“Functional Movement” and How We Move in REAL Life.
As BEST practices in Physical Therapy continue to evolve, so do we here at Elite Physical Therapy. Current research continues to address the “how” in the way our body moves and the best way to treat musculoskeletal injuries. A concept known as functional movement has gained significant traction. This concept has shown that treating patients within this movement approach is more effective when trying to improve pain and function AND decrease the recurrence of injuries.
Creating a treatment plan utilizing exercises that address all the planes of motion is the foundation to our approach. Simply put, it means that the Physical Therapist is taking patients and placing them in a gravity resistant position while working in all three planes of motion. Research has shown when an individual only trains in one plane of motion (ex: seated on a table performing a straight leg raise) that they are more likely to re-injure themselves when going back to their daily activity due to not achieving optimal health in all three planes of motion normally used to perform certain activity.
To further understand “functional movement”, imagine the body as an alternating segments of joints starting from the ground/foot moving up to the neck. These segments alternate as a stable joint followed by a mobile joint. Maintaining this relationship is essential to optimal health. When one joint is lacking mobility, the body requires to perform daily activities, it will compensate by requiring mobility from another joint stability which in return can cause pain or injury to those segments. With functional movement exercises, the individual can perform stretches or different exercises to increase the mobility or stability in the areas that are insufficient. However, individuals perform these functional exercises using all three planes of motions that our body requires instead of just one plane of motion that occurs when we would perform traditional PT exercises on a treatment table.
At Elite Physical Therapy, we have Physical Therapist Assistants who have completed a 10-month Fellowship on Applied Functional Science. These PTAs are able to watch gait patterns, speak with the patient about their recreation of choice, and help pick a plan that is personalized to the individual patient for improving all three planes of motions in the chosen activity. The patient is able to take these exercises and perform them at home and improve their mobility and stability for the specific type of injury they have, so the likelihood of the same injury recurring again becomes very minimal.
Check out these videos on our Youtube Channel made by our own Elite Physical Therapy staff that explain more in detail about how our bodies move in 3 planes of motion and demonstrate Functional Movement exercises you can perform at home:
Increasing Your Everyday Mobility
Exercise and Stretches You Can Do At Home
Exercises For Thoracic Mobility
For a personalized evaluation and more information on how functional movement exercises can help you MOVE BETTER, call us at Elite Physical Therapy at 318.443.3311 today to schedule an appointment.
