When a person sustains an injury from playing sports, an accident or any other reason, he or she may need to undergo physical therapy to restore normal movement to the body. Part of this approach involves the use of therapeutic exercise to help the patient regain balance, strength, flexibility, and range of motion and alleviate pain.
The patient's movement abilities will be assessed and his or her medical history will be taken by the physical therapist. Based on this information, a personalized training plan of specific exercises will be devised to present the patient with increasing physical challenges that will promote healing. The first step is to overcome pain, and then continuing on to regain bodily endurance, flexibility, and strength.
Exercises in a physical therapy program are classified by the type of movement and its effect on the body. Passive exercise applies an external force to the affected muscles, often by way of a mechanical device such as a continuous passive motion unit or manually by the therapist, these help to restore normal motions to the joints. Active exercises are those which require the patient to the work the muscles at least somewhat, possibly with assistance at first, and help improve neuromuscular control and joint movement.
Other activities are prescribed to help patients regain strength and endurance in the muscles which have been injured. This is normally added to the program once the patient can safely perform basic flexibility and range-of-motion movements without help. Progressive resistance is added to the routine at a steady rate to gradually build back lost strength in the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones, which is the body's natural response.
Strength exercises are classified as static or dynamic. A static activity does not require movement of the joint, the tension and resistance are equal, and the muscle fibers remain the same length throughout the movement. The angle is the key aspect which makes the difference in this case, so patients are advised to vary the angle of each set, making sure they hold it for several seconds each time, as this is what builds strength.
Dynamic exercises require muscle and joint involvement and can be sub-grouped as isotonic, isokinetic, variable-resistance, and manual movements. What each of these has is common is that it results in concentric and eccentric muscle action, which is the lengthening and shortening of fibers, generating force. This repetitive stretching of muscle-tendon bundles eventually boosts tensile strength.
Isotonic movements are those which lengthen the muscle by means of an externally applied force that imposes a change on the angle of the joint. Examples include the use of free weights, ankle weights, and weight machines. Variable-resistance exercises involve limited force production by the muscles when the joints are in extreme positions of range-of-motion. There are machines to apply resistance relative to force with proper joint alignment. Manual resistance is similar except that it is performed with the therapist's assistance rather than a machine.
With isokinetic exercises, the resistance and muscle force are equal, and they are performed with a fixed speed. Specially designed fitness machines provide a level of force commensurate with the user's muscle resistance, and the balance of concentric/eccentric action and velocity can normally be adjusted as well.
The patient's movement abilities will be assessed and his or her medical history will be taken by the physical therapist. Based on this information, a personalized training plan of specific exercises will be devised to present the patient with increasing physical challenges that will promote healing. The first step is to overcome pain, and then continuing on to regain bodily endurance, flexibility, and strength.
Exercises in a physical therapy program are classified by the type of movement and its effect on the body. Passive exercise applies an external force to the affected muscles, often by way of a mechanical device such as a continuous passive motion unit or manually by the therapist, these help to restore normal motions to the joints. Active exercises are those which require the patient to the work the muscles at least somewhat, possibly with assistance at first, and help improve neuromuscular control and joint movement.
Other activities are prescribed to help patients regain strength and endurance in the muscles which have been injured. This is normally added to the program once the patient can safely perform basic flexibility and range-of-motion movements without help. Progressive resistance is added to the routine at a steady rate to gradually build back lost strength in the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones, which is the body's natural response.
Strength exercises are classified as static or dynamic. A static activity does not require movement of the joint, the tension and resistance are equal, and the muscle fibers remain the same length throughout the movement. The angle is the key aspect which makes the difference in this case, so patients are advised to vary the angle of each set, making sure they hold it for several seconds each time, as this is what builds strength.
Dynamic exercises require muscle and joint involvement and can be sub-grouped as isotonic, isokinetic, variable-resistance, and manual movements. What each of these has is common is that it results in concentric and eccentric muscle action, which is the lengthening and shortening of fibers, generating force. This repetitive stretching of muscle-tendon bundles eventually boosts tensile strength.
Isotonic movements are those which lengthen the muscle by means of an externally applied force that imposes a change on the angle of the joint. Examples include the use of free weights, ankle weights, and weight machines. Variable-resistance exercises involve limited force production by the muscles when the joints are in extreme positions of range-of-motion. There are machines to apply resistance relative to force with proper joint alignment. Manual resistance is similar except that it is performed with the therapist's assistance rather than a machine.
With isokinetic exercises, the resistance and muscle force are equal, and they are performed with a fixed speed. Specially designed fitness machines provide a level of force commensurate with the user's muscle resistance, and the balance of concentric/eccentric action and velocity can normally be adjusted as well.
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