Common Exercises Used In Active Rehabilitation
Common Exercises Used In Active Rehabilitation
Active rehabilitation is a term used for treatment based on exercises to treat various types of health conditions. It is halfway between personal training and physiotherapy. This is done by registered kinesiologists, who are movement experts and help patients become more active and do activities they love by performing physical activities.
These exercises include moving the body in various ways and making it more active through stretching, extension, and general stroke rehabilitation exercises. When you do the exercises yourself, it’s an active exercise. Active exercise involves physical effort converted into muscular activity. When a neurological injury occurs, the brain cannot send the correct signals to the muscles. Active rehab stimulates the muscles to rewire themselves through neuroplasticity, which helps the brain use healthy neurons to send signals to the muscles.
Active Rehabilitation Common Exercises
Resisted Exercises
Also commonly known as strength training, "increases strength, the mass of muscles, and metabolism, which will give you ease in performing your day-to-day activities. These exercises stimulate the buildup of protein in the muscles, which will enhance your muscles' ability to resist force. These exercises can be done through weight machines, free weights, and calisthenics by performing push-ups, sit-ups, etc. In these types of exercises, body weight acts as the resisting force.
Suspension Therapy
Suspension training involves performing movements while standing or suspended, which places greater emphasis on stabilizing muscles and improves overall posture. By incorporating multi-joint physiotherapy exercises, this training approach enhances coordination and promotes enhanced coordination of the neuromuscular system. This is done with a Y-shaped strap hanging securely overhead.
Hydrotherapy Exercises
These exercises include the use of water to provide therapeutic effects. These can be done using steam rooms and colonic hydrotherapy, which is done using water in a hydrotherapy pool and helps in neural rehabilitation and musculoskeletal exercises in physiotherapy.
Posture Correction
The spine has natural curves that need to be maintained. When standing straight, make sure that your weight is evenly distributed among your feet. Posture can be improved by:
- Performing physiotherapy exercises that strengthen the muscles across the shoulders and upper back.
- Practicing yoga
- When lifting anything heavier always bend at your knees not your waist, back muscles are not designed for this but your leg and stomach muscles are.
- Align your back with the back of the office chair if you sit for long hours.
Massage
Massage therapy involves the manipulation of deep layers of muscles and connective tissues using a variety of techniques. This helps to improve functionality, facilitate the healing process, reduce muscle reflexes, and promote a sense of relaxation and well-being. During the massage, pressure is applied to the body part through structured and unstructured movements-tension, motion, and vibration. Massage therapists utilize a range of body parts, such as hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, and feet, to perform the techniques and address the specific needs of their clients. By employing these various methods and tools, massage therapy offers a versatile approach to promote relaxation, alleviate muscle tension, and support overall physical and mental well-being .
Relaxation Techniques
Relaxation helps to recover the body and mind from the daily rush and stress. For some people, music, a long bath, and walking in the park may help, but for others, it is not so easy. If you feel you need to relax, try relaxation or meditation classes.
- Choose a quiet place to start
- Start with a gentle stretching
- Make yourself comfortable either by sitting or lying down
- Start to breathe deeply in an effortless way-
- Relax each part of your body
- As you think of each area, feel the warmth, heaviness, and relax.
- Push out all negative thoughts
- Let your mind go empty.
- Stay like this for 20 minutes and then relax.
Joint Mobilization
This is a treatment that is used to manage musculoskeletal dysfunction. This is a type of manual therapy. These are used to restore joint motion that is lost due to injury or disease. But these should not be done in particular cases like osteoarthritis, tumors, dysfunction in the cervical region, or bleeding due to injury, do not perform them until the full diagnosis is done.
Motor Coordination
Coordination is an important element of movement in day-to-day life. Coordination is needed to move two or three parts of the body together, like when performing a dance step, opening a doorknob, or hitting a ball with a bat. Performing physiotherapy exercises daily can help improve coordination.
These exercises need to be actively performed on a regular basis to benefit from them. Based on your ability, injury, and goals, your kinesiologist will provide you with an exercise-based treatment plan. Each program will be designed differently and according to the patient’s needs. Your first session will be an initial assessment, according to which your therapist will provide you with a customized plan.
