Therapy has been a vital part of my journey to recovery for the past 8 years of my life. I have had experience with many different types of therapy over the years. All types of therapy are used for the sole purpose of recovery. Each therapy offers something positive towards your goals. The types of therapy I have found to be the most beneficial to my recovery have been physical, occupational, and speech therapy.
PHYSICAL THERAPY
Physical Therapy is usually therapy that involves mid to lower extremities. What I mean by this is that physical therapists typically focus on the bottom half of the body, but it all depends on the patient’s needs and capabilities. For example, in my case, physical therapists have worked with me to improve leg strength and mobility.
The more progress I make the difficulty of the therapy become greater. In the past I was extremely weak and unable to do much. At that point, therapy was centered around gaining strength and mobility. Now that I have progressed, therapy is more aggressive and more difficult, because I am capable of doing more complex activities.
For example, I am very close to starting to do standing. Right now we are focused on sitting balance and core strength because that will be necessary to be able to stand in the near future.
As i mentioned before physical therapy usually starts off working with the bottom half of the body and as progress is made physical therapy then starts to involve more and more muscles all throughout the body to complete more complex tasks. There comes a point where physical and occupational therapy combine to get a better outcome, but that usually happens further along the recovery process.
The need for physical therapy depends on each individual person, but I personally believe that physical therapy is important to have no matter where you may be in your journey to recovery. Being physically active is vital to everyone’s well being. Physical therapy has been so helpful for me in my life and I have been very blessed to be eligible to receive the therapy I need to succeed in my personal physical goals and also get the medical benefits I need to feel my best.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Another very important therapy I receive and have done for the past 8 years is occupational therapy. Occupational therapy is the other half of my therapy routine Occupational therapy usually focuses on rehabilitating the body from the waste up. I work on strengthening and mobility of the top part of my body. We usually work on rehabilitating the body parts that are in charge of completing activities of daily living to try and aim for personal independence. Like I have mentioned before this all depends on the person and the therapist. There are no limits to what can be done in physical and occupational therapy. The best therapy sessions are unplanned. I have found that being creative and trying new movements and exercises make for the best therapy experience.
COMBINING THERAPY FOR A BETTER OUTCOME
My favorite therapy sessions are when both the physical and occupational therapist co-treat and work together with me to get as much benefit as possible. It’s a lot easier to have more than one person working with me because it allows for the therapy to be more thorough and more productive.
For example, when I have only one therapist working with me at a time the sessions are usually less thorough and less productive. This is because a therapist is only able to do so much by themselves without risking my safety and when there are two therapists there isn’t as much worry because the therapists rely on each other for support and can concentrate on having a productive therapy session. It also gives me assurance and allows me to put all my energy into doing my exercises and allows me to succeed in my sessions. My favorite and most satisfying sessions have been when both my physical and occupational therapist co-treat.
Physical and occupational therapy have been a huge part of my recovery to date. I have been fortunate enough to have worked with so many therapists throughout these past eight years and every therapist I’ve worked with has left a positive impact in my journey to recovery and has taught me so much. I have made a workout/therapy routine that I follow every day and it consists of all the exercises and therapies I’ve learned along the way.
SPEECH THERAPY
Speech therapy has been very important to me as well . After my surgery, the damage caused by my injury took away my ability to talk and speech therapy was what helped me gain my voice back. Speech therapy for me was difficult at the beginning because a big part of the therapy was learning to use a speaking valve and that took a lot of concentration and technique. I had to time my breathing and my vocal cords to function at the same time in order to be able to make noise.
Then after learning how to do that I had to remember how to find my voice again to form words and sentences. Then I had to strengthen my lungs and build stamina to be able to start and hold a short conversation. From then on I just had to work on that consistently to become better at it and make my voice more clear and easier to be heard and understood.
THERAPY IS DEFINATELY WORTH IT!
At the beginning I sounded like a robot, but as I received more and more therapy I got to a point where I was able to sound like I used to, prior to my injury. Just like every other therapy, being consistent with my exercises and working on myself religiously is what allowed me to get back what I had lost.
Today I continue to receive both physical and occupational therapy every week and fortunately I have graduated from speech therapy because I no longer need it. Therapy is very important whether it be for your recovery or just to maintain a healthy and physically active life. If you suffer from a physical disability like me I highly recommend therapy. There are many resources out there If you decide to try therapy whether it be physical, occupational, or speech. Contact your local therapy centers to learn more or leave a comment about your experience