This year, Abbey Mobile Physio is welcoming a new team member, Lee Jenkins, rehabilitation therapist. Let's dive into what this new service is and what rehab with Ben and Lee looks like.
So, what is Rehabilitation?
Who int. (2024) defines rehabilitation as “a set of interventions designed to optimise functioning and reduce disability in individuals with health conditions in interaction with their environment”. Building onto this, rehabilitation acts on the fundamental philosophy that every person should not only be an active participant, but an expert in identifying their needs and making decisions on their health care (Gender AR 1996).
In a physical therapy setting, this would usually manifest as increasing a person’s function and independence in life’s activities. Any person who has a physical disability, whether short term or long term, whether due to a health condition or general deconditioning; physical rehabilitation works to empower a person by strengthening muscles, increasing flexibility, reinforcing motor patterns, improving balance, reducing fears and growing self-confidence.
And Who is it for?
As per the definition, rehabilitation is for anyone who feels their function is sub-optimal. This however is very broad so to help understand the type of rehabilitation, it is helpful to divide into different categories dependent on age, health condition, or phase of condition.
Age: paediatric (below 18), adult (18 to 65), geriatric (over 65). Note that Abbey Mobile Physio currently only does rehabilitation for those 18 and above.
Health conditions: Musculoskeletal – soft tissue injuries such as strains, sprains, bone fractures; post-op orthopaedic conditions such as fractures with internal fixations, joint replacements, tendon reconstructions Neurological – strokes, brain injuries, neurological conditions such as parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis Cardiorespiratory – heart failure, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), post-op heart surgery Frailty – general deconditioning due to health-conditions and/or aging. Note that Abbey Mobile Physio is able to do rehabilitation with any of the above health conditions.
Phase of condition or When is Rehabilitation appropriate? Rehabilitation can be done at any stage; from the onset of a condition, to longer term chronic ongoing issues. Acute care – initial onset phase of individuals with life- or limb- threatening conditions which require immediate medical or surgical treatment. Sub-acute – after the initial phase has settled into a more stable condition, the sub-acute phase still requires medical treatment but is usually when intensive physical therapy begins. Post-acute – once the individual is medically stable, meaning that although the individual may require medical treatment, they do not need a hospital setting. This is often when home rehabilitation can begin. Long-term – when a condition has stabilised and the individual has returned to their long-term residence, they are considered in the long-term rehabilitation phase. The improvements are slower, and in some cases, rehabilitation looks like maintenance work to prevent or slow decline. Note that Abbey Mobile Physio is able to work with individuals in the sub-acute, post-acute and long-term stages.
Now, What does Abbey Mobile Physio rehabilitation look like?
Our rehabilitation therapy is a team effort between our two experts, Ben and Lee, and goes in three main phases.
Initial Assessment and Planning:
Ben, our physiotherapist, comes for an initial assessment to determine the individual’s condition. This includes understanding the past medical history, and assessing abilities, function, mobility, and balance. He then forms up a rehabilitation plan with realistic goals and a time frame to achieve those goals. Dependent on the individual’s budget and goals, the client and physio come to an agreement on frequency of therapy sessions. Usually from the initial session, Ben will also provide a basic home exercise program for the client to continue doing as “homework”.
Therapy Sessions:
Lee, our rehabilitation therapist, provides the rehabilitation therapy dependent on how frequent the client desires. The therapy involves different types of movement dependent on what the goals are. This may include manual resistance work, supervised exercise, walking drills, balance activities, or functional task practice. For the best result, we usually build onto the home exercise program with safe exercises the individual can perform, and our therapist will perform activities that the individual would not be safe (or sometimes even able) to do alone, and progress the exercises within each therapy session.
For more advanced rehabilitation, Ben will make a joint decision with the client as to whether our rehabilitation therapist or physiotherapist would be more appropriate to provide the rehabilitation therapy with the client.
Follow Up Assessment and Ongoing Planning:
Ben will then reassess the individual’s function and abilities after a certain timeframe (usually monthly), to ensure that progress is being made and the direction of therapy is pointing the correct way. During these follow up assessments, the plan may be tweaked to ensure optimal results are achieved for the individual.
If this sounds like a service you or perhaps someone you know needs, get in touch with us. We'll gladly chat on the phone with you, and do our very best to help with your condition.
Reference: Gender AR. Scope of rehabilitation and rehabilitation nursing. Rehabilitation nursing practice. New york: McGraw-Hill,.1996
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