A healthy mind dwells in a healthy body. While your boss may be one of the reasons for your stress, some underlying physiological problems may also contribute to the feeling. According to the data from 2022, over 5 million Canadians (aged 15 and older) met the diagnostic criteria for a stressful mood, anxiety or depression. 1 in 5 Canadians suffer a mental disorder at some point in life. Medications and psychotherapy are two pillars of mental health treatment. But, there is a third pillar too which many people are unaware of. Physiotherapy/physical therapy improves mental health and helps prevent its recurrence.
Seems odd, doesn’t it?
Physiotherapy/physical therapy is about restoring human movement and function. It involves exercises, manual therapy, joint mobilization and other techniques that improve your musculoskeletal system’s efficiency.
So, how does it improve one’s mental health?
Let’s find out.
Connection Between Physical Therapy and Mental Health
Let’s establish the connection between these two first.
People with poor mental health often show similar symptoms, such as:
- Lack of physical activity
- High levels of sedentary behaviour
- Poor dietary habits
- Substance misuse
- High rates of tobacco use
Thus, they have a higher chance of suffering from physical illnesses. The common ones are cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and respiratory diseases.
Also, people with somatic disorders are most likely to suffer from a mental health disorder. Musculoskeletal problems also lead to severe mental disorders.
Neck pain, for instance, makes it hard for the patient to do even the simplest daily life duties. With time, the pain may disturb the sleep and mood as well. You become easily irritated and are always stressed.
Both physical activity and relaxation are crucial for people to be healthy, physically and mentally. Physiotherapy offers both while meeting the physical and mental health needs of people.
Physiotherapists use methods such as exercises, physical activity, body awareness education and movement training to help people achieve optimum physical and mental health. Specific chronic physical conditions like diabetes also cause mental health disorders. So, physical therapy focuses on treating these conditions and improves your mental health as well.
5 Secure Ways Physical Therapy Improves Mental Health
Physiotherapy is safe. It is non-invasive. There are no side effects because the entire treatment is natural. These benefits make physiotherapy quite a popular treatment option besides psychiatry for mental health problems. Let’s check out the 5 key ways physical therapy improves mental health.
Chronic pain management
Chronic pain is the pain that persists for over 3 months. No matter what you do, the pain stays with you all the time and that can be stressful. Research suggests the rate of major depression increases with greater pain severity.
Physiotherapy, on the other hand, is a non-invasive, pain-relieving treatment option. It helps relieve chronic pain through natural techniques. The common treatment methods include:
- Exercises
- Manual therapy
- Relaxation techniques
- Mindfulness training
- Posture training
Pain may start as a physical burden but soon infiltrates mental peace as well. Physiotherapists are skilled at assessing, diagnosing and treating the problem at its core. The pain subsides after a few sessions and you start feeling better mentally at the same time.
Posture correction
Posture and mental health have a very close connection. Your physical stance has a strong impact on your emotional and psychological well-being.
A slumped posture is more likely to cause feelings of depression. It also leads to physical discomfort. You may feel tension in the neck, back and shoulder, which adds to the stress.
Physiotherapists help people engage in a better posture. They are experts in biomechanics and musculoskeletal health systems. So, they educate people on how to adopt and maintain a strong posture.
Physiotherapy treatments focus on spinal alignment through tailored exercises and manual therapy. The exercises strengthen weak muscles, stretch tight areas, and improve overall alignment. Manual therapies include soft tissue massage, spinal adjustments and joint mobilization. These not only help correct the posture but also prevent posture-related pain. Keep your spine happy to keep yourself happy.
Incorporation of an active lifestyle
An active life has a strong positive impact on mental health. It reduces stress and anxiety. The mood improves as you spend more and more energy performing daily activities. The problem, however, is the modern lifestyle doesn’t allow people to stay active most of the day. The sedentary lifestyle, where you spend most of your time working on computers causes a wide range of musculoskeletal problems. Some of the most common ones include neck pain, back pain, shoulder stiffness, headaches and more. These in turn lead to mental health problems such as depression, stress and anxiety.
Exercises form the basis of physical therapy. So, physiotherapists prescribe specific stretching and strengthening exercises that make you physically active. The exercises increase the production of endorphins (happy hormones). These chemicals help combat feelings of depression, thereby improving your mood.
There are different types of exercises each with benefits of their own. Cardio exercises, for instance, help reduce levels of stress hormones while relaxing the muscles. Strengthening exercises, on the other hand, boost confidence and improve focus.
Sleep improvement
Regular exercises help you sleep better.
How does that improve your mood?
The body heals when you sleep. That is also when the brain processes your emotions and manages stress. Thus, the lack of sleep causes anxiety and can lead to depression as well.
The sleeping phase is also when the body regulates hormones such as cortisol and serotonin. Both the hormones contribute to mood stability.
Physical therapy improves mental health by improving sleep quality. The physiotherapists use manual therapy, exercises and stretching to reduce muscle tension, relax the muscles and alleviate pain. These factors contribute to more comfortable and restorative sleep.
Mind and body connection
Physical therapy strengthens the mind and body connection, which is crucial for stress-free mental health. People with an integrated mind-body system show signs of better mental health. On the contrary, anxious people tend to breathe from the upper chest only. It is more shallow whereas deep breathing is what physiotherapists suggest to enjoy a good mood.
So, physiotherapists guide you through breathing exercises which help establish a strong mind-body connection. They focus on controlled, deep breathing, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing stress. The breathing exercises also mindfulness, bringing awareness to the present moment and creating a sense of inner calm. As you tune into your breath, you foster a stronger connection between your mind and body, leading to improved mental clarity.
What to Expect from Physiotherapy Sessions?
Physiotherapy has positive impacts on both physical and mental health. The exercises and manual therapies relieve pain, reduce muscle tension and restore your optimum movement. Similarly, the treatments improve your mental health as they deal with pain and relax the muscles. The physiotherapists assess your health status along with your medical history to understand the cause of your problem. Then they customize the treatments to alleviate the pain, promote relaxation and better sleep. In most reputable clinics such as Physiotherapy First, patients feel mentally uplifted and more confident by the end of the sessions.
