Technology and physical therapy innovations have made all aspects of our lives easier, including providing optimal physical therapy. Physical therapy equipment supports your efforts and your patients, ensuring they get the best care possible. In this article, we explore the best physical therapy equipment, as well as popular PT tools.
Benefits of physical therapy equipment
Equipment in physical therapy clinics can enable a physical therapist to help their patients accurately and efficiently, while also potentially placing less strain on their own body in some cases. This means that many physical therapists can have long and thriving careers and that each patient gets the best quality care.
What kind of technology and equipment are used in physical therapy clinics?
From exercise equipment to assessment manual therapy tools, physical therapists use a wide variety of tools to facilitate the healing process and guide their treatment plans. Below, we take a closer look at some of the most useful physical therapy tools.
Treatment tables
Treatment tables, sometimes called treatment beds, provide comfort and support to the patient during treatment. Many types are further adjustable, allowing various stretches and manual therapy techniques to easily be performed by the physical therapist.
Strength-building physical therapy tools
The very core of physical therapy involves building muscle and strength to prevent and heal from injury or pain. As such, there are many pieces of equipment that are used to help with strengthening muscles and enhancing blood flow.
Weighted medicine balls
Weighted medicine balls provide a great tool to build core strength, balance, and stability.
Cuff weights
Cuff weights are an easy way to progress rehab exercise movements, such as leg raises or hamstring curls.
Dumbbells
Dumbbells are another strength training tool that help gain strength, particularly in the shoulders, forearms, wrists, and chest. In some cases, resistance bands may prove to be more convenient and easy to use (more on resistance bands below!).
Grip Trainers
Grip trainers improve forearm and hand strength, which can help prevent and rehabilitate various injuries.
Electrical muscle stimulation
Electrical muscle stimulation is a helpful tool for activating weakened or damaged muscle tissue. In turn, the patient is better able to build strength and recover after an injury.
Ultrasound
Ultrasound therapy supports the rehabilitation process by encouraging increased blood flow to the affected area. This can help bring all the nutrients and cells required for optimal healing and recovery.
Treadmills
Treadmills can help support a warm-up before a rehabilitation routine, as well as offer a way to increase lower body and postural strength. They may also be used to help retrain those that are re-learning to walk. However, a treadmill may not be the best option for everyone. In some cases, an exercise bike may be best to avoid placing too much pressure on the joints.
Range of Motion tools
In a physical therapy clinic, it’s vital to have a variety of range of motion tools as many patients will have reduced range of motion due to injury or pain. These PT tools can help improve flexibility, supporting future injury prevention, preventing future joint pain, and reducing muscle tension. Some examples of range of motion tools included straps, towels, foam rollers, exercise balls, and more!
Most popular physical therapy tools to try in your physical therapy clinic
In the following sections, we outline some of the most popular and best physical therapy tools that you may want to consider for your clinic.
Physiotools
Physiotools provides an online software, which allows you to create custom exercise programs for your physical therapy patients and distribute to them via email. That way, your patients have the exercises (and demonstrations!) they need to perform at their fingertips. For those less tech-savvy, you can also print the exercise sheets.
NordicTrack
NordicTrack offers ellipticals, exercise bikes, treadmills, and more, which make the perfect addition to any physical therapy clinic gym.
Resistance bands
As far as physical therapy equipment goes, every clinic should have an array of resistance bands with differing resistances. It may also be a good idea to have them for sale, so that your patients can take home the bands for performing their at-home exercises. These bands may also save money when it comes to other gym or exercise equipment since they tend to be quite affordable when compared to dumbbells or other weights.
Stretching straps
Stretching straps can provide help for a patient when they can’t easily grab their hands or feet to perform a stretch. The strap bridges this gap and can help them achieve further range of motion that they may otherwise not be able to get to.
Total Resistance Exercise (TXR) System
The TRX system is a suspension-styled strength training tool that leverages gravity and bodyweight to perform various exercises, such as planks, push-ups, pull-ups, and more. It is frequently used to increase core strength, balance, flexibility, and stability.
Exercise Balls
An exercise ball is an excellent tool for improving core strength, leg strength, and more, depending on how it is used.
Exercise Sliders
Exercise sliders can offer modification options for various exercises. These are small discs that you place your feet or hands on, which allows them to slide across the floor. For instance, these can make great tools for lunges, mountain climbers, and more.
Balance Pads
Manual therapy and pain relief options only go so far. As we age and after injury, it’s important to work on maintaining and improving balance, which is where a balance pad can come into play! A balance pad can be used to stand on and hold a standing position for a set amount of time or used for one-leg balance stances.
Foam Rollers
A foam roller is a light-weight cylinder tool that can help a patient administer self-massage and self-myofascial release. This can help reduce muscle knots, inflammation, muscle tightness, and pain.
Halo Digital Goniometer / Inclinometer as a PT tool
Widely used traditional goniometers and inclinometers are over 40 years old and provide issues with measurement discrepancies. Finding the right tools and technology to help improve accuracy of ROM measurement is important in a physical therapy practice.
Halo is a digital solution that improves reading accuracy within 1 degree. Our digital goniometer measures range of motion in 3 easy steps, making accuracy available for everyone. The Halo has a triple sensor chip that allows you to measure the planes our bodies move in. Save your last 5 measurements so you don’t need to remember, or interrupt your assessment to write down the result.
Now you can provide your patients a superior level of care that distinguishes you from competitors. Halo is available to buy now on Amazon USA.
