Overview

Physiotherapy is one of the most important rehabilitative services needed in a community. It is a vital therapeutic supplement of the medical profession, integral to the treatment of most patients.

Physiotherapy, as a profession, may briefly be defined as a science that seeks to alleviate movement dysfunction, to promote optimal health and functions of the human body.

It involves the treatment of patients through exercise therapy and other therapeutic agents, including heat radiations electricity, sound, water and massage, and is used to cure weak muscles, difficulties in the movements of shoulder and knee joints, paralysis, inborn and acquired deformities gynecological ailments and other such disorders.

Patients with such problems are referred by medical practitioners to physiotherapists who then take on the responsibility of restoring them to health.

Physiotherapists also train the permanently disabled and handicapped people to make their best use of the abilities. Besides dealing with the preventive and remedial aspects of the disabled, they play a significant role in training sportsmen and in treating any injuries caused.

Although a relatively new profession in India, the demand for physiotherapists in the country is immense, especially with increasingly sedentary lifestyles.