Why Physical Therapy is a Better Approach than Rehab
When you’ve suffered any type of physical injury, whether in a car accident, a fall, or while playing sports, your doctor may recommend or prescribe physical therapy (PT) or rehabilitation. There’s a common misperception that PT and rehab are essentially the same thing. To get the maximum benefit when recovering from a physical injury, though, there’s far more benefit to physical therapy than to rehabilitation.
What Is Physical Therapy?
Physical therapy is a mode of treatment for physical injuries that seeks to use exercises, exercise machines and other tools to target specific injuries, typically building muscle strength and managing pain while improving flexibility and range of motion. Physical therapists customarily focus on a range of other issues as well, including balance and stability.
What Is Rehabilitation?
Rehabilitation is essentially a generic term for overall recovery from injury.
What is the Difference between Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation?
Physical therapy is a specialized skill, requiring specialized training, as well as dedicated licenses. As a general rule, a licensed physical therapist must have either a Masters or a Doctoral degree, and must comply with strict licensing requirements. Licensed physical therapists have had extensive education and training in physiology and anatomy, and have a comprehensive understanding of the musculoskeletal system and how it works.
Rehabilitation workers, on the other hand, tend to be low-skill workers who typically instruct patients how to perform certain types of exercises, and may potentially oversee the performance of those exercises during an appointment. Often, even rehab “specialists” have minimal training or education, other than learning the basic rehabilitation exercises or procedures.
Accordingly, when you have sustained any type of physical injury, you want to make certain that the medical professionals with who you are working are offering physical therapy, rather than rehabilitation.
Schedule an Appointment with a Core Medical Center Physical Therapist Today
Take action today to minimize your pain. At Core Medical Center, with offices in Blue Springs, Missouri, we take the time to get to the source of your pain, offering treatment with a long-term approach. To schedule an appointment, contact us online or call our offices at (816) 427-0201. We have licensed physical therapists on staff.
