FitPTwithJess

I remember when I gained admission into the university, and I was discussing with my friend. “What course are you going to study”? She asked, “Oh, I’m going to study Physiotherapy” I replied, my people guess what happened next. This girl laughed at me and asked “Physiotherapy, what is that”?
To be honest, I myself didn’t understand much about what I was going to study in school. I didn’t have a proper answer for my friend you see, and I thought to myself “seems like most people don’t know about this thing I’m about to study in school”. I was supposed to study Pharmacy (at least everyone was familiar with the course) but I found myself studying something different but, still in the health sector. After spending 3 years, going on 4 years studying this course my people, I can say with my full chest that this decision was one of the best that I have made in this life of mine. You have probably heard of physiotherapy before but, don’t know what it’s about (or have the wrong information) or you have good knowledge on what it’s all about, or like my friend have ever heard about physiotherapy until own. Let’s enlighten ourselves, shall we?

WHAT IS PHYSIOTHERAPY ACTUALLY?
Physiotherapy or Physical Therapy (anyone is accepted), in simple words (please pay attention) is a degree-based healthcare profession that is majorly focused on Movement, and a person who studies physiotherapy in school and is practicing is referred to as a Physiotherapist or Physio (for short). Of course it is much more complex than that but, for the sake of simplicity let’s run with this definition.
Physiotherapy is a professional course and it involves the management of conditions involving the Muscles, Bones, Nerves, Cardiovascular system and other parts and systems of the body.
As a student physiotherapist, one question that I have been asked after telling someone what I’m studying is “oh physiotherapy, is it not those people in the hospital that do massage”? I would get offended at this question, like I’m not spending 5 years in school just to learn how to massage people. That is why I am here to let you all know that Physiotherapy is not just about massage, yes massage is an important part of what we do but there is so much more to what a Physiotherapist can do for you, regardless of whether you have a condition or not.
Physical Therapy as a practice is concerned wholly with the Promotion, Preservation and Restoration of optimal (the very best possible) physical function throughout life. So, in reference to what I said earlier regardless of whether you have a condition or not you can still benefit from the expertise of a Physiotherapist. Now, let’s look at the various Branches/areas in Physiotherapy.

BRANCHES/ AREAS IN PHYSIOTHERAPY.
Physiotherapy is a wide ranging profession with opportunities to work in many areas including:
Neurology (dealing with conditions affecting the Brain and Nervous system).

Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal (concerned with conditions affecting the bones, structures at the joints and the muscles)

Cardiovascular/Pulmonary aka Cardiopulmonary (deals with conditions affecting the heart and the blood vessels affecting proper blood flow, oxygen and nutrient circulation, also deals with conditions affecting the respiratory system and disturbing the breathing process).

Paediatrics (concerned with managing conditions that affect mainly children).

Geriatrics (covers a wide area of conditions that affect the elderly).

Women’s Health (manages women’s health issues and handles Obstetrics and Gynecology i.e. OBGYN).

Sports (dedicated to the treatment of injuries that are related to sports and exercise for all levels).

Ergonomics (is more of a research branch, and is concerned with the improvement of the workspace or environment to reduce the risk of injury).

These are the main areas/branches found in physiotherapy, so have it that there are more.

I really hope that you have learnt something from this blog post, I believe the foundation has been laid and we can move on to the more interesting stuff.
Thank you so much for taking out time to read this, see you at the next post. CIAO!