to sports, which may include knowledge on rehydration, nutrition, skills and techniques, identification of warning signs, etc. Sportspeople should go through regular checkups to identify any potential problems and take precautions accordingly in advance. Once a problem sets in the form of an injury, it needs urgent medical attention.

Podiatry is a branch of medical science that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and management of diseases, defects and injuries of the foot, ankle and lower limb. By virtue of their profession, podiatrists are the catalysts for the promotion of physical activity all over the world. While the scope of a podiatrist’s job is very wide, a major portion of it relates to sports injuries. Sportspeople continue to play, perform and excel in their role due to effective and efficient podiatric care.

Depending on the kind of injury, a podiatrist can offer physical therapy or orthotics. Physiotherapy has proven to one of the best treatment methods for such injuries as it cures the problem with long lasting results. A modern physiotherapy clinic is equipped with advanced equipment and technology. A country encouraging sports needs to invest in the mechanism to counter sports-related injuries.

Almost every physiotherapy clinic in Singapore is facilitated to handle cases related to sports injuries, subjected to different degrees of criticality. Their modus operandi ensures that sports people get the best of treatments in a cost-effective manner and continue with their sports career without any setbacks. The list of every eminent physiotherapy clinic in Singapore can be found online.

Expert Tips to Prevent Lower Limb Injuries while Preparing for Your Game

It is true that exercising regularly or playing your favourite sports and help you attain fitness goals with great ease, but sometimes it may turn out to be most deadly nightmare, when you get injured while exercising. Staying injury-free should be the prime goal of active people and sports professionals while making a swift move towards fitness and healthy lifestyle. It is important to consider that no sport or exercise goal can get completed without having proper physical preparation and taking essential precautions that can save you from injuries and getting hurt badly. Read the sections below to understand some essential factors that can help you prevent lower limb injuries with great ease:

1.      Decide Are You Ready for Sport?

Getting your foot or ankle hurt during heavy workout routines and exercises is quite common, thus, it is highly important to ensure that you are really ready for sport of workout, before you actually start getting indulged in any such activity. In other words, any podiatrist Singapore professional will recommend going through a good physical preparation before taking up any physical or sports tasks that involves a lot of strength or effort from your body.

2.      Measure Your Strength and Balance

Strength and balance are the two most common aspects of sports and exercise that you must fulfil to ensure that the muscular system stays fee from any sort of damage, injury, or serious health problem. If anything wrong happens, then immediately take the patient to the nearest podiatry clinic and provide proper care to ensure that the medical case should not get worst due to delay in treatment. It is important to consider that your body is impacted by external forces while playing sport, thus, ensure that you never put too much pressure on your passive tissue structures.

3.      General Aerobic Fitness

No sport or exercise is complete without getting engaged in prolonged running sessions. Since fatigue increases the risk of injury as it promotes extreme lower limb bio mechanics, it is highly important to preventing your body from excessive fatigue while getting engaged in any sort of physical tasks. Never extend hip and knee postures, encourage increased hip rotations, and reduce massive movements and loads on knees to stay fit.

How to Overcome Serious and Uncertain Sports Injuries?

Dealing with sports inquiries requires a lot of patience and support from the family and friends. Things may become a lot easier than expected when you have a strong will and a group of motivated people by your side. It is imperative to consider that playing your favorite sport will not always give you cheerful memories, but it may make you experience some of the toughest experiences that are hard to recall. If you don’t wish to struggle much and want to enjoy every bit of the moment, then read the following blog and apply the mentioned suggestions in your real life:

1.      Focus on Prevention First

Undoubtedly, there is a pool of best sports physio Singapore experts available to help you deal with uncertain injuries, but the prime thing to do is to thing about prevention you can take to avoid any mishap. Add the precautions in your play rule book, use the right equipment, and follow the correct technique to avoid injuries from happening in the first place.

2.      Research About Injuries Related to Your Sport Type

Not all sports injuries are same because every sport type involves a lot of strength and effort from different body parts, thus, the injuries related to them are also different. Think and research about the real-time instances that have occurred or may occur while playing or getting trained on specialized sports techniques.

