At some point in life, a person may experience falling ill with a certain disease that may leave the body weaker than normal. An injury may cause disability in one or more limbs. Or perhaps, a health condition requires him to undergo surgery that would take months to recover from.
In these cases, you would need to undergo a proper rehabilitation program to help you regain strength, help the body grow accustomed to skills or movements that it was able to perform easily before, or develop new ways of doing those things.
A team of pain specialists (which would consist of medical doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, medical massage therapists and licensed acupuncturists) can create custom rehab programs to meet a patient’s individual recovery needs. Generally, rehabilitation will include: physical therapy to help you regain fitness, strength and mobility; occupational therapy to help you get back to properly accomplishing your regular activities; treatment of pain; and in certain circumstances, speech language therapy if you need help in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding.
Your custom program will be based on your particular needs and will incorporate regular modifications so maximum healing can be encouraged. Of course, each stage of the rehab program will be modified at the appropriate times; specialists know that pushing the body too hard right away will hurt the affected joints and muscles instead of help them recover. Combined with the right diet, sufficient rest and adequate hydration, a comprehensive rehab program can facilitate healing.
Likewise, custom stretching programs can help patients maintain a good range of motion in the joints and flexibility in the muscles. Prolonged periods of inactivity after an illness, injury or surgery can cause muscular atrophy. A physical therapist can determine your current level of mobility and develop a regimen comprised of the most beneficial stretches. Over time, the stretches will be modified so that they will still be challenging and therefore effective in accelerating healing and reducing pain and discomfort.
Stretching is essential in rehabilitating people from all walks of life, whether they are professional athletes, weekend warriors, individuals recovering from bouts of serious illness, the elderly, or young people born with physical disabilities. A stretching program will combine movements using the body as well as useful equipment and techniques that can be done at the therapist’s office or clinic. But to ensure that the results of the program will be consistently positive, patients must continue to follow their prescribed stretching program in their own homes in between treatment sessions with their specialist.
