La physiotherapy, also known as physiokinesitherapy or fkt, is a health profession that consists of the set of Manual and instrumental techniques and rehabilitative exercises aimed at recover the physical state of a patient following an injury, i.e., an event that has in some way damaged tissues (muscular, fascio-connective, bony, or nervous) or a particular pathology. The purpose of physical therapy is the rehabilitation of the patient, that is, the recovery by the patient of proper function of his or her body through functional exercises.
Traumas that can lead to the initiation of a physiotherapy course are of a different nature: in fact, we speak of mechanical trauma if the tissue is directly injured, surgical trauma following surgery, or trauma following pathology.
The physical therapy pathways tend to be dynamics that before being undertaken require a physiotherapy evaluation and in which physiotherapy techniques may coexist depending on the nature of the injury to be treated and the patient’s response, and this is the reason why sessions of the same physiotherapy course may vary from each other.
The nature of physiotherapy treatments requires a very thorough knowledge of human anatomy and related pathologies that a physiotherapist acquires during his or her graduate studies.
There are no particular contraindications that prevent one from undergoing physiotherapy treatments, but in some cases (such as in cancer patients, patients with open wounds, patients with major vascular problems, or patients with unstable general conditions), a diagnosis by the specialist physician who prescribes the physiotherapy course that he or she considers most suitable for the patient is strictly recommended before starting physiotherapy courses.
On the other hand, with regard to physiotherapy treatments in which electromedical instruments are used, it is not possible for pregnant patients, pacemaker wearers, and cancer patients to undergo them, in contrast to manual techniques and alternative therapies that can be performed on all patients instead.
