If you have an injury and you are overweight, then you may find it next to impossible to find exercise routines that you can do without causing yourself more pain. You should talk to your doctor about physical therapy. Make it clear that while you, of course, want to work on getting through your injury, you also want weight loss to be another focus of your rehab. Once you begin working with a physical therapist, here are some of the things you may experience and be expected to do while you are there.
Pain control
One of the areas of focus the physical therapist will have is to help you with the aches and pains that your injury is causing you. Not only do they want to focus on this so your overall quality of life will be improved, but they will also want to help you get to a place where you can slowly begin to do more strenuous exercises which will lead to you seeing the weight loss you are looking forward to.
Some of the things the physical therapist may use to help with your pain are to use ice packs and heat packs. They may also use an electrical stim device which gives off small electrical pulses through pads placed near or on the site of your injury. The electronic pulses can help with pain. They may also use ultrasound to help you get more relief from the aches and pains.
Flexibility
With most injuries, there will be some issues with things like flexibility and overall mobility. The physical therapist will want to help you achieve better flexibility and mobility. This will be important to your healing process for your injury and when it comes to weight loss.
The physical therapist will give you very specific stretches to do at therapy and to do at home regularly. They are going to need to be done just how you are shown in order to get the best results.
Exercise
Only after the physical therapist feels you are physically up to the task will they start working with you on exercises to help both your injury and your weight loss. Depending on the type of injury you have, the exercise program you follow may include things like walking on a treadmill, riding a stationary bike, working on an exercise ball, doing specific aerobics, and more. If you can handle weights, then they may also have you lift some weights.
For more information and tips, contact rehab services near you.
