5 Amazing Facts About Physiotherapy

Even though physiotherapy has grown to be such a popular field, many people don’t completely understand the full extent of what visiting a physiotherapy clinic can offer its patients. Ultimately, physiotherapy takes a holistic approach to restore both movement and function after an injury or illness, or in the event of disability.

It can reduce pain and prevent future injuries. Here are five amazing facts about physiotherapy:

1. It Treats Many More Conditions Than You ThinkWhen people think of physiotherapy, they may think that a physiotherapy clinic is just something you visit after you’ve been in a car accident or experienced a sports-related injury. However, what you likely didn’t realize is that it is used to treat and manage a wide range of conditions beyond rehabilitation.Physiotherapy is used to manage chronic pain, back pain and asthma, and it can help to prepare for childbirth. It can also manage obesity and treat vertigo. It can treat neurological conditions (from stroke to multiple sclerosis to Parkinson’s), cardiovascular conditions (chronic heart disease and heart attack rehabilitation), and respiratory disease (including asthma, as mentioned, but also chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cystic fibrosis).
2. Physiotherapy and Physical Therapy Are The Same ThingMany people tend to use the terms physiotherapy and physical therapy as two distinct entities. While some countries may refer to these as two separate practices, in Canada they are both used to refer to the same thing.
3. Physiotherapy Was Established in Canada After World War 1Physiotherapy was established in Canada to treat thousands of soldiers in World War 1. In fact, physiotherapy was often the first course of treatment.
4. Physiotherapy Dates Back Thousands of YearsPhysiotherapy actually dates all the way back to 460 BC, with Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, cited as having invented the practice. Interestingly enough, he used water therapy to treat his patients, which is still in use today!
5. Physiotherapists Hold Advanced DegreesPhysiotherapists have a lot of education under their belts, much more than you likely realize. On top of a four-year bachelor’s degree, physiotherapists also receive further training in their field via a post-graduate degree, adding an additional two years of study. That must be why they are so adept at assigning homework to their patients! Indeed, patients often have exercises to practice at home as part of their treatment plan.