Why do People who stop Physiotherapy Reinjure themselves?

If you have injured yourself at work, playing sport, doing your favourite activity, or even just doing your daily tasks, then Physiotherapy is arguably the most important part of your recovery.  

However, the biggest hindrance to your recovery is often you!  If you start feeling better, you may think that your injury has gone and can be forgotten as a bad memory.  But, you would be VERY wrong.  You might even consider that your days of visiting your favourite Physio are over. But, this is absolutely the worst thing that you could do.  In fact, you are actually increasing the likelihood of re-injuring yourself and having a setback in your recovery.  

It might be due to time constraints, the fact that you think you have recovered, or old-fashioned impatience, but when you stop your recovery process using Physiotherapy, there can be serious consequences for you in the short and longer-term. 

1. Incomplete Healing

One of the most common reasons people reinjure themselves is because they stop their Physiotherapy sessions before their injury is fully healed. Physiotherapy helps restore strength, flexibility, and mobility to the injured area, and if this process is cut short, the injury remains vulnerable. Even if the pain has gone and you feel better, the tissues in the body may not be fully repaired or as resilient as they need to be.

The body often experiences micro-tears during the healing process, which require proper rehabilitation. Stopping Physiotherapy too early can often lead to these tears worsening, which results in re-injury when you resume your normal activities.

2. Weakening of Muscles and Joints

Physiotherapy helps strengthen the muscles and joints surrounding the injured area. Without this vital support, the body can get re-injured easily. When you stop Physiotherapy, muscles that were weakened during the injury may not yet have regained their full strength. For example, if you are recovering from a knee injury and stop your treatment prematurely, you will leave your quadriceps and hamstrings underdeveloped. This imbalance puts additional stress on the knee, which can lead to a new injury or worsen the old one.

Additionally, Physiotherapy teaches you proper biomechanics and movement patterns, helping prevent poor posture or incorrect movements that could lead to a future injury.

3. Loss of Range of Motion

Another key part of Physiotherapy is restoring the full range of motion to injured joints and tissues. We are happy that you may feel good after a few sessions, but your flexibility and mobility may still be limited. By stopping Physiotherapy early, the body doesn’t have the opportunity to achieve a full range of motion, which can result in stiffness and tightness. When these limitations remain, you may attempt activities that your body is no longer prepared for, leading to reinjury.

4. Inability to Manage Pain Properly

Pain management is another critical aspect of Physiotherapy. Initially, pain might seem to disappear as your treatment progresses, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that your injury is completely healed. Your Relive Physiotherapist will work with you to help manage and reduce your pain through tailored exercises, manual therapy, and other treatments, such as Ultrasound, Shockwave or Acupuncture.  If you stop your treatment early, then you lose the tools you’ve gained for pain management.  If you return to your usual activities too quickly, you are risking re-injuring yourself and the pain returning. 

5. Psychological Effects and Reduced Motivation

If you prematurely stop Physiotherapy, you may feel a false sense of security and believe that you have fully recovered. This mental aspect can sometimes be just as harmful as the physical. After experiencing an injury, the psychological toll can leave you feeling unsure or anxious about re-starting the activities you once enjoyed. If you are not mentally prepared for the demands of the physical activity, you may hesitate to return to your activity, or overcompensate which will lead to strain in other places and increase the risk of reinjury. 

Your Physiotherapist will provide you with education, reassurance, and strategies to rebuild your confidence, helping you to better understand the importance of gradual progression.

6. Setbacks in Long-Term Recovery

Whilst it’s tempting to rush back to normal life, stopping Physiotherapy too soon can cause long-term damage. Physiotherapy is not just about recovery—it’s about preventing future injury and ensuring that the body can function at its full potential. By stopping your treatment prematurely, you risk creating a cycle where the same injury happens over and over again, causing prolonged pain, chronic issues, and even permanent limitations.

7. The Danger of Returning to Activities Too Soon

Many of the people that we see stop Physiotherapy because they feel they’ve healed enough to return to their normal activities. However, returning too soon without full recovery increases the risk of re-injury. For example, someone who has recovered from a shoulder injury may start lifting weights again before their body is truly ready. This rush can lead to strain on the healing tissues, causing a setback. Gradual reintroduction of activity, under the guidance of a Physiotherapist, ensures that the body adapts and avoids overloading the injured area.

Conclusion

It’s an all too common scenario here at Chester’s Premium Physiotherapy Clinic, Relive Physiotherapy.  It’s why we take the time to explain to our clients the different stages of their recovery, such as when they will start to feel better, and when they are actually better, or recovered enough to go back to a lightened version of their activities.

It is often tempting to stop coming to your Physiotherapy sessions as soon as you feel better, although the reality is that prematurely ending your treatment can leave you vulnerable to re-injury. 

Healing takes time, and Physiotherapy plays a vital role in ensuring that you recover fully, strengthening the body and preventing further damage. Stick to your prescribed program, listen to your Physiotherapist, and be patient with the recovery process. The road to full recovery may seem long, but it’s always better to be thorough than risk the frustration of dealing with an injury all over again.

By completing your Physiotherapy program, you not only help your injury heal correctly but also set yourself up for a healthier, injury-free future.