Why Physical Therapy is so Important to Your Healing
As you turn the corner health-wise, your specialist in orthopedic foot and ankle care in Atlanta will recommend physical therapy (PT.) With some foot and ankle fractures or muscle tears, PT is an obvious part of the end game, but with others the time, effort and money involved make it a less clear decision. Here are some reasons why you should go to PT even if you think you are mastering the healing of your injury.
Acclimation
Whether you realize it or not, favoring one leg over another has created a new perspective for your body. It is used to getting around on one leg or only putting slight pressure on your injured leg. Getting back to normal where you use both legs like you used to do will take a bit of acclimation.
PT helps accomplish that. It gives your injured leg a chance to slowly get used to being used in the manner you used to use it. That includes stretching muscles, relearning how to put weight on your injured leg and helping regain your balance.
Balance
Before you were injured, both your legs and the rest of your body made thousands of unconscious decisions regarding your balance every day. Your injury and the removal of that leg from the sequence means your newly healed leg must relearn how to be part of the balancing act that is your everyday existence.
Muscle Regrowth
Muscle atrophy is a fact of life with any limb that is inactive over a longer period. Even if you performed exercises to help control the atrophy, your injured limb will lose some of its muscle mass. PT helps you regrow those muscles and get your leg back to the point that it equals the leg you did not injure.
Flexibility
A limb left alone not only atrophies, its muscles become stiff and tighten. What that means is that once you can walk on the injured leg again, your muscles will need to be stretched out again. Both your work in a PT session, as well as your work at home, will help stretch and tone the muscles that were dormant while you were resting your injured leg.
Confidence
Finally, PT goes a long way to getting you back to the way you were and that builds confidence. Whether you realize it or not, you will question whether your limb is fully healed or will support you no matter what until you prove to yourself that is the case.
PT is an integral part of your orthopedic foot and ankle care in Atlanta. While it is a commitment, the benefits vastly outweigh any downsides because of the information above.
