Movement is life – The indepth role of the Physiotherapist

WHO IS A PHYSIOTHERAPIST

Physical therapist/ Physiotherapist or in other parlance referred to as Kinesiologist is a health care professional who provides services to individuals with movement and functional deficits by developing, maintaining and restoring maximum mobility and functional ability through proper assessment and evaluation. They provide services to all individuals throughout the lifespan which cuts across circumstances where movement and or function are threatened by injury, pain, ageing, disease condition, disorder or environmental factors (WCPT, 2016). To be up, going and doing, play a pivotal role in a person’s health.

Physiotherapists through their careful clinical observations identify potential threats and deficits in their clients’ movement and function which affect their quality of life and with physical means minimize or eliminate those deficits through health promotion, prevention, treatment, habilitation and rehabilitation. Physiotherapy encompasses physical, psychological, emotional and social wellbeing of the individual (WCPT, 2016).

The proper execution of the duties of a Physiotherapist requires the effort of himself or herself, the client, other health care providers, the care givers and the community at large on set goals.

In Ghana the service can be accessed in all the tertiary and regional hospitals as well as some few district hospitals. The emerging concerns have also warranted the spring up of private clinics to show interest in the rendering of such services to the public. At the moment the nation’s premier university and the University of Health and Allied Sciences are the only institutions that produce undergraduate Physiotherapists. Other government and private institutions run physiotherapy assistantship programs to meet the rising demand.

Treatment approaches in Physiotherapy are non-invasive. The interplay of physical agents (such as heat, cold and mechanical devices) and approaches (examples include manual technique) are used to resolve clients’ challenges in several areas of need. The specialties of Physiotherapists are numerous with their roles in some facets of life briefly described below.

They play a key role in the treatment and management of non-communicable diseases such as High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) and Diabetes through a well-structured routine exercise regimen and precautions. Also, they play an influential role in other diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems and their complications.

Physiotherapists are pain management experts. Managing pain is their utmost responsibility at the clinic. Ironically, sometimes some of the pains relieving maneuvers inflict minimal sensory or emotional discomfort on their clients. Joint, muscular and nerve related pains are properly managed by these pain experts. This makes them friends of the ageing group because conditions that are age related such as arthritis, osteoporosis, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson, stroke and many others are managed by them.

Their role in the management of post burn cases and scar management cannot be underscored likewise their involvement in pre and post-surgical recovery interventions. Physiotherapists also design various exercises and techniques in restoring function among patients who have suffered fractures or joint disorders. Sprains, strains, spinal conditions, back and neck pains are best managed by Physiotherapists. Conditions such as Cerebral and Erb’s palsy among several others are some of the cases also managed under their care.

Physiotherapists’ role in women’s health entails prenatal and postnatal services, pain alleviation during the pregnancy, averting bad fates in child delivery and post-partum challenges to the health of the mother and child.

The sports fraternity cannot function without the services of the Physiotherapists. On the field, injuries in sports such as in football are first attended to by Physiotherapists.

This wide range of function of physiotherapist renders them very important in mankind’s day to day activities. Their greatest concern in life is centered on movement hence their motor “movement is life”.