Physiotherapy Treatment - Our Approach

Physiotherapy Assessment

We conduct a detailed assessment to understand your history of current symptoms, previous injuries and concurrent medical conditions. We will include physical examination to assess pain, inflammation, impairement, general movement and sporting, working or lifestyle patterns/ habits. A customized plan can then be worked out with each individual accordingly, towards short term outcome and the desired goal. Our physiotherapists also re-assess to re-analyze treatment plans to ensure the treatment are specific, effective and towards your goals.

Manual Therapy

Our physiotherapists in Singapore use manual and physical therapy techniques also called ‘hands-on’ therapy. Manual therapy helps relieve symptoms in muscles, nerves and joints, reduces spasm, tightness, stiffness and abnormal sensation, promotes tissue repair, thus enhances your body’s self-healing potential. Manual therapy includes joint mobilization, manipulation, various types of massage and stretching techniques. Our physiotherapists use a combination of manual therapy techniques to treat a condition.

Pain Relief and Electrophysical Modalities

Besides manual therapy, electricalphysical modalities used by our physiotherapists in Singapore can be incorporated during our treatment to manage your condition
• Electrical stimulation for muscles and nerve such as TENS, NMES, Interferential, microcurrent, is used for different injuries for the purpose of reducing severe constant pain and inflammation or re-train movement and improving nerve-muscle activities
• Therapeutic Ultrasound penetrates heat to deep seated tissues in your body and helps tissue repair process
• Heat treatment reduces stiffness, tightness and aches by improving circulation
• Cryotherapy reduces acute symptoms such as pain and inflammation
• Traction takes the weight off joints, nerves, disc and muscles hence improving tissue alignment, ‘free up’ squeezed nerves and enabling repair process of soft tissue

Exercise Program

Exercises are important to relieve pain, improve movement for function, strength, balance as well as fitness. We tailor exercises depending on the specific injuries, existing medical condition (s) and goals of treatment.

Spinal Stabilization or Core Muscles Stability Exercises

• Many people suffer recurrent episodes of neck and/or back pain and one of the reasons is that muscle strength or function does not return to normal after the pain episode
• Recent physiotherapy research has shown the importance of an exercise approach that targets the core muscles or deep spinal muscles to manage chronic recurring spinal pain. These muscles were weaken during painful episodes, caused poor spinal alignment/posture and result in recurring pain. These muscles are not specifically turn-on during conventional gym exercises such as sit-ups and crunches
• Spinal stabilization or core muscle stability is exercise programme for flexibility and muscular control with emphasis on the spine to reduce spinal symptoms

Sports and Functional Rehabilitation

• Conservative management after injury and for post surgery management
• Individuals who sustain injury or those with surgery such as post fracture, reconstructive and joint replacement surgeries, would require specific exercise protocol to ensure safety, proper recovery and injury prevention
• For example are Exercise Protocols for Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Reconstruction, Total Knee Replacement (TKR) and Post Fractures, have strict criteria and milestones to achieve throughout the healing and recovery process
• Hence, sports-specific and functional rehabilitation can be tailored to enhance an individual post injury and/or surgery to return to daily activities, work and sports

Fitness Program for Chronic Illnesses and Aged Care

• Provision of safe and evidence-based conditioning and fitness program for individual suffering from medical condition(s) such as diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, obesity and cardiovascular disease as well as for elderly at risk of falling and frail individuals
• Based on sound musculoskeletal management, exercise science and fitness, an individually tailored fitness program can be designed
• Programme can include cardiovascular, resistance training, therapeutic strengthening, stretching and balance drills as well as fun exercise regime to improve health, well being and promote active living
• We believe in exercise for life and encourage self exercise regime by teaching and guiding individuals to carry out exercise on their own

General Mobility and Range of Motion Therapy

• These include exercises to help lessen muscle tension, spasticity and joint stiffness to regain range of motion and ease of movement
• The aims are to strengthen weak muscles, prevent contractures and bed sores

Home Exercise Programme

• Care giver and family members should provide patients or elderly with active lifestyle, not just security and dependency
• Care-giver or family members can learn home exercise programme to assist patients with maintenance exercises recommended by our physiotherapist
• We believe in empowering patients and their family members by incorporating self management, injury prevention advices and life-long exercises

Clinical Massage and Muscle Releasing Techniques

Clinical massage techniques, such as sports massage, trigger point therapy and myofascial release techniques, are used during treatment for several reasons
• improving circulation, tissue repair and regeneration
• breaking down adhesion in muscle, tendon and ligaments hence releasing internally formed scar tissues and improving biomechanical strength of soft tissue
• promoting relaxation by easing muscle spasm, tension and fatigue

Cerebrovascular Accident / Stroke and Neurological Rehabilitation

Individuals with neurological conditions such as stroke, spinal cord injury, head injury and Parkinson’s Disease will benefit from specialized and goal orientated stroke and neurological physiotherapy programme.The goals of this programme are to relearn, recover and maintain skills and functions that were lost due to neurological injury. The scopes of treatment, depending on the types neurological conditions, include sensory-motor relearning program, strengthening –coordination training, mobility and gait training as well as behavioural-cognitive therapy.

We use adjuntive such as functional electrical stimulation to stimulate weakened muscles, facilitate strengthening and muscle re-education.

Our upper limb stroke program is intended for patients with cerebrovascular accident (CVA) to maximize upper limb recovery. Our approach includes motor relearning training, task-orientated activities, contraint-induced movement therapy, electrical stimulation and pain relief treatment to promote the use of the affected limb and recovery. The neurological rehabilitation is progressive with activities of increasing difficulty to provide a challenging work-out to retrain and regain functional activity and independence.

Bracing and Taping

For some joint or muscle injuries, bracing and taping help
• control the stability and function of the injured structure
• alleviate pain and prevent re-injury
• improve work and sports performance
We may apply specific bracing and/or taping techniques such as kinesiotaping, conventional taping and braces, depending on your injury and activities.

Chest Physiotherapy

As all our physiotherapists have many years of training in the acute hospitals in Singapore, we are experienced in cardiopulmonary or chest physiotherapy. Chest physiotherapy includes technique such as percussion, vibration, postural drainage, deep breathing and general mobility exercises and nasaphalargeal as well as orophalargeal suctioning.

The aims are to improve air entry, clear secretion, prevent infection and maximize mobility and physical activity.