A Beginner’s Guide to Physical Medicine: Everything You Need to Know

Are you experiencing loss of functionality, chronic pain, or disability due to injury or an accident or illness? If your answer is yes, then it’s about time that you sought physical medicine treatment. Physical Medicine in Houston, TX, can help your body regain functionality and you will be up and running in no time.

Disorders and disabilities and even certain illnesses such as stroke can leave you immobile and can incapacitate you. Your quality of life can take a nose-dive, and all of a sudden, carrying out simple tasks becomes a daunting task.

However, this shouldn’t be your new norm when our physical medicine doctor in Crosspointe Medical Clinic offers different modalities to improve your well-being.

Physical Medicine, In a Capsule

As you already know, physical injury, pain, or disability can hamper your movements. However, physiatry, another word for physical medicine and rehabilitation, can help you get better. Generally, physiatry is designed to treat people who have had injuries or diseases that hinder their movement.

In other words, it deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of physical issues, especially those that are associated with disorders of the nerves, muscles, brain, or bones. Physiatry takes a holistic approach when it comes to treating musculoskeletal conditions, injuries, and disabilities.

At the heart of physiatry, we aim to treat the whole person and not just the symptoms. This means that we will address your emotional, physical, and social needs during your rehabilitation sessions. This approach enables our physical medicine doctor to find the cause of injury and create a specific treatment plan specific to your needs. Therefore, you will move and function as you should.

Why Should You Seek Physical Medicine?

If you have chronic pain, our physiatrists can do the following:

• Assess your condition
• Do nerve conduction tests that will test how your nerves are functioning
• Perform different tests that look at your muscle strength, breathing capacity, degree of joint mobility, and muscular coordination
• Develop customized treatment plans
• Ensure that you are medically capable of engaging in physical treatment
• Help manage your care
• Help reduce pain
• Help you to recover from severe or temporary impairment
• Improve the quality of your life
• Help you learn how to use assistive devices like wheelchairs, braces, and walkers
• Advice you on how you can set up your home to maximize safety and function

Which Conditions Are Treated Using Physiatry?

Physiatry can treat a host of conditions that cause reduced mobility and chronic pain. Our physiatrists treat children and adults who have the following conditions:

Injuries

• Spinal cord injury
• Acquired brain injury
• Repetitive motion injury

Pain caused by:

• Burns
• Arthritis
• Osteoporosis
• Chronic pain
• Back and neck pain
• Joint pain
• Foot pain
• Plantar fasciitis

Neurological Conditions

• Stroke
• Huntington disease
• Seizures and epilepsy
• Visual-nervous system problems
• Multiple sclerosis
• Parkinson’s disease
• Muscular dystrophy

Children may also benefit from physiatry since they can receive treatment for:

• Intellectual disability
• Down syndrome
• Speech disorders and language issues
• Sensory deprivation disorder
• Autism spectrum disorder or developmental disorders

If you are an athlete or engage in sports, you can also benefit from physiatry in terms of treating injuries, managing pain, and injury prevention. Physiatry is also helpful after you have had a hip or knee surgery, in that it can help you regain your mobility.

People with scoliosis and muscle weakness can also reap the benefits of physiatry.

What Does Treatment Look Like?

Typically, we take a whole-person approach to your treatment. We look beyond your symptoms to ensure that your health gets back on track. To do that, we offer the following treatments:

• Exercise and physical therapy
• Massage and other integrative health treatments
• Injections
• Occupational therapy
• Medications such as muscle relaxers
• Chiropractic care

What Are the Benefits of Physiatry?

Physical medicine and rehabilitation have lots of benefits, including:

• Conservative Approach

Physiatry tries to employ treatment modalities that are noninvasive such as physical therapy and medication. If these methods are unsuccessful in managing your pain, then minimally invasive measures can be taken, such as facet injections, nerve blocks, and more.

• Holistic Approach

Our physiatrists treat the whole person and not the disease alone. For this reason, we will dive into your world to see which course of treatment will suit your specific needs.

The Bottom Line

Physiatry is an excellent treatment option for people who need treatment for musculoskeletal conditions. If you need to see our physical medicine doctor, contact us today, and we would love to help you get better.