Recovery from disease, injury, or chronic disease management is stressful and overwhelming. With so many health professionals to choose from, you wonder: do you visit an exercise physiologist or physical therapist for the quickest recovery?
Both could help your physical recovery, but they approach their work differently. Knowing the difference will allow you to make the best decision for your own situation, accelerating your recovery and improving your overall body health.
Exercise Physiologists and Physical Therapists: What is the difference?
Exercise physiologists and physical therapists alike would both like to have you on your feet, ambulating, out of bed, making your pain better and headed back towards recovery but are educated differently and do different things.
Exercise physiologist is a specialist in the body’s reaction to exercise and physical training. They examine your body condition and design specially prepared exercise programs to make your body healthy and strong. They can treat chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, and rehabilitation from injury.
Whereas a physical therapist (PT) is educated to restore physical movement dysfunction, injury, and pain. PTs generally prescribe hand care in the form of manual therapy, strengthening and stretching, to reduce pain, enhance motion, and enable function. Physical therapists treat, generally surgical recovery patients, injury, or trauma, many various therapeutic movements to reduce pain and enhance motion.
What to Expect from an Exercise Physiologist?
If you’re dealing with a chronic condition, recovering from a mild to moderate injury, or simply aiming to improve your overall fitness, an exercise physiologist could be the right professional for you. Here’s how they can help:
Individualised Exercise Plans: After your medical history and level of fitness have been assessed, an exercise physiologist creates a customised exercise plan tailored just for you. This could include exercising for strength, flexibility, and endurance, among other exercises.
Chronic Disease Management: Exercise prescription is what exercise physiologists are taught to control chronic disease like diabetes, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease. By prescribing exercises, they are able to reduce symptoms, regain mobility, and improve wellbeing.
Preventing Future Injuries: Preventing future injuries is the best thing you can advise as an exercise physiologist. They show you how to move and use your body correctly so that you don’t get overuse injuries and have you exercise safely for your body.
Recovery and Rehabilitation: To recover from acute injury, exercise physiologists can offer programs to strengthen and function incrementally. They restore your independence through physical exercise that’s carefully controlled.
What to Expect from a Physical Therapist?
If you’ve had surgery, traumatic injury, or acute pain that’s interfering with lifestyle, physical therapy could be the solution. This is what physical therapists do to restore:
Hands-On Therapy: Physical therapists learn that manual therapy, including joint mobilisations, massage, and stretching, can be utilised to decrease pain, increase mobility, and restore function.
Pain Reduction: Regardless of what the injury or surgery on which recovery is occurring is a known or an unknown injury, physical therapists are dedicated to pain reduction. They use different interventions such as heat, cold, and therapeutic exercises that are designed for pain relief and early recovery.
Recovery after Surgery: Physical therapy also aids in returning to function, flexibility, and strength after surgery. PTs guide you gradually and safely to progress through the exercises, boosting the activity level slowly from low to progressing the activity to an upper level of intensity as the recovery goes on.
Mobility and Function: Physical therapists are experts at recovering mobility. If your ankle has been sprained or if you have had hip surgery, they allow you to enjoy mobility without pain as you move.
When to See an Exercise Physiologist or a Physical Therapist?
Whether you need to see an exercise physiologist or a physical therapist would rely on what you require as you heal:
Exercise Physiologist: If more interested in maximum fitness, strength, and endurance or dealing with a chronic disease such as diabetes or arthritis, the perfect professional would be an exercise physiologist. An exercise physiologist possesses the ability to prevent injury and prescribe exercise for peak physical health.
Physical Therapist: For the return to function following surgery, acute trauma, or in requiring manual pain relief and mobility recovery, the physical therapist would be ideal. Physical therapy is adaptation in the recovery of movement and pain relief in the short-term.
Collaborative Care for Optimal Results
Together, physical therapists and exercise physiologists can get you back in shape efficiently and quickly. For instance, a physical therapist can treat acute pain and reintroduce basic movement and an exercise physiologist can assist later in recovery with a customised list of exercises that will enhance strength, endurance, and overall physical ability.
Conclusion
No matter what your circumstances may be- recovery from illness, control of a chronic condition, or even simply trying to get into better physical shape, the choice of the right professional will be that which ultimately tips the balance in recovery. Exercise physiologists have to maximise function in your body, to add extra strength, and to protect against injury, but physical therapists are concerned with decreasing pain and obtaining function working in your body. You would like to have the ability to tell the two apart so that you are able to make the best possible choice for your own health.
Well-round rehabilitation and personalised care programs are guaranteed at Optimal Care Australia Our company’s physical therapists and exercise physiologists collaborate with exceptionally well-trained personnel to assist you with professional guidance and counseling through the process of quick recovery as per your requirements. Reach out today to receive the specific support and care you need.
