Final answer:
Physiotherapists focus on tailored exercise programs to enhance a patient's physical function, considering strength, balance, and endurance, and utilizing knowledge of forces and torques. They also prescribe exercises to mitigate muscle atrophy and employ ethical practices, including informed consent in therapeutic narratives.
Step-by-step explanation:
When performing therapeutic exercises with a patient, physiotherapists aim to improve physical functioning and reduce functional impairments by tailoring a program to the patient's specific needs. Important principles to consider include assessing the patient's strength, balance, and endurance, and monitoring these factors as exercises are introduced to track improvements in muscle function. Given that there are various causes of muscle atrophy, such as mechanical injury, disease, and age, it's crucial for physiotherapists to target muscles susceptible to atrophy and prescribe exercises designed to stimulate those muscles. Additionally, understanding the relationships between forces and torques is key in the treatment of muscles and joints, which can involve utilizing equipment like crutches or performing exercises under water to increase resistance and muscle strength.
Praxis is another principle used in therapy, where patients perform tasks solely based on verbal instruction, which helps integrate sensory feedback and improve proprioceptive capabilities. Lastly, physiotherapists must consider ethical principles, such as informed consent, which is especially important when putting real patients' stories into exercise narratives or therapeutic contexts.