I see it all too often – a client at the gym is experiencing some aches and pains and comes to me to diagnose their problem. As a trainer and athlete, I have seen many types of injury and I am aware of human anatomy, so when a client presents an injury to me, I usually have an inkling as to what it might be. I usually give them some information about the possible injury, maybe some advice for immediate treatment, and then tell them to see a physiotherapist, massage therapist,etc as soon as they can. I am not qualified to diagnose injuries so I always suggest that patients seek professional advice. Unfortunately, many people have doubts about physiotherapy. Maybe they have had a bad experience in the past or maybe they don’t really understand what physiotherapists do, but I feel like I need to clarify.

Physiotherapy is an excellent way to fix an injury and keep it from coming back later on. It is an active treatment, rather than passive (think of chiropractics) and provides you with many exercises you can do to fix muscle imbalances, improper alignment, etc.

Another problem I witness far too much is once people finally go to physiotherapy, they don’t stick with their prescribed exercises. These exercises are prescribed for a reason. They might seem pointless because they are easy or don’t involve much motion, but they are specifically designed to help you recover and to get your muscles and skeleton back in prime working order. If you don’t understand the point of some of your exercises, then ASK your physiotherapist. This might give you a better understanding of what is going on in your treatment and might help to stay faithful to your physio exercises and your recovery.