For many women, the birth of a child is one of the most joyous occasions of their lives. But it’s also a time when their bodies undergo major changes. The postpartum period can be tough on a woman’s body, from the stretched skin and abdominal muscles to the increased weight and pressure on the spine. Regular movement and exercise can help speed up the recovery process, but an often-overlooked resource is physical therapy.

Physical therapy can help new moms heal from the physical demands of childbirth and regain their strength and energy. In addition, physical therapy can help new moms cope with the emotional challenges of postpartum life. By providing support and guidance, physical therapists can help new moms feel more confident and capable as they navigate this difficult time.

The Benefits of Physical Therapy for Postpartum Recovery

Regular physical therapy sessions can help new moms in a variety of ways:

Pain Relief

Postpartum physical therapy can be an effective way to relieve discomfort in the back, abdomen, and pelvic area. It is often used to correct or compensate for the muscle imbalances that can occur during pregnancy and the added strain on these body parts during childbirth. These muscle imbalances can be addressed through postpartum physical therapy to reduce tension and tightness that may lead to pain.

Strengthens Core and Pelvic Floor

Physical therapy helps strengthen the core and pelvic floor muscles, which are essential in maintaining functional posture and stability throughout the postpartum period. Through stretching, strengthening, and balance exercises, physical therapists can help new moms restore the strength and stability of these key muscle groups.

Improves Range of Motion

Physical therapy also helps improve the range of motion in the body. After pregnancy and childbirth, many women experience tightness and stiffness in their hips, shoulders, and other joints. Physical therapy can help loosen these muscles so that they can move more freely throughout the day.

Improves Posture

Poor posture is often a result of weakened core muscles or muscle imbalances. Physical therapy can help identify and address these issues to improve posture.  Through postural assessments, physical therapists can determine which muscles are weak or tight, then provide exercises to strengthen the weaker areas and loosen the tighter ones to create better balance in the body.

Improves Circulation

Physical therapy can also help improve circulation throughout the body by stimulating blood flow to affected areas. This increased circulation helps speed up the healing process and can help reduce swelling in areas such as the lower back, legs, and abdomen.

Reduces Stress

Regular physical therapy sessions can also reduce stress, tension, and fatigue by helping new moms develop healthy coping strategies to manage the demands of postpartum life. Therapists can provide relaxation techniques such as deep breathing and mindfulness-based exercises that encourage rest and recovery.

Marketing Opportunities for Providers

Given the many benefits of physical therapy for postpartum recovery, providers can market their services to new moms by highlighting how physical therapy can help in this key transition period. By integrating additional resources into their services, providers can offer a holistic approach to postpartum care that helps new moms feel supported and confident in their recovery.

Some ways that providers can market their services to new moms include:

Offering Group Classes Directed at New Mothers

Through group classes, providers can offer a supportive setting where new moms can come together to receive education and guidance on how physical therapy can help them in their postpartum recovery.

Providing Home Visits or Telehealth

By providing home visits or telehealth support, providers can enable new moms to receive physical therapy without the need to leave their homes. This can be especially beneficial for moms who are unable to find childcare or those who live in rural areas where access to physical therapy services may be limited.

Creating Specialized Postpartum Recovery Packages

Providers can also create specialized postpartum recovery packages that include an individualized plan tailored to each mom’s unique needs. These customized plans could provide a comprehensive plan of physical therapy services and other elements, such as nutrition and lifestyle advice, geared towards helping new moms with their postpartum recovery.

In addition, teaming up with other maternal health professionals, such as doulas and lactation consultants, can provide an even more comprehensive approach to postpartum care and allow providers to offer a complete package of services for new moms. This can be a great way to attract new clients and expand their reach in the community.

Hosting Community Events

Providers can also host community events to raise awareness of the benefits of physical therapy for new mothers. These events could include panel talks and activities geared towards helping moms learn more about postpartum recovery and how physical therapy can help them in their journey.

Developing Online Resources

Providers can create online educational materials such as videos, podcasts, and blogs discussing physical therapy topics relevant to postpartum recovery.  This content can provide valuable information to new moms while also helping raise awareness of their services.

Conclusion

Though often ignored in favor of more glamorous forms of exercise, physical therapy can be a vital part of postpartum recovery for new mothers. By helping to heal the common issues that arise after childbirth, PT can pave the way for a quicker and easier return to normal activity levels.

Additionally, there is a growing market for providers who offer this service, making it an ideal time to start offering postpartum physical therapy at your practice. If you’re not already doing so, consider adding this valuable service to your repertoire – it can provide a much-needed resource to the community and help you expand your business.

Practice Efficiency Has Never Been Easier

Introducing Fusion, the all-in-one solution for PT, OT, and speech therapists. With Fusion, you’ll have everything you need to streamline your practice and provide better patient care. Fusion is simple to use and easy to set up, so you can hit the ground running with minimal disruption to your workflow. But don’t let its simplicity fool you – Fusion is packed with features to help you manage your practice more efficiently.

