What Is Physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy -- sometimes called physical therapy or even just PT -- is a discipline that works to improve the body function of people who are impaired because of injury, disease or a condition present at birth. The idea is to increase mobility, function and quality of life for the patient.

In general, physiotherapy starts with examination and evaluation by a doctor. This leads to diagnosis of what’s wrong and a hypothesis, in some cases, of how physical therapy can help the issue. Then, a physiotherapist and physical therapy assistants step in to help the patient realize the goals set forth by the doctor.

But that isn’t all physio therapy involves. Patient education, consultation with other medical professionals and administrative duties are necessary parts of the job. Some physical therapists also participate in research.

In the United States, what it takes to become a physiotherapist varies by jurisdiction. Each state has its own legislation defining the role and duties of a therapist, but the American Physical Therapy Association is responsible for accrediting physical therapy education programs and has a model definition of the profession that many states rely on.

Physical Therapy For All

Physiotherapy can be effective for people of all ages, from newborns to the elderly. In consultation with other health care professionals, PTs decide how they can help a person and establish a schedule of activities that they believe will lead to the best possible chance of improvement.

In the case of injuries, recovery is a primary goal, but when that isn’t possible, restoration of as many vital functions as possible the ability to work or otherwise be productive is the goal.

In most cases, a patient’s PT program consists of help with certain exercises, manual therapy to loosen, strengthen or otherwise change the characteristics of a particular part of the body, education and other assistance. When possible in the case of disease, therapists work to prevent loss of function and teach coping or work-around skills when that isn’t possible.

Within the field of physiotherapy, there are professionals who specialize in sports injuries, wound care, geriatric patients, neurological impairments and children, among other things. These professionals may work in a clinic, hospital, nursing home or visit patients in private homes. They may work with schools or research facilities as well.

A Long History Of Helping

Physiotherapy can be traced back to the beginning of medicine. Hippocrates and Galenus advocated massage and manual therapy as well as hydrotherapy as far back as 460 BCE. Machines came into use to assist physical therapy in the 18^th century when the field of orthopedics developed. Physiciotherapy as a job can be documented back to 1813 and Per Henrik Ling, the so-called father of Swedish gymnastics.

Sweden began registering this kind of therapist in 1894. Other countries started to register them soon after. In 1914, Reed College in Portland became the first institution in the United States to graduate so-called reconstruction aides.

Today’s physiotherapy professionals are well-trained in institutions of higher learning and are assisted by physical therapy assistants and physical therapy techs.

Together, they form a team of professionals who work to help people get as much from life as possible by getting the most from their bodies even if they are naturally lacking in abilities or lose some viability because of injury or disease.

Patient data

Our ETR (Electronic Training Record) keeps all of the collected data in a secure cloud.

Protocol training

Evidence based and best practice protocol training for NCD and rehab patients with real-time stats.

Physiotrainer

Create a training program and monitor your patients progress in real-time.
Fitness, corestability, protocol training, all is directly available on your tablet. Data will automatically be stored in the patients ETR.

Direct Feedback

Use modern wireless devices to interact in real-time with the patients care-process.

Achieving better compliance and better outcome measures!
Better time-management making it cost-effective!

PhysioForm Pre-Alpha

We integrate the newest innovations available in healthcare to be used with a beautiful user friendly interface on a tablet and smartphone to benefit patient, physiotherapist and personal trainer.
PhysioForm offers the possibility for patient and physio to work together in a real-time environment in order to achieve a health or fitness goal better then ever before. In a safe cloud environment the patient and physio can manage and organize a desired care process.

Innovative Patientcare

Because of the cloud record the patient is able to log into his personal record where and whenever he wants to. Exercises, training programs, rehab-training, real-time personal care stats, appointments and personal relevant information are available for the patient in his own cloud record (tablet/smartphone/desktop). This process will give the patient more responsibility over his own care process and so stimulate the self management of the patient which makes him more involved with his treatment. This benefits the recovery of his condition and loyalty to the therapy.

The benefit for the physio is that he works in that same cloud environment, meaning the entire care process is directly stored digitally. At the same time delivering one of the most important advantage for the therapist….. his time management, which with the use of physioform, is cost-effective.