Who is a physiotherapist and what do they do? A physiotherapist helps to rehabilitate individuals who have been injured, operated on, or who suffer from disorders of muscles or joints. Rehabilitation has two key components – physical training and physical therapy.
What are the activities of the physiotherapist job?
Healing through physical training and muscle toning – direction of reconditioning and breathing exercises; getting patients to practise sitting, standing, walking and other movements; prescribing or administering exercises focused e.g. on the spine or chest, arms or legs, various joints, muscles, tendons and blood vessels; exercises prescribed after various types of operations; exercises after burns, for congenital heart disease, during pregnancy etc.
Physical therapy – physiotherapists use a range of therapies including hydrotherapy (exercise that takes place in water for people with mobility problems) ultrasound (sound waves used both for scanning and to treat soft tissue), deep heat, and various types of manipulation and massage etc.
A physiotherapist may prepares physical therapy plans for individual clients based on an initial examination and according to the instructions from the doctor; they monitor and record the patient’s condition and provide information to the doctor on the progress of the therapy.