Physical Therapy in Miami for Walking
Whether you’re recovering from illness or an injury, our physical therapists (PTs) at Physical Therapy Now are here to help you rebuild your strength, coordination, and mobility after sports injuries, injuries sustained in motor vehicle collisions, chronic conditions, surgical recovery procedures and more.
About Functional Mobility
Functional mobility is our ability to move in and around our immediate environment. Getting out of bed, walking, sitting down, and getting up from the kitchen table are all examples of functional mobility.
During certain illnesses and injuries, there can be limitations in a person’s ability to move in the usual way. Muscle strength can weaken from lack of use, and this can impair balance and coordination, resulting in decreased speed and accuracy of movement. Pain or muscle spasms can also limit a person’s ability to move in a typical way.
In recovering from illness or injury, you may need assistance from another person to get in and out of bed or a chair, or to walk. An assistive device, such as a cane or a walker, can help a person maintain balance in support of the ability to walk. How much assistance is needed depends on the severity of the illness or injury.
Physical Therapy to the Rescue!
Goals of physical therapy include rebuilding strength and coordination, reducing pain, and improving quality of life.
Hospital-based physical therapists assess the patient’s level of functional mobility each day. These daily assessments by the PT help to determine a patient’s readiness to return home.
Physical therapists also help by assessing a patient in office settings, as well as the patient’s functional mobility at home. The PT often performs a gait evaluation in analyzing how the person walks and provides ideas and suggestions on how to create a safe home environment for mobility. Strategies are also shared to improve walking ability.
Levels of Assistance During Physical Therapy for Walking
The severity of your illness or injury will guide your physical therapist in how much assistance to provide during your recovery. The levels of assistance are:
- Dependent: The patient is unable to help and relies on the physical therapist to provide all the movement or exercise. Machines may be used to help the patient walk safely, such as a patient wearing a harness while on a treadmill. With this amount of support, the patient’s body weight is safely supported, and stability is provided, along with any other needed assistance.
- Maximal Assist: At this level of assistance, the PT completes about 75 percent of the movement or exercise, and the patient performs about 25 percent of the tasks.
- Moderate Assist: During this level of PT support, the patient performs about 50 percent of the movement exercise, and the physical therapist completes the other 50 percent.
- Minimal Assist: The patient can perform 75 percent of the necessary work of movement, and the PT completes about 25 percent of the work.
- Stand-by Assist: At this level, the physical therapist does not provide the patient with any assistance, but stands nearby in case the patient loses balance or needs help.
- Independent: The patient can perform the activity without assistance safely.
More Ways to Improve Your Mobility
If you are currently experiencing limited functional mobility, your physical therapist is educated and trained to help you improve your mobility. Keep in mind that the repetition of practice gradually helps to build strength and coordination toward increasingly greater motor control over time.
Our PTs provide therapies that are designed with each patient’s specific needs in mind, including:
- Exercise therapy for balance, coordination, flexibility, and range-of-motion
- Stretch therapy
- Muscle strain therapy
- Laser therapy
- Aquatic therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Home exercise programs
Physical Therapy for Walking in Miami
Do you need assistance in regaining your strength and mobility so you can walk again? Call Physical Therapy NOW at 1-800-481-4582 to schedule your appointment today!
