Discover the Key Advantages of Combination Therapy

In recent years, combination therapy and related medicines have gained a lot of attention because of their therapeutic advancement. A potent therapeutic strategy for treating a number of serious illnesses is combination therapy. Combination therapy is a novel medical technique that addresses a particular illness or health condition by using two or more treatment modalities either simultaneously or sequentially. This cutting-edge approach aims to optimize therapeutic efficacy, enhance patient outcomes, and possibly get around the drawbacks of single treatments.

Understanding Combination Therapy

Combination therapy is becoming more and more necessary for several diseases with high molecular complexity, and it also helps to avoid adverse effects. The simultaneous administration of two or more active substances for the treatment of illnesses is known as combination therapy (e.g., radium therapy and chrysotherapy). Additionally, combination therapy is utilized to treat conditions like cancer, HIV/AIDS, and malaria.

What is Combination Therapy in Physiotherapy?

Combination therapy involves applying two distinct modalities simultaneously at the same spot so that the therapeutic effects, application, and production of both modalities can be accomplished at once. The superiority of one modality over the other is evident during such an application. In terms of pain relief, few studies have found that combination therapy works better than using individual modalities.

Manual Therapy:

Hand-based therapy is known as manual therapy. Manual treatment involves the expert use of passive movement to a joint, either within its active range of motion (called “mobilization”) or outside of it (called “manipulation”). This involves muscle energy, persistent stretching, high-velocity low-amplitude push, and oscillatory treatments.

The objectives of manual therapy, which can be used on joints, muscles, or nerves, are to reduce pain, improve joint range and quality of motion, increase muscle length, improve nerve mobility, and restore normal function. Its therapeutic benefits can be divided into three categories: psychological, biomechanical or physical, and physiological.

Electrotherapy:

Electrotherapy, often known as electromagnetic therapy, is a medical procedure that uses electrical energy. Diathermy, or “electrically induced heat,” is a popular method for relaxing muscles. It is a technique used in medicine for the therapeutic heating of deep tissue using ultrasound or electromagnetic means. The use of electrical devices to activate deep brain tissue in neurological diseases is one of the many additional treatments that can be used for electrotherapy.

Electrotherapy is used to relax muscle spasms, prevent and delay disuse atrophy, improve blood circulation, retrain muscles through electrical muscle stimulation, maintain and increase range of motion, manage chronic pain, posttraumatic and postsurgical acute pain, immediately stimulate muscles after surgery to prevent venous thrombosis, wound healing, and drug delivery.

Exercise Therapy : 

The best way to describe exercise therapy is as a physical activity-based treatment that includes neuro reeducation, gait training, and therapeutic exercises. This workout program is intended to help patients recover from illnesses and ailments that affect their ability to move, carry out everyday tasks, or maintain a healthy state. A form of rehabilitation called exercise therapy makes use of physical activity to help alleviate ailments or injuries. It can be used on its own or in conjunction with other therapies like medicine or surgery. Exercise therapy can help a recovering patient get back to their best physical state by incorporating both general and challenging activities as well as activities that focus on particular muscles or body parts. Encouraging neuroplasticity requires time and dedication from the patients, and it is extremely repeated and rigorous.

Heat and Cold Therapy:

Heat and cold therapy is an effective treatment for muscle and joint pain. Hot therapy frequently uses heated pads or a hot water bottle. Conversely, cold therapy uses frigid water, cold water bottles, or refrigerator-cooled pads. The application of heat and cold therapy alternately improves blood flow to the injured or painful area.Heat therapy increases blood flow and permits muscle relaxation, whereas cold treatment decreases both blood flow and inflammation. Exercise-related pain can be reduced by using either hot or cold therapy. Avoid putting ice directly on the skin and use bearable heat. Contrasting therapy is another name for alternating patterns of heat and ice therapy. Cold therapy can be used to treat swollen or inflamed muscles and joints, whereas heat therapy works well for chronic pain. Cold therapy works best when it is administered within 48 hours of the injury.

Hydrotherapy:

Any technique that utilizes water to treat a range of body problems is called hydrotherapy. It may be referred to as balneotherapy, pool therapy, aquatic therapy, or water therapy.

You can utilize a specific tank or pool for hydrotherapy, or it can be as easy as having a warm bath at home. The use of ice packs, hot and cold temperatures, and pressurized jets is also included in the hydrotherapy. Hydrotherapy is usually used to treat symptoms such as pain, stiffness, bruising, edema, and menstruation discomfort.

Why is Combination Therapy So Effective?

