Who should pursue physiotherapy?

People choose to see us for various reasons, but they all have one thing in common – the desire to optimize their physical ability and ultimately improve their quality of life. Whether helping a baby who is suffering with torticollis, a young swimmer focused on improving her performance, or a senior looking to return to his gardening activities post surgery – our life’s work is to help you get back to yours!

When in doubt – check it out!

Any condition that prevents you from participating in your regular or sporting activities impacts your whole life. Receiving physiotherapy at the onset of a problem is encouraged to help accelerate the healing process, prevent worsening of an injury over time and get you back to living fully faster. Book your appointment today – we’ll get you on the road to recovery!

Orthopedic Rehabilitation

Orthopedic Rehabilitation is the assessment and treatment of all musculoskeletal conditions (including back and neck pain, fractures and sprains) caused by repetitive “wear and tear,” a sports injury, fall, car accident or surgery. The problem can be acute or chronic. Active exercise therapy, soft tissue release and joint mobilizations are the focus of treatment, to allow you to regain muscle strength, flexibility, balance and full movement and function. Teaching correct postural alignment and core stabilization are also essential components of successful rehabilitation.

Prehab to Surgery

Pre-habilitation or “prehab” is treatment prior to an upcoming surgery. Learning specific exercises to strengthen your body prior to surgery will help reduce your recovery time significantly.

Neurological Rehabilitation

Neuro-Development Therapy (NDT) is a problem-solving approach that contributes to independence and quality of life for people experiencing physical limitations due to stroke, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), or Parkinson’s Disease. NDT involves managing movement dysfunctions by relearning normal movement patterns, thereby allowing you to regain mobility and function. Both Catherine Ball, PT and Danielle Mingelinckx, PT have extensive NDT post-graduate training.

Vestibular Rehabilitation

Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy is a type of physiotherapy that utilizes special maneuvers and customized exercises to relieve vertigo, dizziness, visual disturbance and/or imbalance. Danielle Mingelinckx is a certified vestibular physiotherapist.

Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA™)

SFMA™ is an advanced movement-based diagnostic system used to clinically assess the fundamental movement patterns in people with musculoskeletal pain. While everyone will benefit from SFMA™, it can be especially beneficial if you are recovering from an injury, not recovering as quickly as you would like or have a chronic problem that hinders your physical activities.

SFMA™ is also a powerful tool to predict potential injuries in athletes and “weekend warriors.”

No referral required

You can contact us directly to book your initial assessment. However, some private insurance plans and government-funded programs require a referral from a doctor or nurse practitioner in order to reimburse the cost of your visit. If you have private insurance, please check your policy to determine reimbursement requirements. We are pleased to offer convenient direct billing to most insurance companies on your behalf.

Initial Assessment

We ask you to arrive 10 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment so that you can complete your intake paperwork, including a health history. You should also bring a list of your prescription medications to this session.

During your appointment we will take a detailed history of your health concern and assess your functional limitations – that is, what can’t you do now that you want to be able to do? What causes you pain? What makes the pain worse? We will then proceed with assessing your movement, range of motion, strength and complete specific diagnostic tests. Your diagnosis will be explained and the proposed, customized treatment plan discussed with you. This first appointment usually takes 45 minutes.

Active Participation

At Perth Physiotherapy, you are an active participant in your rehabilitation. Your physiotherapist has many techniques to treat your injury (release tight tissues, mobilize stiff joints, reduce inflammation, electrical modalities, acupuncture, etc.) but you will also have a role to play at home. Your treatment plan will include some prescribed exercises that will complement in-clinic treatment and help you make a faster recovery.

Pinpointing the cause of your injury is essential to ensure corrections are made to prevent future occurrence of injury. If your injury resulted from a car accident, the cause is simple to identify, but in other cases like that of repetitive strain injuries, the cause can be less obvious. Together we work to identify the movements, habits or activities that can be harming you and look at possible adaptations to help prevent future injury.

What should I wear during my appointment?

We recommend you wear or bring comfortable clothing to change into for your initial assessment and subsequent treatment (shorts for ankle or knee assessments – a tank top for neck or shoulder assessments).

What are the primary techniques used in Physiotherapy?

Exercise Therapy

Exercise therapy is a key component of your physiotherapy treatment and may include exercises to improve strength, endurance and flexibility. Balance training, postural re-education and core stabilization exercises will also be a part of your physiotherapy treatment plan. Your in-clinic and at-home exercise programs will be progressed at precisely the right time. You will be given written and pictorial exercise sheets so that you can easily complete your home program.

Manual Therapy

Specific hands-on techniques used to put pressure on muscle tissue and mobilize/manipulate joints to decrease pain, muscle spasm, muscle tension or joint dysfunction.

Bioflex Laser Therapy

Bioflex is a light-based therapy that uses red and infrared light and a laser probe to target inflamed, injured or diseased tissues. The treatment is non-invasive and pain-free and is used to help accelerate the healing process. Perth Physiotherapy is pleased to be the exclusive, local provider of this Bioflex Laser Therapy.

Shockwave Therapy

Shockwave Therapy is a non-invasive physiotherapy treatment that delivers low-energy sound waves to injured tissue via a gel medium. The acoustic waves are forced into the body through strong pulses that penetrate injured tissue and stimulate the cells in the body that are responsible for connective tissue healing. Our new Shockwave machine , BTL-6000 SWT, delivers comfortable and highly effective treatments for stubborn conditions.

Traditional Acupuncture

Acupuncture involves inserting single-use, sterilized needles along your body’s meridians to balance out your Qi (chee) to manage pain and inflammation and promote your body’s natural ability to heal. The needles are typically left in position for 15 to 20 minutes and can be stimulated by moving the needle manually or by adding a low frequency current. Scientific research has shown that acupuncture can reduce pain by stimulating the brain and spinal cord to produce natural pain-relieving chemicals such as endorphins, melatonin and serotonin.

Intramuscular Stimulation (IMS)

Intramuscular Stimulation is also known as dry needling and consists of inserting an acupuncture needle into a trigger point and moving it until the muscle tension releases. IMS is very effective at releasing shortened muscle tissue that can press on and irritate nerves.

Interferential Current (IFC) and Pre-modulated Current

Electrotherapy currents are delivered through two or four electrodes to stimulate nerves and local endorphin release and repair tissues. Electrotherapy increases local blood flow and helps to reduce pain and edema.

Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES)

NMES is used in conjunction with active exercise to maximize muscle-fibre recruitment, re-educate muscle timing and override the inhibiting effects of pain. It involves a mild electrical current placed over a specific muscle to produce a contraction while you complete functional strengthening exercises.

Ultrasound

Ultrasound involves low-frequency sound waves to facilitate healing at a cellular level, increase soft tissue extensibility, reduce inflammation, break up scar tissue, improve blood flow and increase metabolism.

Heat and Cryotherapy

Hot or cold packs are used in conjunction with other treatments to relax muscles, decrease inflammation and reduce pain and stiffness.

OHIP-funded Physiotherapy

In January 2014, Perth Physiotherapy entered into a funding agreement with the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) to be a Community Physiotherapy Clinic, to provide assessment and treatment services, including rehabilitation following an injury or hospital stay.
To qualify, you must have a valid OHIP card and be:

• aged 19 years or younger, or
• aged 65 years or older, or
• have a new acute episode that has resulted in a decrease in physical function, or
• on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), or
• registered with Ontario Works, or
• referred by a hospital physician following an overnight stay.

For more information or to be added to our waiting list, please call us at (613) 267-6789