3.      What to Do, if Injury Occurs

If you are injured, then the first thing to do is to pull yourself out the game. Inform your coach or parent about what all has and ask them to take you to the nearest sports injury clinic. Keep a check on your pain areas, determine whether it increases or reduces while sitting in some particular positions, check for wounds and cuts, and examine the injury carefully to describe all the details to your sport injury physician.

Being a little careful at play and following the right techniques can help you win the game, but also assists in establishing a preventive layer that can save you from serious health or sport injuries. Keep reading this space for more!

Chronic Back Pain: Two Ways a Physiotherapist Can Ease Back Pain

“My back pain is killing me!” If you say something like this daily, then you seriously need help of an experienced physiotherapist. A large number of people in Singapore routinely experience back pain due to bad sitting and sleeping posture, long working hours, intensive physical activities, and other habits. In fact, low back pain is a common problem faced by a majority of athletes. Athletes are at greater risk of sustaining a lower spine injury due to physical activity. So, whether your back pain is chronic or sharp, don’t worry, because it is treatable.

Back pain can impact on your ability to keep moving and enjoy life. If you have back pain, then you’ll know what struggle it can be. So, it’s better to start your physiotherapy treatment early so that you don’t have to go for more aggressive treatments, including back surgery. Common forms of physiotherapy include:

1. Passive physical therapy: Your sports physiotherapist may focus on decreasing pain with passive physical therapy, such as heat application, ice packs and electrical stimulation. Since these treatments are done to the patient and there is no physical activity involved, this therapy is called passive physical therapy.
2. Active physical therapy: In addition to passive therapies, active physical therapy is also necessary to rehabilitate the lower back portion. There are stretching and strengthening that can be done to alleviate lower back pain. Learn how to perform these exercises properly from a physical therapist of your physiotherapy clinic in Singapore.

There is substantial evidence available that supports physical therapy is ideal for treating lower back pain. Your sports physiotherapist or a qualified health professional of a physiotherapy clinic in Singapore can design a treatment plan that’s just right for you. They will also check if any underlying health conditions are contributing to your back pain. Active exercise plays an important role in preventing future back problems.

Physiotherapy can make a huge difference to your back pain. If lower back pain is killing you, start your physiotherapy treatment today!

Flat Feet in Children Is Not Just a Foot Problem

Babies are commonly born with flat feet. Most of the children develop the arch of the foot by the time they reach 6-7 years of age. However, in approximately 20-30 percent of children, the arch doesn't develop at all. Flat feet do not hurt, therefore, they are assumed to be “normal.” The fact is that it is NOT normal. When flat footed children are not treated through physical therapy, exercises or special "orthopedic" shoes, then they develop various problems later on in their lives.

Developmental flat feet affects the musculoskeletal system of children. Flat foot problem in children can lead to complaints of pain, reduced walking speed, future postural deformities and increased falls. There are three types of flat feet:

·         Flexible flat foot – In flexible flat foot, the arch can be seen when the foot is not bearing any weight. It is much less likely to develop problems and doesn't require any treatment.

·         Rigid flat foot – In rigid flat foot, the arch is not present, when standing or walking. 

·         Flat foot with a tight heel cord – In this condition, a child is unable to bent back his/her foot at an angle more than 15 degrees because the calf muscles are being contracted.

Treatment for Flat Feet

If your child has flat feet problem, your best option is to consult a pediatric podiatrist in Singapore for a full assessment and treatment recommendations. Take your child to a physical therapy clinic to get the treatment started as soon as possible. Physical therapy treatment for flat feet will include using custom orthotics and doing exercises such as internal/external rotation exercises and towel-gathering exercise. Your child’s podiatrist will give you prefabricated or custom orthotics to eliminate pain, encourage normal development of the arch and prevent postural deformities.

If you have any questions about children’s flat feet, please do not hesitate to contact The Sole Clinic for an evaluation and assessment of your child. Remember, flat feet is not just a foot problem, it affects your child’s overall development.

Why right body posture is a big deal?

