How physiotherapy helps in overall women's health

Representational picture

According to Indian consensus almost 48.5% of the total population is females, with 48.1% stays in urban and 48.6% in rural areas. Due to current lifestyle or work related issues illnesses are increasing in female population. The Heart disease and Stroke remains at the top in this population (WHO, 2011), obesity cannot be avoided (High fat percentage) which leads to too many issues like PCOD, Knee arthritis, Back pain, complications during pregnancy etc. Many organisations are now creating awareness programs for womens health to rural areas, but unfortunately urban population are the most affected compared to rural area. Possible cause could be rural females are more active. The diseases in females especially hormonal related are not restricted to age.

Physiotherapy is modern health care sciences which help in alleviating many problems pertaining to females. Many will be surprised that physiotherapist works with many female related disorders these are;

• Urinary incontinence
• Pelvic Muscle over use or under use
• Sexual Dysfunction in females
• Menstruation related disorders
• Pre and Post pregnancy physiotherapy (Preventing complications, or exercises in complications)
• Hyperthyroidism
• PCOD
• Other obesity related ailments like back and knee pain

All the above are given by specialised trained physiotherapist who is dealing with womens health. So what does Womens Health Physiotherapist do?

It's a physiotherapist duty to assess and check the related issues and after taking a clearance from Gynecologist. Once the clearance is received, physiotherapist will do a detailed assessment related to particular problem; this includes testing with equipment or manually. After the testing is done, the physio should discuss the possible outcome with the patient and detailed exercise program. These exercise programs consist of many routines, like kegals, pilates, core and aerobics. Remember the pre and post exercise testing needs to be done for getting proper outcomes. These exercises are planned by your physiotherapist it may be thrice or twice a week depends on decision after the testing.

How does exercise helps in Womens Health?
The exercise is always a core of the treatment for any condition. In many countries it is now considered as Medicine. Exercises regulate hormones in the body. Dr Nilesh Makwana, Director & consulting physiotherapist, Muscle N Mind Physiotherapy Centre tells you how exercise helps in Womens Health.

• Irisin:- Irisin is an exercise buddy, it affects in two ways first by activating genes that turn bad fat into good fat, and also by regulating undifferentiated stem cells to become bone-building cells instead of fat storage. By getting sweaty during exercises, this stimulates Irisin secretion.
• Estrogen:- It's a most important female sex hormone, the major role is physical appearance, breast development, menstrual regulation, bone health and cholesterol. If estrogen is released in proper amount causes good health, but in excess can cause breast cancer. Normally, after the age of 35 years the female is estrogen dominant, exercises reverses this process, which leads to lower risk for cancer. Exercises also helps in early prognosis and more survival rate those who have diagnosed Breast cancer.
• Testosterone:- This is male sex hormone, but it also secretes in females but in small quantity. Testosterone helps in muscle mass building and also improves sex drives. Exercises helps regulating this hormone, which helps in increasing muscle mass and decreasing belly fat.
• Human growth hormone (HGH):- Human growth hormone is responsible for body's basic function like bone and muscle strength. This hormone is secreted periodically, especially during sleep, but some exercise routines like high in intensity with heavy weights have shown the increase in production.
• Exercise training like endurance, strength, and flexibility training helps in reducing body weight and fat. When body weight and fat is at its minimal level and muscle mass is at its peak, load on the joints are minimized resulting in longevity of the joints. All the components of fitness needs to be taken care of these are; Endurance, Strength, Flexibility, Muscle endurance and body composition. Body composition comes with proper dietary habits.

All the systems in the body are affected with exercises either acutely or chronically. Electing proper form and guidance is very important when females are concerned, because knee and back pain if any needs to be ruled out before progressing to any form of exercises.

Also Read: Woman Gets Relief From Arthritis That Made Her Bones Brittle

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates