Your Guide to Physiotherapy

Melissa Jun
3 min readOct 20, 2017

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Accidents do happen most of the time. Its impact can affect us in ways that is so little that we can immediately disregard it, or it can damage us so much that we cannot function properly the way we are before. From something so simple such as a smack from a co-worker or as tragic as a car accident, it is important to know that there is life beyond that moment. As humans, we are born to adapt and move forward. We have discovered a lot of techniques on how to live the life to the fullest even though we have a tragic past.

A good example of this is the existence of physiotherapy. Physiotherapy is defined as the “treatment of disease, injury, or deformity by physical methods such as massage, heat treatment and exercise rather than by drugs or surgery” by the Oxford dictionary. These diseases and injuries may come from the sports you are playing, congenital and developmental problems of a child, to cardio-respiratory physiotherapy, neurological rehabilitation (for stroke and other head injuries) and many other. They are being taken care of by physiotherapists who are trained to assess a person’s condition, diagnose, and help one to understand the issue in their bodies. In crafting the person’s treatment plan, his or her general health, lifestyle, and activities will be taken into account.

In the US, physiotherapy is known as physical therapy. From a simple neck pain to something as tedious as regaining back the ability to walk after a tragic accident, physiotherapy is something to look after.

Physiotherapy started during the time of Hippocrates, as they believed massage and other manual therapy techniques are able to treat the conditions of people back then. However, in the 19th century, modern physical therapy was introduced due to the events that needed the technique back then. Polio outbreaks and the war have been the trigger for physiotherapy to bloom.

There are many universities around the world that offers a degree in physical therapy. The US have the University of Delaware, University of Pittsburgh, University of Southern California — Los Angeles, and the Washington University in St. Louis. These universities tied off with each other in the 2017’s ranking of best graduate physical therapy programs by US News.

Today, we already have physiotherapy groups which are made up of specialist physiotherapists, occupational therapists, sports massage therapists, and sports trainers. These teams provide consultancy work, home based therapy, workshops, and talks.

Most of the physiotherapy clinics in Singapore provide solutions to people by understanding first what condition the patient’s body is in. After that, they make an intensive therapy plan that is tailored for the individual. Some patients even utilize physiotherapy as an aid for people with dementia, cerebral palsy, and other related disorders.

There are more than 10 clinics that provide physiotherapy services for people. One must be always vigilant in selecting the right clinic that will in turn provide the right physiotherapist. Always look for the clinics with the best physiotherapists who are able to understand your situation and always making sure that the treatment is the best for you.

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