Your posture says a lot about your personality. Just as eating right and exercising is important for your health, so is having correct posture. Having a good posture involves training your body to walk, sit, stand sit, and lie in positions where least strain is placed on your muscles and ligaments. From neck pain to blood flow, posture can really have a great impact on how you feel and look every day.

Why right posture is a big deal?
People often slip into “bad” posture, doing lasting damage to themselves. The imbalances that result from excessive stress places on your muscles and ligaments due to “bad” posture can lead to all sorts of problems including:

• Chronic back pain
• Neck and shoulder pain
• Foot, knee and back injuries
• Headaches and Fatigue
• Muscle atrophy and weakness
• Digestion issues

Correcting Your Alignment
Many of postural deviations occur due to our habits such as sitting and working at a computer for longer periods of time, tilting head while texting on phone, slouching while driving, and bending forward from your back. Hence, it’s important to learn how to have better posture. Try doing some of these exercises to maintain your health and fitness.

1. Planks
2. Pilates swimming
3. Back extensions
4. Shoulder rolls
5. Kneeling Stretch

Finally,
Exercise and yoga are great ways to build up the strength you require to maintain correct posture. If you don’t perform exercise and eliminate bad habits related to your bodily posture, you would increase the risk of developing aforesaid health problems. If you are currently experiencing these problems, get physiotherapy treatment or visit the best physiotherapy clinic in Singapore or your local area. A physiotherapist will diagnose, treat and help prevent recurrence of these problems. Experts of a physiotherapy clinic will also teach you about good posture.

Do you know other posture mistakes that you think people tend to make? Share your views in the comments section below!

To Avoid Sports Injury, Don’t Do Too Much, Too Fast

Any kind of sport is good for your health and well-being. They help you improve your muscle tone, energy levels, endurance and general fitness. Even research studies show that sports help can help people boost their sleep quality, energy, as well as reduce their risk of stress. However, when you increase any type of physical activity, be it running, swimming or some other favorite sport, it increases the risk of sports injury.

Never do too much and too fast
When you start any training regime, your body place demands on bones and muscles. They remodel themselves accordingly with every session in order to better serve your training demands. However, this process takes time. If you do anything too much, too fast in one training session without giving much time to your body to recover, it can result in overuse injury.

Tips to avoid sports injury: Increase your intensity of training by not more than 10 percent in a week. Progress gradually from mild to moderate training plan and give your body to heal itself from increasing stress due to physical activity. Pace yourself and mix up your routine with cross-training with avoid sports injuries.

Hints you get that you have developed sports injury
You will get subtle hints that something isn’t right with your body. With increasing intensity of exercise, you may develop aches, soreness, and pain in different body parts. You should not ignore these symptoms and take appropriate action to treat these injuries and avoid future ones from coming your way.

What’s the best way to treat sports injury?
Have regular sessions with a experienced sports massage therapist or visit physiotherapy clinic in Singapore or your local area. Sports therapists will help you rehabilitate physical injuries, diagnose problems and get you back to optimum levels of sports specific fitness.

Dedicate a day of recovery after intense sports training and focus on stretching and mobilizing exercises. Your body will thank you for that!

Females are at Greater Risk of Dysfunctional Athleticism with Excessive Sports, Exercise and Diet

Sports and exercise are great ways to mold a balanced life for women of all ages and all body types. Exercising and maintaining a proper diet plan are essential aspects of life for a woman and contribute immensely towards a healthy family and professional life. However, there are many women who get carried away by the adrenaline provided by fitness regime including diet plans. Over indulgence of hyper work out sessions and insane dieting always put a woman on a danger zone of dysfunctional athleticism, causing them sever damage physiologically and also mentally.

The Sole Clinic is essentially a sports injury clinic offering sports physio services in Singapore and provides special training programs and special programs for women who are fitness enthusiasts indulging in over athletic practices that prove to be harmful in long run. Over exercising and over dieting cause grave health concerns especially in women like menstrual dysfunction, disordered eating and premature osteoporosis which decreases bone density and overall health.