If you’re looking for an EMR solution to help you take your practice to the next level, try a free demo of Fusion today and see how it can make a difference.

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Regardless of why your patient comes to physical therapy, they’re there to address some area of their body that needs help. Whether it’s their knee pain and they need to strengthen the muscles in that area to prevent the pain, stability where they’re learning how to balance and walk, or any other reason, they are moving their body. Movement is an inherent part of PT and therapists are constantly looking for ways to increase the amount of movement in their patients’ lives. Why? Because it will help them.

Benefits of Regular Movement for Physical Therapy:

Movement helps everyone, it seems. Whether you’re trying to recover from an injury or trying to train for a marathon, incorporating more movement seems to be the best route to go. But it goes deeper than that. Some of the main benefits of daily movement include:

1. Reinforces PT Efforts – Whatever a patient is learning in PT, they can take it into their normal lives and repeat it. In fact, that is often what they are tasked to do. The more committed they are to their exercises, the more positive their results will be. So, patients must find a way to move every day.
2. Builds Strength – Movement builds strength. It helps strengthen the muscles that support our skeleton, which for some people is a huge element in preventing pain and discomfort.
3. Boosts Mood – Regular movement can have a positive impact on mood, focus, and cognitive functioning.
4. Creates Good Habits – Introducing regular movement into our lives carves the path for us to introduce other good habits into our lives, like healthier eating.
5. Encourages Positive Health – Exercise and movement are good for heart health, cognitive health, and more. Moving at least a little every day can encourage positive health trends.

Get a free demo of Fusion today!

How to Encourage Patients to Introduce Movement into Their Daily Life:

While most people know that movement has all these benefits, they don’t automatically jump at the chance to introduce it into their daily life. This is because it isn’t always that easy. Developing new, positive habits is challenging and exercise is both difficult and intimidating if you’ve never done it regularly. As their physical therapist, it is vital that you offer support and encouragement to help them make the transition into regular, daily movement. What does that look like?

• Listen to Their Challenges – Everyone has different challenges and struggles. As their provider, you need to listen to them. What roadblocks do they feel are preventing them from achieving regular movement? Some of the most common include time (not enough of it), energy/motivation, lack of knowledge, and lack of resources. By listening to their challenges, you can help them find ways to navigate through them and find solutions that work for them.
• Model a Positive Relationship with Movement – It is important to remember that movement isn’t the same for everyone, and that your client needs to do what is best for them. They need to move in whatever way makes them happy. If they don’t have a positive relationship with movement, it could be because it was never modeled for them. Discuss with them all the different varieties of movement until one sparks their interest and show them that they’re allowed to be creative with it – it doesn’t have to be walking on a treadmill.
• Set Achievable Goals – Some patients might be able to dive right in while others will need to start small. Make sure to set movement goals for your patients that are achievable for them. Don’t tell your patient that has never run before to start training for a marathon. Instead, help them land on something that makes them comfortable. Maybe they like walking their dog or walking around the grocery store to buy their groceries.
• Remind Them and Encourage Them – If they ever start to feel discouraged, remind them that introducing daily movement can be difficult, but they’re doing a great job and they should keep trying. You’re there if they need any help.
• Provide Information and Resources – If your patient needs structure, there are an infinite number of resources available for you to point them to. From internet dancing and training videos to Home Exercise Programs (HEP) like the one from Fusion that helps you streamline your patient’s home exercise program – helping you work together to achieve their goals, the options are endless. Resources can help give patients a starting point to jump off of instead of aimlessly trying to figure out what might work for them.

Encouraging your patients to adopt daily movement offers tons of benefits for them and their physical therapy. By following these tips, you can help them get started.

Looking to see how Fusion’s Home Exercise Program can help you encourage your clients to include movement in their days? Get a free demo of Fusion today!

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It is important that physical and occupational therapists encourage their senior clients to stay active as much as they can. For starters, getting seniors to stay active helps them lead safe, productive, and high-quality lives. Secondly, seniors who lead active lives are better suited to manage the daily challenges of age and fall risks because their range of motion, cognitive skills, and emotional health are greatly improved. When physical and occupational therapists can get their senior clients to stay active, they help increase the seniors’ independence and can eliminate some of the challenges of being dependent on others.

That said, here are the top 5 ways for seniors to stay active:

 

1. Walking 

Walking is an excellent and widely accessible exercise for maintaining mental and physical health. If your senior client is a dog lover, you can encourage them to stay active by walking dogs. Some clients may be great candidates for getting a dog as a pet, or you can encourage them to help other people walk their dogs if that’s not an option.

Staying active through walking is a great way for seniors to get daily exercise. Combining exercise with a fun companion can help maintain motivation and help provide a sense of purpose. 

