Insights on Physiotherapy by Dr. Pooja Singh

Dr. Pooja Singh is a physiotherapist and a Pilates instructor. She is a content creator providing her viewers insightful and valuable information on health and wellness.

Icy Tales is in conversation with Dr. Pooja Singh about physiotherapy, Pilates, their importance and how she fights all the myths in her allied field.

Q) Why did you choose this particular profession?

Pooja Singh – I wanted to always do something in medicine, and wanted to be a part of the medical field, & health care services. While choosing, of course, there were many options like MBBS, BDS, Physio, Homeopathy etc.

I don’t know, how and why but I was very clear that I won’t get into MBBS or BDS. So, when I was planning to get into physiotherapy, that time it was not really talked a lot or known in India.

Specifically where people have only heard it from a cricket team, sports team. They didn’t know much about it, we’re not really sound with it, when I started studying physiotherapy.

The reason I got into physio initially was just to help people. I like to be around people. So, I thought it’s one of the best things that I can pursue.

Something that I can take up where I can help people. But getting along now when I think about it, I feel so happy and proud about it because I am healing people.

Doctors, of course, gives you the treatment and everything, but when I talk about physios I use the word healers. We are healing people with the touch and without medication.

I am proud of myself, that I am not using any kind of these chemicals, steroids and all the larger pharmaceutical things in the way we can.

And the more I am into this culture, I am understanding how effective it is, how good life will be if we go on to zero medications.

So, it just began there and the reason was just to help people and nothing more. Although I didn’t had much information about physio when we started.

Q) There’s a myth that physiotherapy is all about exercises and massages. What do you have to say about that?

Pooja Singh – When you talk about this, you are very right. If you see my page, I keep putting memes which are indirectly or directly towards society where they believe that physio is massage and exercises.

But there are so many things beyond that, where a physio can really treat and help you. There are so many varieties in physio.

People don’t even know there are masters in cardiovascular, respiratory, neurology, in community health, ortho, etc.

All these problems that they have there’s a master in that which we call ergonomical health.

People are not aware of so many things. When it comes to massage, massage is nothing but muscle releases.

But there are so many muscle release techniques which physios are doing. And I am proud of all the physios out there trying out something which will heal the patient without any kind of medication.

So, I go for Gua sha, it’s one of the types where I use KIASTM which is the scrapping method, one of the most commonest. It is very famous in the West.

But this has little awareness in India. So that’s the thing going beyond massages.

Q) You are a Pilates instructor, can you tell what all things Pilates can do for our body?

Pooja Singh – Pilates is nothing but a principle movement of the body. The name is Pilates because it was introduced by Joseph Pilates.

Pilates is nothing but your body movement and balance. In this way any body movement where your muscle and nerve action is happening is the principle movement in Pilates.

Pilates is actually a part of physio, but I don’t know how many people know about it. We have a subject of Pilates in the final year and we also have internship in Pilates.

But thanks to this glamour world, show business, and of course Bollywood, that they have glamourized Pilates to another level.

Pilates on the machine is not really the only way of doing Pilates, that’s all together the next level of Pilates, which has been given a glamourized touch to by the glamour world.

For e.g if we say yoga, it was basic where Indian yogic started yoga, but now we have started machine yoga, power yoga and many more.

So, if Pilates has to be known, it’s nothing but a principle body movement in a very good and aesthetic way.

That’s the right way to move. Even if you are standing there’s a way that you stand and that also involves Pilates.

Therefore, Pilates is nothing but a body movement. I am a mat Pilates instructor. Generally, when you do a mat Pilates you understand which body part is weak.

Also Pilates is well known for its core exercises, that’s the importance of it. So, everything starts and ends at the core, when it comes to Pilates.

It’s one of the best form that you can do to build a strong core and of course you get the perks of getting good abs and all that.

Q) What is Muscle stimulation?

Pooja Singh – Muscle stimulation plays an important role when you are having pain, plus for your movements.

See whenever you are having a pain the next thing that happens is you can’t move much.

We stop moving. So, the reason that we stimulate the muscle is to get back the muscle memory and reduce the pain. It acts both way.

When we stimulate the muscle, we also want to stimulate indirectly or directly the nerve involved.

You can take an example of a biceps. Having the knowledge of where the biceps tendons start, where is the origin of the muscle, where does it end as per the knowledge.

That’s why for a muscle stimulator, using a muscle stimulator and the patient, you have to be well sound and have the knowledge about anatomy.

So, use the muscle, the origin insertion and place the electrodes on that and you stimulate the muscle. There are many types of stimulation and current.

There’s IFT, MS and many currents. We use many currents in this and every current have different effects because they differ on the frequency and the type of contraction.

So, sometimes you may have a full current in and out. That is called a complete faradic current – where you completely surge it and leave it.

All these currents, that I am using has their own benefits, but there are all ways through which you can get a muscle stimulated and it really helps in pain, even paralysis.

It’s one of the best ways to locally get the muscle some kind of strength.

Dr. Pooja Singh has helped tons of people and continues to do so with physiotherapy. She is a healer helping people with just a touch. You can check out the valuable information she shares on her social media here.

Check out this very informative and valuable conversation with Dr. Pooja Singh on our YouTube Channel.

Last Updated on July 26, 2023 by kalidaspandian