Physical therapy is a discipline of Health that offers a non-drug alternative therapy to alleviate symptoms of many ailments, both acute and chronic, through therapeutic exercise, heat, cold, light, water, manual techniques including massage and electricity.
The physical therapist is a health professional with university education. Its powers are set out in the Law on Health Professions. Degree in Physiotherapy (four years).
It is characterized by seeking the appropriate development of the functions that produce the body's systems, where his good or bad performance affects the kinetics or human body movement. Intervenes, by using scientifically proven techniques when humans have lost or are at risk of losing or altering temporarily or permanently, proper motion, and thus physical functions. Without forgetting the fundamental role of physiotherapy in the field of prevention for optimal overall health.
Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation
There is a common misconception and is considered physiotherapy and rehabilitation are the same. The truth is that rehabilitation is the result of applying, inter alia, physical therapy for physical, mental, social and employment recovery. But rehabilitation physiotherapy includes not only involved in it but other health professional or not. Physical therapy is mainly concerned with the physical recovery, while rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary and comprehensive work in which, in addition to physical therapy, involves other disciplines such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychology, and rehabilitation and physical medicine as medical specialty, among others.