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Over the last 30 years, physiotherapy has become increasingly popular to manage the aches and pains that come from injury and medical conditions. It can also help prevent and manage the strength, balance and mobility changes associated with aging.
Most commonly, physiotherapy is provided in the hospital or a private clinic setting. However, did you know you can also receive physiotherapy at home?
Physiotherapy at home is in increasing demand, particularly for seniors. More people are choosing to live in their homes longer. Bringing a mobile professional directly to the doorstep can be an invaluable tool in optimizing health. Here are the top 3 ways that I believe physiotherapy at home can help optimize a senior’s health.
Convenience
Physiotherapy at home is an efficient and easy way to receive care. Seniors may rely on others for transportation; this can cause difficulty with appointment booking when trying to coordinate 3 schedules (driver, client and physiotherapist). Those who are independently mobile, may still have concerns regarding weather conditions, traffic or parking. Physiotherapy at home eliminates all of these barriers to receiving timely care.
Exercise Technique
Like many physios, at Zoomers, we use lots of tools with our clients to help them be able to do their home exercise program. This includes using hand-outs and giving them access to an electronic exercise program (narrated videos of their prescribed exercises). However, despite our best efforts, as a physiotherapist over the last 20 years, I’ve noticed that clients often get accidentally “creative” when doing their exercises as part of their physiotherapy at home. This can reduce the effectiveness of the program and, on occasion, worsen the situation.
However, when providing physiotherapy at home for clients, we have been able to choose and set up the chair, mat, pillows, bands, weights (cans!) etc. exactly as they will do when I’m not there. I’ve noticed a substantial improvement in the predictably and accuracy of their exercise execution when we clients have done physiotherapy at home. This builds our joint confidence in their ability to do the exercises well; it also helps ensure they are getting the maximal benefit from their physiotherapy care.
Functional Cross-Over
A lot of the physiotherapy care that we provide for seniors at Zoomers is associated with increasing functional capacity (ability to do a complex task). Building strength, balance and mobility alone doesn’t necessarily improve your functional capacity. You must also practice doing the complex task in the environment in which you need (or want) to do it.
In the clinic, we often try to recreate the home environment to improve the skill and techniques used for a given task. However, when providing physiotherapy at home, we can practice the exact task in question, in the environment in which it needs to be done. This can help us provide more specific strategies and cues that help our clients achieve their goals faster.
The next time you’re seeking physiotherapy care, consider physiotherapy at home and whether it might serve you better. It might be just the thing you’ve been looking for! Zoomers’ team of mobile physiotherapists provide care across the Halifax Regional Municipality. Reach out to us today if you’re ready to get started with physiotherapy care at home.