Physiotherapy

Definition

Physiotherapy is a health profession and a clinical science. Use movement to strengthen, maintain or restore the patient’s functional capabilities.

Physiotherapy is the therapy of human movement (kinêsis means “movement” in Greek). He therefore uses movement or, on the contrary, corrects and reduces it, with different techniques and/or by applying a restraint system, in order to restore an altered body function. For example, a physiotherapist can help a patient regain the use of a hand after reconstructive surgery, or at least teach them to adapt to their new pathology, or teach an amputee to walk with a prosthesis.

Physiotherapy means movement therapy. As a result, physiotherapists use a wide range of techniques to re-educate their patients’ movement and posture. It is therefore both muscular and articular.

One of the main acts of physiotherapy is manual therapy, i.e. the stimulation of the patient’s tissues (muscles, tendons or subcutaneous tissues) using a variety of manual techniques, including massage. Physiotherapy also uses a variety of physical means (heat, cold, electric currents, ultrasound, infrared, tecar therapy, shock waves, etc.).

Physiotherapy also covers respiratory physiotherapy techniques for infants with bronchiolitis, for example, to help maintain volume and clear congestion. But also the creation of elastic (strapping), flexible (support arm, elbow to body bandage) or rigid (corset for spinal immobilization) restrictions.

This discipline encompasses the rehabilitation of almost all medical conditions. This profession belongs to the body of rehabilitators such as speech therapists, occupational therapists, neuropsychologists, psychomotor therapists and orthoptists.

The physiotherapist

Physiotherapists have a scientific university education, enabling them to use the official title of masseur diplômé en kinésithérapie in Luxembourg. They work closely with other health professionals.

Physiotherapists have the knowledge and skills needed to provide quality treatment in the therapeutic field, but also in the fields of well-being, prevention, leisure, physical fitness and aesthetics. Always ready to keep abreast of the year’s latest developments, physiotherapists are regularly updated through continuing education in Luxembourg or abroad.

The physiotherapist will help you to solve your problems, regain your physical capabilities and get back to an active life by offering solutions tailored to your needs.

Activities

The activity of the physiotherapist includes :

  • Massages, including manual lymph drainage andpressure therapy
  • Respiratory physiotherapy for adults and children
  • Posture,musculo-tendinous stretching and joint mobilization, excluding forceful maneuvers, including spinal manipulations and osteopath-specific bone movement reductions
  • Muscle building (sports or post-traumatic)
  • Creation and application of flexible, adhesive or non-adhesive restrictions, temporary rehabilitation devices and postural devices
  • Sensory-motor rehabilitation (more specifically for neurological disorders)
  • Rehabilitation of balance disorders (neuro-vestibular rehabilitation)
  • Neuromuscular relaxation

The different physiotherapy techniques :

  • Electrotherapy: direct current (or galvanic current), galvanization, medicated dielectrolysis. The choice of medication is the sole responsibility of the prescriber, and current analgesic and excitatory stimuli;
  • Use ofmechanical waves (infrasound, sound vibrations, ultrasound);
  • Use of electromagnetic waves (shortwave, centimeter wave, infrared, ultraviolet)
  • Thermotherapy and cryotherapy, excluding any procedure that may cause damage to the skin
  • Kinebalneotherapy and hydrotherapy
  • Rehabilitation of the perineum, bladder and sphincter

Meso-physiotherapy techniques are performed following one or more assessments carried out by the masseur-physiotherapist, also known as BDK, to establish a physiotherapeutic diagnosis in order to adapt the techniques to the patient’s needs.

The general role played by the physiotherapist has been strengthened in modern perioperative techniques such as rapid recovery after orthopedic surgery, but also visceral surgery, thus enabling early preparation and mobilization of the patient, key elements in his or her optimized return to autonomy.