Physical Therapy

Physical Therapy is a career that focuses on the rehabilitation of others to gain back strength to a certain area. The ways that it can be used in order to help stroke patients. A major condition that physical therapist deal with are strokes, which therapist have recently learned about. In order to treat a stroke one must learn the causes, what a stroke is, how to prevent it, and how to treat it in order to help patients. Physical Therapists undergo an average of three years to get a Doctor of Physical Therapy after they receive their bachelor’s degree, while a stroke only takes a matter of seconds to happen. The stoke can be caused in two ways, one is a hemorrhage in the brain, which is where the brain is bleeding, the other way is a blood
clot in the brain, where the brain is not getting the blood it needs. The goal of the physical therapists is to make sure that the patient is in the best condition they can be for the patients’ rehabilitation. Physical therapy deals with all of the common injuries, as simple as a broken leg, to extreme injuries, such as a stroke.
Physical therapy plays a role in the lives of many people.
Physical therapy is the treatment of injuries and diseases by people who specializes in physical medicine. Physical therapist have a diverse work environment. Some of the physical therapist are working in hospitals and others have their own practice. They see a number of patients throughout their day that range from a number of issues to injuries. They have assistant physical therapist to help with all the patients they see throughout their day. There can also be interns that are still in physical therapy school, such as Mercer, Barry, North Georgia, and Georgia Southern, are trying to become physical therapists or assistant physical therapists. They work with multiple age groups with different injuries and disabilities that the physical therapist are working out and treating. There are many different types of people who get help as well “typical examples of persons who might benefit from physical therapy, including: an automobile mechanic with an injured back, an elderly person with arthritis, a newborn baby with a birth defect, a professional athlete in training, a stroke victim, a crippled child, a pregnant woman, and an over-stressed business executive” (Physical Therapy World of Health). These people are the ones who are getting physical therapy. The most extreme of the ones who need physical therapy are the stroke victims, the ones from the major car wrecks, or the children that need to gain their strength
back after a broken limb. There are also many different kinds of physical therapy as well. The many of different ways that it is expressed through “physical therapy is the use of exercise, heat, cold, water, massage, or electricity in the treatment of damaged muscles, bones, or joints due to injury or disease” (Physical Therapy UXL Encyclopedia of Science). There are many different ways to treat the injuries that the patient suffers from. Physical therapist uses different types of techniques and therapies to treat the injury or disease.
One of the reasons people go to see a physical therapist is because they have had a stroke. The cause of a stroke is the destruction of brain tissue that from a loss of blood by clotting in the arteries, which can be fatal in some cases. Strokes have serious side effects as well, as an example, half or part of your body becomes paralyzed, the lose ability to speak correctly, and forget how to walk. Some symptoms of strokes are the person has trouble walking, weak muscles, problems with coordination, difficulty speaking; the limbs start to become numb. In extreme cases, the impacts of the stroke can be worse, which is expressed through “In cases of severe brain damage there may be deep coma, paralysis of one side of the body, and loss of speech, followed by death or permanent neurological disturbances after recovery” (Stroke The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). For example, my grandfather had a stroke before I was born and is still affected by it today. He is paralyzed on his right side and is not able to talk very well. He had a heat stroke, which is where his body overheated and was not cooling off fast enough. My grandfather had a stroke because of the heat and his body not cooling off. There are multiple ways that a stroke can happen and the older you get, the higher of a risk you have. The most common people who are impacted by stokes are the elderly, which is proven through “cerebral hemorrhage or thrombosis occurs most often in elderly persons with constricted arteries, although either may also be caused by inflammatory or toxic damage to the cerebral blood vessels” (Stoke The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). The elderly that have high blood pressure, or are overweight have a higher risk of a stroke than one who is average weight and not clotted arteries. Anyone is able to have a stroke if the conditions are there, and stress can also be a leading cause of having a stroke. Strokes are a serious condition that can lead to death; always be conscious about the symptoms and signs of a stroke.
If suffering from a stroke, one of the ways to be rehabilitated through physical therapy. One of the ways is through functional electrical stimulation (FES). This is the best way to get the stroke patient back to how they were before the stroke. This is expressed through “best practice guidelines for stroke rehabilitation recommend functional electrical stimulation (FES) to improve gait and upper extremity function” (Auchstaetter). The upper extremity are the arms and the muscles in the chest. The FES is a very good way to get rid of or help the paralysis. Although not all physical therapist uses the FES, but they have said “52.6% of the respondents stated that they would like to increase their use of FES” (Auchstaetter). The increased use of the FES would allow stroke patients everywhere to get help. This could allow for the impacts of the stroke to be less severe. Another way to combat the stroke is through electrical therapy. It is similar to the FES method, but has slight differences. Electrical therapy is “the application of electricity can restore muscle tone by stimulating muscles to contract rhythmically. This method is often used to exercise the muscles of a person confined to a wheelchair or bed (Physical Therapy UXL Encyclopedia of Science). This way the stroke patients that are confined to a wheelchair will have the possibility to walk again. This will be a very good option for the stroke patient for it can allow them to regain their abilities back. Stroke therapies are quickly evolving, so that no one suffers from the effects of the stroke. They will be able to use their body as they please and are able to walk again.
There are many ways to increase the risk of a stroke, but what about the ways to reduce your risk of strokes?
There are plenty of ways to reduce the risk, more exercise and a healthier lifestyle can help. This way anyone can live in a stroke free life without complications and doubt. Anyone can reduce risk in these ways “the risk of stroke for most people can be reduced through the following lifestyle changes: stopping smoking, controlling blood pressure, getting regular exercise, keeping body weight within the healthy range, avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, and getting regular checkups and following the doctor's advice regarding diet and medicines” (Stoke World of Health). Anyone who is able to follow these will greatly decrease the risk of stokes, which is worthy for later in life. These ways can lengthen life as well, without putting toxins in the body; it can enhance over all life quality and quantity. If anyone fails to follow these, they can be at a risk of hypertension, which is when your heart has to pump harder than normal. Hypertension can lead to heart attacks as well as strokes, which is proven in “hypertension, which is a major cause of intracranial hemorrhage and stroke, can be treated by preventive measures using diet, drug therapy, and stress reduction techniques” (Stroke The Columbia Encyclopedia). Following the lifestyle changes can decrease your risk of hypertension, which in the end will allow you to live a better and healthier life. Strokes are a
very serious condition. It can lead up to problems later in life. Preventing strokes should be a serious thought into the overall lifestyle.
Overall a stroke can turn a good day into a horrible day, they can cause death of a family member or not being able to live the life the same way anymore. The physical therapist’s goal is to make sure the patient has received the best care and is in better shape than when they came in. Strokes are very serious condition that can change the way someone looks at the world. The physical therapists have looked into new ways to allow these stroke victims to go back to having a normal life. The earlier they get to it the better the outcome of the physical therapy goals for the person. Stroke prevention has stepped up in the past few years. The doctors and physical therapist are working their hardest to make sure that everyone knows the way to reduce their risk and prevent anyone else from suffering. Physical therapy is a very important career, is always changing, and the therapist are looking for new ways to counteract the diseases and conditions their patients face.