Today we can find several women who are dissatisfied with their bodies, their looks, and thrive to stay thin. Their desire to reduce weight takes them at the brink of making wrong choices many times. Adapting to highly stressful fitness and dietary patterns, often skipping meals, leads to loosing required nutrition.

The haste of losing weight is what generally leads to such malpractices. Women out in Singapore are therefore, sincerely advised to consult an expert before following any diet plans that require more sacrifice and leaving more nutrient rich items than necessary or before going in for a strict regime of exercise that they might now even require for a healthy living. Often these tensions cause severe stress and that escalates the gravity of dysfunctions in their bodies even more.

Every Athlete Needs a Best Friend Called Sports Massage

Sports persons are people most looked up to these days. Successful sportsperson is an icon. But there goes a lot behind their powerful performances, something as latent yet essential as massage.
A player's posture and form are all a result of killer instinct he has for the game. Sports massage helps a player in gaining strength to perform better and perform again and is therefore, essential for a sports person pre and post the game.

For years, sports massage has not been taken seriously. But with changing trends, this practice has also been taken as a mandatory one. Sports massage works as muscle repairing and relaxing process once the muscles are stiff from excessive work performed. Massage act to enhance performance, minimize pain, prevent injury, improve focus and reduce recovery time.  It works on two types of responses-

1) A mechanical response created due to the pressure and movement.

2) A reflex action response where the nerves are treated by the stimulation of an effective massage.

The Sole Clinic provides the best sports massage facilities in Singapore. The clinic consists of highly trained and expert sports massage therapists and offers the state of the art facilities to implement required therapies on a sports person and help them maintain their muscle strength and agility. Sports massages are highly beneficial for a sportsman as these massages affect the cardiovascular system.

They dilate blood vessels, helping them to work more efficiently and promote blood circulation.  The assistance of promoting venous blood flow back to the heart improves blood flow in the body, delivering fresh oxygen and other nutrients to the tissue and assisting in the toxic waste removal. The relaxed state one is in during the massage helps in managing a proper heart rate. Apart from the cardiovascular system, massages help repair the muscular system.  For that competitive streak sports massage provides a relaxed, low-tension form that encourages focus.

Plantar Heel Pain: The Effectiveness of Sports Physiotherapy

Plantar fasciitis, also known as plantar heel pain, is a very common condition that can cause significant discomfort and pain in the bottom of the heel. In athletic runner, plantar heel pain accounts for as much as 8% of injuries. Sports physiotherapy or sports massage is the most appropriate treatment for this condition.

What is plantar fasciitis?

Plantar fasciitis is the inflammation of plantar fascia of your back foot. Plantar fascia is a strong band of tissue that connects your heel to your toes. It acts as a shock-absorber in your foot. If your plantar fascia and its attached ligaments get weak and irritated due to repetitive use, then you develop plantar heel pain condition.

Though this condition is common in middle-aged people, but younger athletes or active individuals who do a lot of walking, running, and standing are more likely to injure their plantar fascia. Symptoms typically include difficulty in walking and standing on heel. You can develop plantar fasciitis if:

• You have started exercising on different surfaces
• If you are overweight and causing too much strain on your heel
• If there sudden stretching of your sole or you wear poor cushioned shoes
• If you have a tight Achilles tendon as it affects ankle’s ability to flex

Physiotherapy Treatment: Plantar Fasciitis Massage

Deep tissue sports massage is the best treatment option for plantar fasciitis as it helps to get relief from pain and stimulate blood flow to the area. Your foot doctor will use five primary techniques for deep tissue massage:

• Active Motion to stretch the targeted muscles
• Passive Motion to manipulate the muscle
• Static Pressure to apply firm pressure on specific sore spots
• Muscle Stripping with deep movements to remove knots and toxins caught in the muscle
• Negative Pressure to expand and separate muscles by using suction cups

Consult your local sports massage therapist in Singapore or a specialized foot doctor if you are experiencing any symptoms that are similar to those of plantar fasciitis. Your professional therapist will make an accurate diagnosis and may suggest when to start your deep sports massage treatment session.