All About Orthopedic Rehab

Orthopedic rehab is a type of rehabilitation designed to help people who have been injured, had surgery, or have degenerative conditions. Its goal is to aid patients in regaining mobility, balance, and function in their musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic rehab also focuses on finding ways to alleviate pain.

If you have suffered an injury or gone through surgery, or if you have a degenerative condition that affects your mobility, orthopedic rehab could be the right option for you. But what can it help with, and what can you expect from the process?

What Conditions Can Orthopedic Rehab Help With?

Orthopedic rehab is a conservative treatment that can benefit patients of all ages who are suffering from issues that affect their range of motion, joint flexibility, muscle strength, and body function.

It can help with conditions like:

• Joint pain
• Arthritis
• Parkinson’s disease
• Lyme disease
• Scoliosis
• Stroke
• Spinal stenosis
• Knee instability 
• Carpal tunnel
• Osteoporosis
• Sciatica

This type of rehab is usually essential for those recovering from joint replacement surgeries and similar procedures. It can also help with pelvic floor issues.

Orthopedic physical therapy is important after certain surgical procedures, including those like:

• Knee replacement
• Rotator cuff replacement
• Knee arthroscopy
• Hip replacement 
• Cancer surgery
• Heart surgery

This type of rehab can help to normalize your gait, improve your range of motion, and even prevent excessive scar tissue buildup. 

It’s also helpful for people who’ve suffered a chronic injury. A chronic injury is damage that occurs over time, generally because of small movement patterns that lead to repetitive injuries to your bones, joints, or tendons. Tennis elbow or carpal tunnel are examples. With rehabilitation, you can learn how to move without injuring yourself. 

Benefits of Orthopedic Therapy

Orthopedic therapy helps increase your mobility. Mobility can be limited after an operation, while recovering from an injury, or when dealing with degenerative diseases. This type of therapy utilizes stretching and exercise strategies to slowly increase your range of motion. 

Orthopedic therapy also helps with pain management so that you don’t have to rely as much on pain medications. Therapists can massage the treatment area, increasing circulation and decreasing inflammation. Some orthopedic therapy options use ice packs for dealing with inflammation and heat packs for loosening tension. 

Better blood circulation, which orthopedic therapy helps with, also brings oxygen and nutrients to the treatment area. This makes it easier for injuries to heal. 

You can also help avoid re-injuring yourself. Therapy assists by teaching you to move safely while also showing you how to gain strength in the area. 

Types of Treatments Offered in Orthopedic Therapy

When you turn to orthopedic therapy, you can benefit from a few different types of treatments. 

Hot and Cold Therapy

Orthopedic therapy often relies on thermotherapy (heat therapy) and cryotherapy (cold therapy) to treat musculoskeletal swelling and pain. 

E-Stim

Electrical stimulation can help diminish pain. With E-stim, your therapist attaches a device to the treatment area. The two main types of devices they may use include TENS, which uses low-voltage electrical currents to offer pain relief, and NMES, which sends electrical impulses to the nerves. 

Exercise Therapy

You will get an exercise plan that helps you increase mobility, strength, and balance. You will get a chance to practice them with the therapist so that you can then repeat them at home. 

Soft Tissue Manipulation

Soft tissue manipulation is a kind of manual physical therapy in which your physical therapist massages your ligaments, fascia, and muscles. It helps optimize muscle function while also decreasing tension. It may also be effective at improving blood circulation. 

Laser or Light Therapy

Low-level lasers and light therapies can help with muscle performance. They have the potential to reduce muscle fatigue and help tissues repair after an injury. 

Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy 

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy uses the growth factors in your blood to encourage healing at the treatment area. It’s an option that often complements other orthopedic therapies. 

What an Orthopedic Rehab Plan Can Look Like

The orthopedic plan your healthcare provider recommends will consider your injury, overall health, abilities, and goals. You will have a personalized and unique program that your team can adjust as you progress through it. 

The first step is to determine whether you can benefit more from an inpatient or outpatient orthopedic rehab program. In more complex situations, inpatient care is usually the right choice, while outpatient options are better suited for minor injuries. 

Most patients start each rehab session with physical therapy. These sessions can last between 30 and 60 minutes. Those with more serious issues can begin lying on an exam table while the therapist performs some passive exercises. You may then have to perform the same exercises on your own. 

Your therapist may then continue to show you more stretches and exercises to incorporate into your home routine. Some of the exercises may even rely on weights or bands. 

Orthopedic rehab also focuses on helping patients perform everyday tasks. If you have trouble walking, the session can involve relearning how to do this correctly to avoid falls and further injuries. If you have had a joint replacement, you may relearn to walk with the support of the therapist before moving on to walkers and other devices. 

Patients who need to improve grip strength will likely spend a significant amount of time in the session practicing grabbing things of increasing weight. 

For patients who have degenerative diseases, balance exercises are particularly useful. They can help the patient better understand where their body is in space. Some of these exercises can include standing on one foot and raising or lowering a foot or knee. 

Getting the Care You Need

Orthopedic rehab offers the chance to regain your strength, balance, range of motion, and more after suffering an injury or going through surgery. It is also useful in the process of managing degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s. 

By combining various types of therapies, including PRP therapy, you have the chance to get relief from pain while also preventing future injuries.