Physical Therapy & Your Immune System

2022-01-31T21:41:11+00:00

Overwhelmingly, studies show that regular exercise boosts your immune system. The somewhat obvious caveat to this is that you must not overtrain or injure yourself in the process…this would lead to a major decrease in your immunity. In comes physical therapy to save the day!

Did you know physical therapists do way more than just address acute and chronic injuries? They prescribe series of movements and exercises that will protect and enhance your overall physical functionality (our therapists do this in a very specific way). These series of targeted exercises can help boost your immune system in ways regular exercise does not. One example of this, is that some exercises can be prescribed can help flush bacteria out of lungs and airways which reduce the likelihood of getting sick with a virus (Virvick & Zieve, 2020).

Another great example of how physical therapy can strengthen your immune system, is by improving the quality and amount of sleep you are getting. If you are one of the 60 million Americans that has sleep related problems, physical therapy can help reduce the underlying pain or discomfort that prevents you from great, uninterrupted sleep. Through expert evaluation and analysis, our team can work directly with you to resolve those underlying ailments and get your resting easy again!

Finally, physical therapy can reduce stress related hormones that suppress the immune system. Physical therapy can reduce these stress hormones in a number of ways. One way is the indirect benefit of being pain free. Pain is a leading cause of stress; physical therapy can help reduce pain which will directly reduce stress levels. Similarly, studies have shown that elevated levels of anxiety can negatively affect systemic systems in the body and ultimately lower your ability to fight disease (Otto et al., 2007). Physical Therapy can target and improve the performance of these systems to keep your body functioning and healthy.  Staying healthy is more important than ever, especially now!!  Contact your I.P. team with any questions or to see how we can help you start boosting your immune system today!

References

Otto, M. W., Church, T. S., Craft, L. L., Greer, T. L., Smits, J. A., & Trivedi, M. H. (2007). Exercise for mood and anxiety disorders. Primary care companion to the Journal of clinical psychiatry9(4), 287–294. https://doi.org/10.4088/pcc.v09n0406

Vorvick, L., & Zieve, D. (2020, January 23). Exercise and immunity: Medlineplus medical encyclopedia. MedlinePlus. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007165.htm