The Difference Between Exercise Physiology and Physiotherapy

The Difference Between Exercise Physiology and Physiotherapy

As someone who is a keen athlete or just wants to look after their body after an accident or injury, you might be wondering what types of services could help to support you with your current health and fitness goals. Here at The Resilient Healthcare, we offer a range of services to suit everyone’s needs. While you are no doubt familiar with physiotherapy, exercise physiology might be something you want to consider in the future. Today we’re going to discover the difference between an exercise physiologist and physiotherapist to help you decide which would be the best option for you in the future.

What is Physiotherapy?

The end goal of working with a physiotherapist and an exercise physiologist will be very similar. When you book Walsall physiotherapy, you’ll find that we work to diagnose, treat, and manage a variety of conditions and injuries. This type of service works to overcome issues you are facing with mobility and stiffness and is most commonly used following an injury, incident or surgery. A lot of people think that physiotherapy is only for people who are athletic, but it can help literally anyone to enjoy a better quality of life and improved movement. As we age, you may find that this type of service is even more needed to help to reduce pain and stiffness in the body.

Key things that will happen during a physiotherapy session include joint mobilisation, soft tissue massage and exercises that you can use following the session to improve your mobility or strengthen your muscles. Our team can also give you advice about how you can work to recover quicker and improve your overall health and wellbeing. We are qualified to treat a wide range of conditions, including back pain, sport-related injuries, chronic pain, ligament and joint issues, and knee pain.

During your first appointment, we’ll work to understand your current health concerns and then put together a plan for your treatment. We’ll need to ask you a variety of questions to understand more about the pain you are feeling and ensure that we find the best plan to overcome these issues. It’s important that you share with us your personal and sporting goals if you have any, so we can create a treatment plan that will keep you on track with these. It’s the role of a physiotherapist to make you feel as comfortable as possible during all of these sessions so that you get the most out of your time working with us.

What is Exercise Physiology?

When comparing exercise physiology and physiotherapy, you’ll find there are some similarities between these two types of treatment. The role of an exercise physiologist is to help prevent and manage injuries and diseases by offering you functional exercises and programs that will help to improve your health and wellbeing. When comparing an exercise physiologist vs. physiotherapist, you’ll typically find that exercise physiologists may have a higher level of education or a degree. An exercise physiologist and physiotherapist could work together to put you on the path to recovery, so don’t discount one service if you are using the other already.

The focus of exercise physiology is often to make changes to your lifestyle and behaviour to help you live a healthier life. The practitioner will want to ensure you see a reduction in your pain and discomfort, treating conditions such as obesity, arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, and mental health conditions. This is typically a much broader service than just treating injuries and post-surgery patients, which is why there’s a bigger focus on your everyday activities and healthy habits. The end goal is still to improve your overall health and wellbeing and allow you to get back to your favourite activities in no time at all. You can trust providers of physiotherapy in Walsall and exercise physiology to strive to improve your life and get you back on track with your health goals in no time at all.

These two services can work hand in hand to help anyone who is looking to recover from an injury or improve their health to reach their goals. We know that booking your first appointment with our team can feel daunting, but we’ll be here to make sure you feel relaxed and ready to work together to overcome the challenges you are currently facing. Our team has seen and dealt with every type of injury imaginable over the years, so we are very confident in being able to treat patients of all ages and with any type of condition. Get in touch with us today to discuss more about this topic or to book your first appointment with us. We’ll be happy to answer your questions to ensure you find the service that’s right for you to help you get closer to living a healthier life with our help.