Today I got to work with a patient regaining their strength after going through surgery to remove a brain tumor. Dan incorporated basketball into their rehab as this patient loves to play basketball, I got to play a game of PIG and HORSE and lost both times. Guess my middle school basketball career won’t take me that far. Often times when I thought of physical therapy, I just thought it was for athletes and old people coming back from an injury or breaking a bone. But after today I realized that it isn’t just for those types of injuries, it’s for illnesses as well. The main purpose of physical therapy is to help regain your strength until you are back to being 100% mentally and physically. Additionally, I saw a lot of older patients (senior citizens) and learned that a lot of older people suffer from arthritis and as you get older your body doesn’t work the way it used too and you are more susceptible to injuries. You don’t even have to do anything to have muscle and joint pain, a lot of times in older people the problem isn’t that they are over using their muscles, but they aren’t using them enough. So not only is it important to take it easy and not over exert yourself, but it’s important to make sure you don’t under use your muscles.
