Getting through the first days or weeks after an injury is only one part of recovery. Pain may begin to decrease before strength, mobility, endurance, or confidence in movement has fully returned. Whether you were injured in a car accident, at work, during sports, or in everyday life, continuing to address the functional effects of an injury can be important for getting back to the activities that matter to you.
Feeling Better Doesn’t Always Mean Recovery Is Complete
Pain is an important symptom, but it isn’t the only way to measure progress.
You may notice that your pain has decreased while still having difficulty bending, lifting, reaching overhead, walking for longer periods, sitting through the workday, exercising, or performing other normal activities.
Strength, range of motion, endurance, balance, and movement can take time to improve even after the most noticeable symptoms have started settling down.
Rehabilitation Should Focus on Function
A good rehabilitation program should consider what you actually need to do in everyday life.
For one patient, the goal may be comfortably sitting and driving again after a car accident. Another patient may need to lift, carry, climb, push, or pull to return to a physically demanding job. An athlete may need to regain enough strength, mobility, and control to safely return to a sport.
Those goals help guide treatment as recovery progresses.
Treatment May Change as You Improve
Early treatment may focus more heavily on pain, mobility, and tolerance for activity. As your condition improves, rehabilitation can progressively emphasize strengthening, endurance, balance, coordination, and functional exercises.
Physical therapy can be especially valuable during this stage because exercises can be advanced according to your progress and individual goals.
Depending on the condition, chiropractic care and manual therapy may also be incorporated when appropriate.
Returning to Work May Require Additional Rehabilitation
For patients recovering from workplace injuries, returning to a physically demanding job may require more than simply reaching a lower pain level.
Some workers must demonstrate the ability to safely perform repeated lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, squatting, climbing, kneeling, or other job-specific activities.
When authorized and appropriate, work conditioning or work hardening may help bridge the gap between traditional rehabilitation and the physical demands of returning to work.
Progress Should Be Measured
Recovery isn’t always a straight line. Some days may feel easier than others.
Instead of looking only at pain, progress can also be measured through changes in range of motion, strength, activity tolerance, functional ability, and the patient’s ability to perform previously difficult activities.
Periodic re-evaluation allows the treatment plan to be adjusted as the patient’s condition changes.
Keep Working Toward Your Functional Goals
At Easy Reach Chiropractic & Physical Therapy, our goal isn’t simply to help patients feel temporarily better. We want to understand how an injury is affecting everyday function and develop an individualized rehabilitation plan based on those limitations and goals.
Depending on the condition, care may include physical therapy, chiropractic care, manual therapy, therapeutic exercise, functional rehabilitation, spinal decompression, work conditioning, or work hardening when appropriate.
Our Lake Worth and Fort Lauderdale teams provide rehabilitation for appropriate motor vehicle accident injuries, workplace injuries, sports injuries, and other musculoskeletal conditions.