Exercise Therapy

Exercise Therapy

Exercise Therapy are designed to promote general health and well-being and are also used for physical rehabilitation and development. They include a variety of different parts such as Stretching, Taping Therapy, TheraBand Exercise, Balancing, Posture Exercise, Strengthening Exercise and Gait Training. Physiotherapists at Impact Clinic can create a personalised programme for you depending on your goals.

Stretching Program

Stretching is a form of physical exercise in which a specific muscle or tendon (or muscle group) is deliberately flexed or stretched in order to improve the muscle’s felt elasticity and achieve comfortable muscle tone. The result is a feeling of increased muscle control, flexibility, and range of motion. Stretching is also used therapeutically to alleviate cramps and to improve function in daily activities by increasing range of motion

 

Stretching exercises will be tailored to target your problem areas and will vary in intensity and duration depending on the desired effect. Maintaining each stretch for around 10-15 seconds is important to overcome the initial tension in the muscle tissue and achieve lasting change to the tissue flexibility.

 

The main rehabilitation benefits to our stretching programmes include;

  • Increased range of movement
  • Decreases muscle tension / tone
  • Increases proprioception, awareness of body position
  • Improves neuromuscular co-ordination
  • Reduces the risk of muscular and soft tissue injury

Swedish Ladder Exercise

Are you looking for some variety in your exercise program? The Swedish Ladder is the answer. Exercise with Swedish Ladder strengthens your core and back muscles and proves effective for treating back pain. Training on the Swedish Ladder is possible for practically all levels of fitness. Three areas of exercise are especially effective: building and increasing strength, coordination and mobility. Visit Impact Clinic today to have an experience with Swedish ladder exercise.

Swiss Ball Exercise

Swiss balls are common occurrences in workplaces nowadays. Many people have discovered that it is an excellent substitute for a chair in terms of postural alignment and improves sitting tolerances. Many office-based workplaces in the 21st century incorporate Swiss balls as their primary tool to sit on.

A primary benefit of exercising with a Swiss ball as opposed to exercising directly on a hard flat surface is that the body responds to the instability of the ball to remain balanced, engaging many more muscles. Those muscles become stronger over time to keep balance. Some dumbbell exercises, such as dumbbell fly can be performed on a ball. Ball exercises are popular among runners. Most frequently, the core body muscles; the abdominal muscles and back muscles are the focus of Swiss ball fitness programs.

Taping Therapy

Taping or strapping is a technique used by physiotherapists for injury prevention or rehabilitation. Physiotherapists at Impact Clinic are fully trained in how to apply effective taping depending on your goals of treatment. Our physiotherapists can also teach you how to apply the tape yourself so you can continue to experience the benefit.

The benefits of taping will depend on your injury. Physiotherapists will aim to encourage some of the following benefits

  • Protection of injured soft tissue structures (ligaments, tendons, fascia)
  • Injury prevention
  • Encourage normal movement
  • Quicker return to sport or work
  • Pain reduction
  • Improves the stability of a joint
  • Reduces swelling

At Impact we use taping as part of a treatment programme for many injuries and conditions including

  • Shoulder injuries
  • Ankle sprains
  • Knee pain
  • Heel pain (plantar fasciitis)
  • Tendonitis e.g. tennis elbow
  • Muscle strains

TheraBand Exercise

TheraBand Loops are thick elastic bands that provide a way to strengthen muscles. By using the resistance that Therabands provide, muscles can be strengthened easily. If you have an injury or illness that results in problems with functional mobility, our Physiotherapist will likely prescribe specific exercises for you to do. Some of these exercises may be prescribed as part of a home exercise program, and TheraBand (or other brands of resistance bands) may be used to perform these exercises.

TheraBand Exercise will help to:

  • Improve your muscular endurance and strength
  • Attain better posture, balance, body awareness and co-ordination
  • Improve your balance and flexibility
  • Enjoy a low impact aerobic workout.

Balance Exercise

Balance exercises are exercises which are prescribed by a physiotherapist to challenge your balance in order to improve it. Balance exercises will challenge the body’s vestibular system and the musculoskeletal system. They aim to improve the body’s ability to maintain posture and centre of gravity and to improve muscle reaction time and joint proprioception (the body’s ability to recognise where the joints and limbs are in space).

If you have balance problems a physiotherapy assessment and balance exercises programme will be of benefit to you. There are many benefits of balance exercises which are:

  • Improved static balance
  • Improved dynamic balance
  • Improved joint proprioception
  • Improved muscle reaction time
  • Reduced risk of falls
  • Improved mobility

If you feel you would benefit from a physiotherapy assessment and a balance exercise programme, please contact us today.

Postural Realignment

Postural realignment involves a postural assessment, advice about your posture and exercises to help you improve your posture. At Impact Clinic, our physiotherapists will look at your posture in the treatment session. If it appears that postural problems are causing or adding to your problems and pain, postural realignment will be included as part of your treatment. Anyone with a poor posture, muscle imbalance and pain will benefit from a full postural assessment and realignment. An optimum posture will help you to be more functional and reduce your pain levels.

Having a poor posture can cause a cycle of muscle imbalance and pain which is difficult to stop without intervention. Poor posture will cause you pain and this pain will make. At Impact Clinic, our physiotherapists will work with you to try and create the optimum posture and reduce your pain. They will carry out a full postural assessment and design a treatment programme specifically for your needs.

Strengthening Exercise

Strengthening exercises are exercises which are designed to increase the strength of specific or groups of muscles. Strengthening exercises overload the muscle until the point of muscle fatigue. This force and overload of a muscle encourages the growth, increasing the strength. Weak muscles can increase the risk of injury to the surrounding joints and soft tissues. Physiotherapists at Impact Clinic will assess, diagnose and provide an appropriate strengthening exercise programme for you.

Some of the conditions / injuries which would benefit from strengthening exercises are:

  • Arthritic conditions
  • Pre surgery
  • Post surgery
  • Movement dysfunction
  • People with poor posture

Gait Analysis

At Impact Clinic we have a team of specialist physiotherapists trained to provide comprehensive analysis of your gait pattern. This concerns the biomechanical pattern of your normal walking and running cycles. It is primarily concerned with the movement of your lower limbs, but as no body part operates in complete isolation the therapist will take your total physiology into account when making their analysis.

The correction of any biomechanical abnormalities that are affecting your gait can improve your muscle strength, flexibility and overall mobility. To complement the analysis and treatment of your gait pattern we work closely with podiatrists and orthotists to provide complete care and support. 

For more information about gait analysis and how it could help the treatment of your condition please contact us today.