What is "active" physical therapy?

What is "active" physical therapy?

Marc Darrow (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Joint Rehabilitation Sports Medical Center, Inc. ) gives expert video advice on: In what ways is physical therapy used to manage chronic pain? and more...

Active physical therapy is actually having the patient move their own body around. This can be by way of things like a rocker board, which is a round board that's unstable so a person can stand on that and then can try to gain their balance. That in itself will help strengthen the muscles around the ankles and strengthen up the ligaments. There are also things like Medex therapy, which is a big frame machine which a person sits in. It locks out the pelvis so that when the person flexes and extends, their back muscles will increase in strength and mobility. There are also different ranging motions to increase strength and different strengths in the exercise. Pilates is an example of an active form of physical therapy.