Road Traffic Accidents: How a Physio Can Help You to Recover

A physiotherapist can help you to recover from injuries sustained during a road traffic accident. Physiotherapists are experts in the assessment, diagnosis and management of neuromusculoskeletal injuries. They look for signs that may indicate musculoskeletal injuries, such as pain, abnormal posture or movements that may be a result of muscular imbalance or neurological impairment.

Strengthening muscles and regaining movement

Physiotherapists can work to improve the condition of ligaments and tendons by using several techniques such as massage, stretching and mobilisation. Physiotherapists use mobilisation to help restore normal movement to joints lost through injuries, such as shoulders, knees, elbows and ankles. For example, a physiotherapist may give you some graded exercises to perform each week. Each exercise will allow you to flex and extend the injured joint a little more so you can increase the range of movement. Doing these exercises will help you to regain normal movement so you can get back to your everyday activities that may have been affected following your road traffic accident.

Preparing for surgery

If you require surgery, the hospital physiotherapist will discuss with you in great detail any exercise regime which you can carry out before your operation. These exercises will help prepare the injured area for the forthcoming surgery, which is known as pre-habilitation. This way, when it's time for the operation you are already prepared. This preparation can help to enable a speedy recovery.

Handling chronic pain with physiotherapy treatments

Chronic pain is generally long-lasting and may even continue after the injury has healed. For example, chronic pain may continue after you have recovered from a knee injury. The word 'chronic' describes how long the pain lasts, rather than its severity. Physiotherapists are experts in treating chronic pain and have many treatments available to them. For example, physiotherapists use ice or heat to reduce swelling and pain in the injured area, as well as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) to desensitise trigger points of spinal nerves which may result in radiating pain and discomfort.

Maintaining your independence

After you have recovered from your injury, your physiotherapist may also be able to show you how to use aids or equipment that will help you manage everyday tasks at home. This includes things like getting up from the floor or out of bed or walking downstairs.

For more information, contact a physiotherapist today. They will be happy to book you in for a consultation.

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