Is Physiotherapy Just Exercise?

Isn’t that all physiotherapy is…an activity disguised as a treatment that secretly gets you to exercise?

Well, not exactly although there is a lot of exercise involved in physiotherapy. The line between the two is often blurred and for good reason, because exercise is a key component to rehabilitation treatments. You could say that physiotherapy is a form of exercise but is so much more than just exercise.

Before we get to that, let’s take a deep dive into exercise.

This is a physical activity to maintain or improve physical fitness, mobility, and well-being. Exercise is not limited to just one activity. It incorporates many different activities from running and cycling for cardiovascular fitness to weightlifting and resistance exercises for strength training. Exercise improves several physical aspects including mental health, flexibility, muscular strength, and cardiovascular endurance.

Exercise is most effective when workout routines are used that are designed to target specific physical attributes. The idea behind exercise is to stress the body in greater volumes than it is accustomed to handling under normal circumstances. This enhances physical fitness as the body grows stronger and more capable of meeting that stress level.

One of the unique benefits of exercise is that routines can be tailored to hit specific muscles, muscle groups, or physical attributes. Weightlifting and running are examples of this. To build 

stronger arms, you would use various weightlifting exercises that focus directly on the arm muscles. To build cardiovascular strength and endurance, running longer and harder would help.

The most obvious difference between workouts and physio is that on average, physio exercises are not as challenging as a physical workout. That is to say, there is a difference in the level of intensity and complexity of the exercises performed in either discipline.

However, that is not entirely true. While progression is the common priority for both, the expected outcomes differ slightly. For workouts, the goal is muscular strength and endurance. For physiotherapy, it is much the same but with an emphasis on optimal rehabilitation outcomes.

We noted that physiotherapy exercises are not quite as intense as a regular workout. That depends. For some rehabilitation, intensity is vital to work muscle groups to move better. This is particularly important if the rehab sessions target a goal of improved mobility.

Plus, if you are a first-time gym user, you would not be suddenly lifting barbells holding hundreds of kilos of weight. You would start light and work your way up to heavier weights. This is the principle of progression that is shared with physiotherapy. Gradual increases in weight and resistance work muscle groups making them stronger.

Therapeutic exercise that you would experience in physiotherapy is designed to treat specific conditions by targeting them. An example would be hand exercises used to alleviate the pain associated with arthritis. In strength training, the same idea is used to work a specific muscle or muscle group. An example would be bicep curls to target the biceps and not all the other arm muscles.

In physiotherapy, there are many tools used ranging from ultrasound and TENS to resistance bands, exercise balls, exercise bikes, and foam rollers. In exercise, there are also several tools. They include running shoes, hiking boots, weights, weight benches, exercise bikes, stair climbing machines, and any other sports equipment required to perform an activity that is considered exercise.

Physiotherapy is exercise but it is so much more than that. Physio exercises may follow the same basic premise as workout exercises, but the goal of them is to promote optimal rehabilitation outcomes. This means that you don’t do physio exercises just because they are exercises. You do them to treat a condition that produces pain. Physio exercises are designed to help you improve mobility and reduce the pain associated with several muscular and joint conditions.

This does not mean that workout exercises are not beneficial. If anything, workout exercises and all other forms of exercise help you to maintain physical fitness so that you are not as likely to develop a condition that requires physiotherapy.