Combining different treatment modalities like manual therapy, exercise, electrotherapy, and modalities like massage can work together to target both the underlying cause of pain and its symptoms, leading to a more holistic approach to treatment. It enables practitioners to address multiple aspects of a patient’s condition at the same time, resulting in more comprehensive pain relief, improved range of motion, and faster recovery.

Speeds Up Recovery

In combination therapy, one modality is proven to have a greater impact than the other. Combination therapy has been found to be more effective than separate modalities in reducing pain and promoting a quicker recovery.

Better Pain Management

This can help you relax your muscles and get rid of discomfort more quickly. Heat treatment combined with manual therapy can alleviate pain without the need for medication and lessen the need for surgery.

Improves Mobility and Flexibility

Regularly stretching and strengthening in accordance with your physical therapist’s advice enhances flexibility and physical activity. Exercise therapy helps you get in shape, and manual therapy helps you feel less pain after working out.

 Tailored to Your Needs

Physical therapy helps people recover from paralysis, trauma, stroke, and sports injuries, and strengthens their core. Combining two or three therapies can help control pain and age-related health problems.

Reduces Dependence on Medications

Combining various therapies with different modes of action can help reduce drug dependence to some degree.

Common Conditions Treated with Combination Therapy

Neuropathic pain

Injury or illness that affects the somatosensory system directly results in neuropathic pain (NP). Patients who have unmanaged pain regularly bear significant personal and social costs, which may lead them to assume that chronic pain is unavoidable and incurable, particularly if they are not improving with medication. Many patients find that the medications already on the market do not provide them with adequate pain relief or enhance their quality of life. For patients who do not react to monotherapy or switching, clinical guidelines advise beginning treatment with monotherapy and putting combination treatment (CT) in a second tier.

Low back pain

Patients with chronic low back pain and those with low back pain who may have a neuropathic component are frequently treated with combination medication therapy in primary care. As the severity of persistent low back pain increases, so does the utilization of combination therapy. According to studies, the most common combinations are opioid analgesics and muscle relaxants or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAIDs). Opioid analgesics are typically recommended in conjunction with paracetamol rather than as a stand-alone treatment.

Dry needling and physiotherapy together can also help increase the range of motion and lessen pain. In a clinical trial, people with chronic pain in other musculoskeletal disorders showed significant improvements in pain reduction, range of motion, functional ability, and myofascial trigger point relief when dry needling was used in combination with physiotherapy.

Osteoarthritis

Marginal osteophyte production, joint cartilage degradation, and subchondral bone alterations are the hallmarks of osteoarthritis (OA), a gradual degenerative articular disease. Joint discomfort, diminished joint function, and restricted joint range of motion are examples of clinical symptoms. Exercise and physical therapy techniques are not advised for the treatment of OA, such as knee OA, to reduce the negative effects of pharmaceuticals. Apart from the application of heat and cold, therapeutic ultrasound (US) and interferential current are employed.

How Combination Therapy Works

Comprehensive Assessment –

Correctly diagnosing the patient’s illness and evaluating its stage to ascertain whether combined therapy is required. Examining pre-existing medical diseases and drugs to detect potential drug interactions or contraindications when using several therapies.

Monitoring the course of the disease and establishing a baseline for assessing the efficacy of treatment by doing preliminary testing.

Personalized Treatment Plan –

Implementing a particular combination of treatments for each patient’s distinct genetic and biological profile, optimizing treatment efficacy while reducing adverse effects; in other words, offering the best possible result based on each patient’s unique requirements rather than a one-size-fits-all strategy.

Therapy Sessions Begin  –

In order to address a client’s needs holistically, a therapist may use a variety of therapeutic approaches concurrently. In this, he/she frequently incorporates aspects of interpersonal therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and mindfulness exercises into a single session.

Progress Monitoring & Adjustments –

Following each session, the physiotherapist continues to evaluate the patient and, if necessary, modifies the treatment plan after offering the optimal combination of various therapies.

Why Choose DrGeetanjaliPhysiotherapist for Combination Therapy?

As you already know, there are several combinations of therapies. At Dr. Geetanjali, we address the issue and determine the cause of your pain before moving on to the cure. The best possible mix of therapies is given to you after careful observation for a while. Want to know which therapy combination would be better for you, come visit us or take an appointment, we are happy to help you.

Conclusion

As new combination goods are introduced by technology, several novel combined therapies, treatments, and regimens have been evaluated side by side and have shown promise in helping patients in need. In certain cases, combination medication therapy is utilized to lessen symptoms and extend life rather than to cure. Future product development will prioritize giving patients safe and durable options as technology develops and experimentation with already-approved entities expands.

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