Physical Therapy

Physical Therapy involves massage, heat treatment, and exercise to improve a patient’s ability to move and perform functional activities in their daily lives.

Physical therapy is most often needed after an injury, often related to sports, slip and fall accidents, and auto collisions. The goal of the Physical Therapist will be to help you recover full use of your limbs including range and motion.

For instance, when someone suffers a broken ankle, there is far more to recovery than the mere regrowth of bone and muscle tissue. Once these tissues are strong enough to support your weight, the ability to rotate your ankle will be affected. Your UCGH Physical Therapist will work with you to not only help your ankle again support your weight, but more importantly, to get the joint functioning as it formerly did.

Some of the purposes of Physical Therapy include:

• Pain relief
• Improve movement
• Prevent or recover from sports injuries
• Prevent surgery
• Prevent disability
• Rehabilitation after a stroke, surgery, accident, or injury
• Improve balance
• Adapt to an artificial limb
• Manage chronic illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis, or heart disease
• Recovery after child-birth
• Control of bowels or bladder
• Learn to use a walker or cane

Things to remember when seeing your Physical Therapist

Your initial consultation will involve a series of questions to help understand your pain tolerance, your personal situation, and get a better idea of your current starting point. Your PT will also check your vitals, how well you can hold your balance, reach, bend, grasp, etc.

These tests are to determine how best to help so that a treatment plan can be developed which will help you recover in the shortest time possible.

Also, you will not recover immediately, so be patient with yourself. Remember too that everyone is different. Just because your cousin recovered fully from a similar injury in a few weeks does not mean you will.

UCGH Therapies and Therapists

Union County General Hospital has a staff of highly-skilled, caring Physical Therapists who strive daily to help their patients fully recover. They understand that you have suffered and continue to suffer. They also understand that everyone is different, so they will tailor their approach to your needs.

If you need to see a therapist, call 575.374.5733 now.

NOTE: In order to accommodate work and school schedules, we are extending our service hours from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM including the lunch hour.