Three Easy Ways to Help Relieve Pain and Improve Comfort
Whether your physiotherapy appointments are daily or weeks apart, there are some easy ways to help relieve pain and improve comfort for yourself at home. Here are three simple things you can do: 1. Apply Heat to Affected Areas Moist heat therapy is one of the simplest, safest and effective “self-care” technique for treating injuries, pain or discomfort in muscles and joints. Moist heat can be used to relieve stiffness, improve circulation and bring relief to muscle pain and overall soreness. Heating the affected area, increases the temperature of the tissues and blood vessels beneath the surface of the [...]
The Effects of Massage Therapy
Massage is a therapeutic treatment with many benefits, some more obvious than others. Here are some that might surprise you or remind you to call and book an appointment with your registered massage therapist to help take care of an issue you have been experiencing. Over the next several months, we will be examining each of these effects of massage therapy in more detail and how they can be useful to you. The Physical Effects of Massage Therapy Massage Therapy has been shown to reduce pain and improve range of motion2. A 2017 study found a meaningful impact of massage [...]
Water Therapy Benefits in Rehabilitation
HIGHLIGHTED BY PROPEL PHYSIOTHERAPY DRAGON BOAT TEAMWhat has 48 eyes, 96 arms and legs, one heart and lives on the water?A dragon boat team!Propel Physiotherapy has launched its first dragon boat team. The “Propellers” are set to compete at festivals around the Greater Toronto Area this summer, including the GWN Challenge on the Western Beaches Watercourse in downtown Toronto's Marilyn Bell Park this September 9-10, 2017.¹In ancient Chinese dragon culture from over 2000 years ago, open sea races of ornately decorated long boats powered by up to 50 paddlers were held as a way of appeasing the rain gods. Modern [...]
How Acupuncture Works
As a physiotherapist who applies acupuncture in the assessment and treatment of various injuries and health problems, I am often asked by my clients and other caregivers whether I believe in acupuncture and how acupuncture works. Coming from an evidence-based research background, and a lifelong learning approach to clinical assessment and treatment (thank-you McMaster University), I first approached acupuncture the way all clinicians should approach any modality or adjunct therapy: with scientific skepticism. Two Schools of Acupuncture My acupuncture journey began in 2014-2015 when I enrolled in McMaster University’s Contemporary Medical Acupuncture course. Here, I learned about the two basic [...]
Meaningful Goals Fuel Motivation
Motivation. What drives you. It's the reason you do something and why you care to do it. Motivation is an important key to perseverance. It is the end that justifies the means, especially when the means are sometimes not easy or pleasant. When working with a physiotherapist during your recovery from an injury, or when your physio asks you for “one more rep!”, it is important to always keep your motivations in mind. But how do you know what those motivations are? What truly motivates you? Guidance from a professional is key. In my experience, physiotherapists who helped me create [...]
What It Feels Like to Walk with LiteGait Therapy Device
I have never felt disabled. I know I am disabled and feeling it and its physical effects are not what I’m contesting. I’m not delusional. I know I have a disability. I’m not ashamed of it either. I have always felt, possibly irrationally, as a child and even now as an adult like an able-bodied person trapped in a disabled person’s body. This sentiment would absolutely make a lot more sense if my disability were acquired partway through life, before such time I was able-bodied; but that’s not the case with me. I have cerebral palsy, an acquired brain injury [...]