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Rehabilitation
Definition
Rehabilitation is a treatment or treatments designed to facilitate
the process of recovery from injury, illness, or disease to as
normal a condition as possible.
Purpose
The purpose of rehabilitation is to restore some or all of the
patient's physical, sensory, and mental capabilities that were
lost due to injury, illness, or disease. Rehabilitation includes
assisting the patient to compensate for deficits that cannot be
reversed medically. It is prescribed after many types of injury,
illness, or disease, including amputations, arthritis, cancer,
cardiac disease, neurological problems, orthopedic injuries, spinal
cord injuries, stroke, and traumatic brain injuries.The Institute
of Medicine has estimated that as many as 14% of all Americans
may be disabled at any given time.
Precautions
Rehabilitation should be carried out only by qualified therapists.
Exercises and other physical interventions must take into account
the patient's deficit. An example of a deficit is the loss of
a limb.
Description
A proper and adequate rehabilitation program can reverse many
disabling conditions or can help patients cope with deficits that
cannot be reversed by medical care. Rehabilitation addresses the
patient's physical, psychological, and environmental needs. It
is achieved by restoring the patient's physical functions and/or
modifying the patient's physical and social environment. The main
types of rehabilitation are physical, occupational, and speech
therapy.
Each rehabilitation program is tailored to the individual patient's
needs and can include one or more types of therapy. The patient's
physician usually coordinates the efforts of the rehabilitation
team, which can include physical, occupational, speech, or other
therapists; nurses; engineers; physiatrists (physical medicine);
psychologists; orthotists (makes devices such as braces to straighten
out curved or poorly shaped bones); prosthetists (a therapist
who makes artificial limbs or protheses); and vocational counselors.
Family members are often actively involved in the patient's rehabilitation
program.
Physical therapy
Physical therapy helps the patient restore the use of
muscles, bones, and the nervous system through the use of heat,
cold, massage, whirlpool baths, ultrasound, exercise, and other
techniques. It seeks to relieve pain, improve strength and mobility,
and train the patient to perform important everyday tasks. Physical
therapy may be prescribed to rehabilitate a patient after amputations,
arthritis, burns, cancer, cardiac disease, cervical and lumbar
dysfunction, neurological problems, orthopedic injuries, pulmonary
disease, spinal cord injuries, stroke, traumatic brain injuries,
and other injuries/illnesses. The duration of the physical therapy
program varies depending on the injury/illness being treated and
the patient's response to therapy.
Exercise is the most widely used and best known type of physical
therapy. Depending on the patient's condition, exercises may be
performed by the patient alone or with the therapist's help, or
with the therapist moving the patient's limbs. Exercise equipment
for physical therapy could include an exercise table or mat, a
stationary bicycle, walking aids, a wheelchair, practice stairs,
parallel bars, and pulleys and weights.
Heat treatment, applied with hot-water compresses, infrared lamps,
short-wave radiation, high frequency electrical current, ultrasound,
paraffin wax, or warm baths, is used to stimulate the patient's
circulation, relax muscles, and relieve pain. Cold treatment is
applied with ice packs or cold-water soaking. Soaking in a whirlpool
can ease muscle spasm pain and help strengthen movements. Massage
aids circulation, helps the patient relax, relieves pain and muscle
spasms, and reduces swelling. Very low strength electrical currents
applied through the skin stimulate muscles and make them contract,
helping paralyzed or weakened muscles respond again.
Occupational therapy
Occupational therapy helps the patient regain the ability to do
normal everyday tasks. This may be achieved by restoring old skills
or teaching the patient new skills to adjust to disabilities through
adaptive equipment, orthotics, and modification of the patient's
home environment. Occupational therapy may be prescribed to rehabilitate
a patient after amputation, arthritis, cancer, cardiac disease,
head injuries, neurological injuries, orthopedic injuries, pulmonary
disease, spinal cord disease, stroke, and other injuries/illnesses.
The duration of the occupational therapy program varies depending
on the injury/illness being treated and the patient's response to
therapy.
Occupational therapy includes learning how to use devices to assist
in walking (artificial limbs, canes, crutches, walkers), getting
around without walking (wheelchairs or motorized scooters), or moving
from one spot to another (boards, lifts, and bars). The therapist
will visit the patient's home and analyze what the patient can and
cannot do. Suggestions on modifications to the home, such as rearranging
furniture or adding a wheelchair ramp, will be made. Health aids
to bathing and grooming could also be recommended.
Speech therapy
Speech therapy helps the patient correct speech disorders or restore
speech. Speech therapy may be prescribed to rehabilitate a patient
after a brain injury, cancer, neuromuscular diseases, stroke, and
other injuries/illnesses. The duration of the speech therapy program
varies depending on the injury/illness being treated and the patient's
response to therapy.
Performed by a speech pathologist, speech therapy involves regular
meetings with the therapist in an individual or group setting and
home exercises. To strengthen muscles, the patient might be asked
to say words, smile, close his mouth, or stick out his tongue. Picture
cards may be used to help the patient remember everyday objects
and increase his vocabulary. The patient might use picture boards
of everyday activities or objects to communicate with others. Workbooks
might be used to help the patient recall the names of objects and
practice reading, writing, and listening. Computer programs are
available to help sharpen speech, reading, recall, and listening
skills.
Other types of therapists
Inhalation therapists, audiologists, and registered dietitians
are other types of therapists. Inhalation therapists help the patient
learn to use respirators and other breathing aids to restore or
support breathing. Audiologists help diagnose the patient's hearing
loss and recommend solutions. Dietitians provide dietary advice
to help the patient recover from or avoid specific problems or diseases.
Rehabiltation centers
Rehabilitation services are provided in a variety of settings including
clinical and office practices, hospitals, skilled-care nursing homes,
sports medicine clinics, and some health maintenance organizations.
Some therapists make home visits. Advice on choosing the appropriate
type of therapy and therapist is provided by the patient's medical
team.
In 1946, in its constitution, the World Health
Organization (WHO) defined health as "a state of complete physical,
mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease
or infirmity". In more recent years, this statement has been
modified to include the ability to lead a "socially and economically
productive life." A health care provider or health professional
is an organization or person who delivers proper health care in
a systematic way professionally to any individual in need of health
care services. A health care provider could be a government, institution
such as a hospital or medical laboratory, physicians, support staff,
nurses, therapists, psychologists, veterinarians, dentists, optometrists,
pharmacists, or even a health insurance company. |
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