Functional Medicine and Physical Therapy
Often clients come in the clinic with a musculoskeletal condition, but sometimes working on the mechanics of mobility and strength aren’t enough to relieve their pain. These people will truly benefit from lifestyle changes in addition to physical therapy treatment.
Nutrition is often the missing link to comprehensive care in managing and relieving musculoskeletal pain. Nutritional education is an effective and useful tool to improve overall health outcomes, optimize performance and help our clients feel better. Supplementation and Nutrition are key components of primary and secondary, management and prevention of many conditions seen by Physical Therapists.
It is well known in the literature that nutrition plays a key role in both prevention and treatment of injuries.
When muscles are exercised, they have tears at the microfiber level. This is normal, and results in local inflammation in the specific muscle to repair the fibers and increase resilience against future damage. This is the process by which muscles grow. In a similar manner, when a person is injured, an inflammatory response is initiated.
The success of this repair process depends on the person’s body composition, genetics and the environment they are in and is influenced by nutrition.
If a person does not meet adequate nutritional intakes for tissue recovery the result may be repetitive stress injuries. These Repetitive injuries include things such as stress fractures or ligamentous tears, bursitis and tendonitis. Furthermore, nutrient deficiencies during recovery will delay the repair process and prolong healing. In the right environment, this prolonged healing can lead to an inflammatory state that causes Adrenal or Chronic Fatigue as well as other Autoimmune conditions.
Therefore, nutritional status and energy requirements should be assessed throughout recovery and nutrient intake adjusted accordingly for optimal prevention and recovery from injury.
Contact us for a consultation to determine individualized wellness strategies to optimize your results with physical therapy.
References:
Tipton, Kevin. "Nutritional Support for Exercise-Induced Injuries." Sports Medicine. 2015. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4672013/.
Demling, Robert. "Nutrition, Anabolism, and the Wound Healing Process: an Overview." Eplasty. 2009. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2642618/.