If you are suffering from a sport related injury or have been injured in an accident, the chances are you will require some professional medical treatment to help you to recover more quickly and more fully from your injuries.
In most cases, this rehabilitation will take the form of either physiotherapy, osteopathy or chiropractic (for moderate injuries such as whiplash and other soft tissue damage) or surgical procedures (to help broken bones to heal more cleanly or to repair damage to ligaments that may have been torn in an accident. However in an increasing number of injured patients are also receiving alternative rehabilitation therapies, often with very positive results.
Pilate's, the full body conditioning technique developed in 1920's Germany to help injured soldiers recover, is one of the most widely used alternative rehabilitation technique for accident victims. Although it was designed to benefit all areas of the body, Pilate’s works particularly well for injuries to the knees, neck, back, hips, shoulders and also for rehabilitation following surgery. As the exercises involved are mainly performed whilst sitting or reclining, Pilate’s is very useful for people who may not be able to stand or support much weight after an accident.
Another alternative form of rehabilitation that is offered to some patients is a pain management program. These programs aim to provide relief for people suffering from chronic pain conditions after an accident or other injury. In many chronic pain conditions, it might be the case that the sufferer is continuing to feel the pain of an injury even after the injury has healed and the physical evidence has disappeared. This might be because pain receptors in the body are still transmitting the sensation of pain to the brain. Pain management programmes aim to treat the pain itself, rather than any underlying injury, which might be treated separately or which might have healed already.
Pain management programs might prescribe medicines to reduce pain or to target problems with the way the sufferer’s brain is interpreting the pain signals, these medicines can include painkillers, anti-depressants and anti-convulsants. On the other hand they might involve the use of physical therapies and exercise routines.
A third approach would be to look at the way the sufferer thinks about the pain and how it affects their mental well being, which can be done using psychological techniques such as biofeedback and cognitive behavioural therapy. The goal of all these treatments is to help people to experience a pain-free life, so that they can return to work and carry out day-to-day tasks, which can have benefits, themselves.
