According to the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario, physiotherapy is defined as treatment to restore, maintain, and make the most of a patient’s mobility, function, and well-being. Outside of its physical benefits, physiotherapy is known to have significant effects on the mental and emotional well being of clients. It is well known how profound the mind-body relationship is and how sub-optimal physical status can have a negative impact on our mood and vice versa.
At Prototype Sports Performance, our priority is to encourage and facilitate clients in learning how to best self manage their body and mind. In order to achieve this optimal mind-body state, it is important that we lead our clients through a graduated exercise program where they always feel like they are in control of their body.
In addition to exercise training, there is often a role for manual therapy in each stage of the rehab process. For example, after an acute injury, physiotherapists will provide hands-on therapy to increase the range of motion in affected joints and prevent tissue or muscle restriction. After the patient has regained functional range of motion, therapists will then proceed to work on regaining muscle strength and joint stability in the affected area.
Lastly, after joint flexibility and strength has been restored, the therapist and client will focus on restoring whole body function via specific movement patterns and exercises that will challenge both the client’s balance and their proprioception (sense of body in space).
It is important to note that along the rehabilitation journey there may be minor setbacks. However, if the clients recovery is trending upwards and they are improving their overall function they are on the right path to recovery. With physiotherapy, it is important to set realistic and time-based goals to ensure that the person will be able to reach certain milestones within an appropriate time frame. Remember these goals are also individualistic as each person differs based on their age, medical history, exercise tolerance, and motivational factors.
Osteopathy uses a hands on approach to build health in their patients who have ailments that affect their day-to-day lives. Osteopathy prepares the body through a series of small changes so that it is able and ready to hold onto the changes better. In each treatment, the Osteopathic Practitioner works to discover why their patients are having pain in the first place, thus treating their individual needs that are unique to their structure.
This means, treating what is causing the pain rather than where the pain is coming from (the symptom).
“Your treatment should be almost entirely based on exercise, and it should be indistinguishable from a workout at the gym.” Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Chris Raynor
The goal is to realign your body to allow for a better environment for it to self-heal and self-regulate; with a focus on treating to ensure that any movement restrictions that prevent you from being healthy are addressed. When these hindering factors are removed through treatment, balance is then restored in our bodies which enable it to work better under optimal conditions. Your body is given the chance to do it’s work so that it will be improved to heal your concern on its own.
During treatment, the goal of the Osteopathic Practitioner is to look at the root cause of your concern and treat that instead of following the symptomology and masking that pain. Addressing the root cause of the patient’s concern, and treating each patient as a unique individual where treatments are tailored to each person, can help with the following (and much more):
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STRENGTH. MINDSET. MOBILITY. NUTRITION. DEEP PRACTICE.