Walking keeps the joints active, so folks with arthritis will benefit greatly from regular walks. If your client is not able to walk with a dog, outdoor walks solo still provide opportunities for fresh air, sunshine, peace, and quiet when the weather is great. You can encourage your clients to walk inside their local malls on inclement days. The best way to make these walks interesting is to mix things up. They could change routes and alternate between taking those long nature walks and strolling through malls.

 

2. Playing Video Games

Nowadays, there are video games that incorporate a physical component and simulate real-world activities. These types of video games are great for encouraging seniors to stay active. For example, you could get them to try video games that simulate tossing Frisbees, bowling, golfing, or even boxing. 

Video games are a great way to encourage seniors to stay active, even if they prefer to stay home. Additionally, video games are easy to partake in on a senior’s own time without worrying about gym operating hours or safety outdoors. 

These types of games can also provide some social interaction with others. Encourage your seniors to invite their friends or family over to enjoy quality time together while promoting movement. 

 

3. Dancing

Dancing is a pleasurable activity that doubles as physical exercise. Dancing requires you to use your muscles to engage your core, upper, and lower body. This helps improve stability, flexibility, and balance in the process. There are many styles of dance that your senior clients can participate in. Help them to narrow down a style that interests them – from ballroom to hip hop, there is plenty to choose from! 

Encourage your senior clients to join dance classes for seniors as these classes are set up to get them moving without stressing their joints and muscles. In addition to physical exercise, they get to make new friends too.

Get a free demo of Fusion today! 

 

4. Yoga

Yoga is another great way to get seniors to stay active. It enhances stability, flexibility, and strength while keeping the mind calm. Yoga is great for seniors because it can reduce pain from arthritis in addition to facilitating breath and circulation. Seniors with limited mobility can also benefit from yoga as there are chair yoga exercises specifically designed for people who cannot stand for long periods. 

 

5. Pool Exercises 

It is important seniors regularly do activities that increase their heart rate, and swimming and water aerobics are fun activities that help seniors stay active while minimizing pressure on the joints. Additionally, the buoyancy of the water makes the pull of gravity less strong, so your senior clients will feel lighter and move easier doing this type of activity.

Water aerobics gently tasks the entire body and mildly increases the heart rate. This can help prevent heart problems and work on the muscles of the senior for improved tone and strength without putting excessive pressure on their joints.

 

Bonus! Fusion Home Exercise Program

There are many ways seniors can stay active to maintain and build strength and mobility. The good news is that physical and occupational therapists can help their senior clients stick to a mobility plan thanks to the Fusion Home Exercise Program (HEP). This program is structured to simplify the management of HEP so your clients can keep improving—even after they’ve left the clinic. You can assign exercises and view them directly in the client portal, eliminating the need to make copies of handouts that could get lost. With this program, you can help make sure your clients feel confident about their activity plan. 

 

Conclusion

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As a 38-year-old mom, wife, and businesswoman with an active lifestyle, I received the shock of my life this year when I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I suppose it shouldn’t have been a surprise as my mom, aunt, and grandmother had all been through breast cancer.  But I was by far the youngest in our family to be diagnosed.  This kicked off 6 months of changes to my life and learning more about my body than I had ever known.

 

The cancer was found by my OBGYN during my annual appointment.  After a mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy, the cancer was confirmed less than a day later.  After a month of stress, tests, and learning more about cancer, it was determined that my best path forward was to have a bilateral mastectomy.

 

My first surgery included removing all of my breast tissue and replacing it with tissue expanders to begin the reconstruction process.  The next few weeks were very painful as I recovered.  I was used to being active at the gym 5-6 days a week; after the surgery, I was no longer able to move the same way I used to.  One of my lymph nodes was removed to see if my cancer had spread; this caused my armpit to completely lose all feeling. I was unable to lift my arm.

 

Throughout these first 3 months, my medical team was fantastic.  One of the things my Nurse Navigator recommended was to participate in physical therapy to reacquire my range of motion and ensure that I work to prevent lymphedema.  I was a little surprised to learn that physical therapy was a part of the healing process for a mastectomy; in my mind, it felt unrelated. Despite my doubts about the need for physical therapy, my oncologist confirmed my nurse’s recommendation that I would recover faster with the assistance of physical therapy.

 

I met with my physical therapist multiple times over a month to learn new exercises. She taught me about how the lymphatic system works so I would know how to recognize lymphedema if it happens.  She explained that breast cancer patients often qualify for multiple physical therapy sessions but feel too overwhelmed to participate.

 

Physical therapy started to give me back the lifestyle I had been used to.  After 8 weeks post-surgery, I was back in the gym kickboxing and gaining my strength back.  I believe that the sessions with my physical therapists were critical to my recovery this year!

 

October is breast cancer month and I want to personally encourage all women to make sure they visit your OBGYN this month if they haven’t been to their doctor in a while.  This year wasn’t what I expected it to be, but I have a newfound appreciation for my doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and the medical advancements that have been made in breast cancer.

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