Neuromuscular re-education is a technique used by physical therapists to restore normal body movement patterns especially after improvement of range of motion in any joint.
Your nerves send signals from your brain to your muscles to produce movement. Over time, muscle movement patterns are learned and stored in your memory.
When nerves or muscles experience damage or injury resulting from trauma and various medical and neurological conditions, muscle movement patterns can be negatively affected. Neuromuscular re-education is one method used by physical therapists to facilitate the return of normal movement in patients with neuromuscular impairments.
To eliminate many of the symptoms that a patient presents with during their treatment time, it is critical to re-establish normal kinesthetic sense and proprioception. A joint needs to have full motion to be fully functional. If the joint does have full range of motion, weakness and functional limitations will develop over time. This time period is different for every patient, normally several weeks to months when the symptoms are not treated properly. Any loss of motion and strength needs to be addressed to eliminate the patient’s symptoms and correct the underlying problem.
If you were to restore full motion without reeducating the muscle in the new range, the new range would be lost or be weak and susceptible to reinjury. Re-education of the muscle in the new range of motion is necessary to maintain optimal strength and motion.
Neuromuscular re-education plays a major role in the rehabilitation of our patients. Using the proper techniques, activities and exercises on an injured body part will prevent acute injury from developing into a chronic problem.
At Central Park Physical Therapy, we look at the patient as a whole and address all aspects of the dysfunction to help the patient achieve her or his maximal rehabilitation potential, and to be the best they can be in performing all of their functional activities. Request an appointment today!