What Is Physical Therapy?

Physical therapy (PT) is care that aims to ease pain and help you function, move, and live better. Your doctor might suggest this type of treatment if you’ve had an injury or illness that makes it hard to do daily tasks. Physical therapy is performed by a health care professional called a physical therapist. You may only need to see your physical therapist for a few weeks, but for some conditions, you may require regular visits.

Benefits of Physical Therapy

People of all ages benefit from physical therapy. It can treat a variety of health problems.

You may need physical therapy to:

Ease pain
Improve movement or ability to do daily tasks
Prevent or recover from a sports injury
Prevent disability or surgery
Rehab after a stroke, accident, injury, or surgery
Work on balance to prevent a slip or fall
Manage a chronic illness such as diabetes, heart disease, or arthritis
Recover after you give birth
Control your bowels or bladder
Adapt to an artificial limb
Learn to use assistive devices such as a walker or cane
Get a splint or brace
Improve sports performance

What Does Physical Therapy Help Treat?

Physical therapy may help treat many different medical conditions, including:

Neck pain
Back pain
Knee pain
Hip pain
Wrist pain (carpal tunnel syndrome)
Sports injuries
Tendinitis and other tendon problems
Rotator cuff tears
Knee injuries
Jaw problems
Concussions
Strokes
Spinal cord and brain injuries
Lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Cerebral palsy
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Muscular dystrophy
Parkinson’s disease
Cystic fibrosis

Types of Physical Therapy

There are many different subspecialties in physical therapy, which include the following:

Cardiovascular and pulmonary PT: This form of physical therapy features rehabilitation programs for people who have heart conditions (such as heart attacks and angina) or lung diseases (such as asthma and COPD).

Decongestive PT: Often called complete decongestive therapy (CDT), this form of therapy treats a condition called lymphedema, which is damage to the lymph nodes that may be caused by some cancer treatments.

Geriatric PT: Some physical therapists specialize in working with older women and men to treat age-related problems with movement and function.