Forms of therapy
Physiotherapy is a form of specific training and the external application of remedies, the primary aim of which is to restore, improve or maintain the ability of the human musculoskeletal system to move and function. Physiotherapist is not an independent medical profession in Germany, but belongs to the health professions. The medical necessity of treatment is determined exclusively by doctors and prescribed on prescription, except for preventive measures.
Physiotherapy bases its treatment on the patient’s complaints and functional, movement or activity limitations identified during the physiotherapeutic examination. It utilizes diagnostic and clinical reasoning based, as well as educational and manual skills of the therapist. If necessary, it is supplemented by natural physical stimuli (e.g. heat, cold, pressure, radiation, electricity) and promotes the patient’s own activity (coordinated movement as well as conscious perception). The treatment is adapted to the anatomical and physiological, motivational and cognitive conditions of the patient.
On the one hand, the treatment aims at natural, physiological reactions of the organism (e.g. motor learning, muscle development and metabolic stimulation), on the other hand at an improved understanding of the functioning of the organism (dysfunctions/resources) and at self-responsible handling of one’s own body. The goal is the restoration, maintenance or promotion of health and very often freedom from or reduction of pain.
