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What Should be Included in My Rehabilitation Plan? APEX Physiotherapy & Chiropractic Provides Some Insight

Effective physiotherapy is a long-term plan that aids in injury recovery as well as preventing injuries in the future. Physiotherapy requires consistent attention and commitment from both the patient and the doctor. What else needs to be included in your rehabilitation plan?

What Makes an Effective Physiotherapy Plan?

An effective physiotherapy plan has more than one moving part; each individual component needs to be considered and evaluated in order to be effective overall.

Individual

Each person is different and has different capabilities, and no two injuries are the same. There is no one size fits all rehabilitation plan. Some people may find it more helpful to have more frequent clinic visits, whereas others may prefer to do more work at home. Tailoring each plan to the individual is essential.

Reasonable

The activities and frequency need to be reasonable. In order for someone to actually follow through with the plan, the plan needs to be made up of doable activities. A 35-year-old man may have a different list of doable exercises than a 70-year-old woman with the same injury.

Long-term Goals

Each plan should have set long-term goals. If you broke your left arm and are now doing physiotherapy, your goal may be to gain strength that can once again parallel the strength of your right arm.

Scheduled Check-ins

No good rehabilitation is a one-and-done treatment. Check-in visits ensure that the work is being done and the injury is healing as it should. These check-ins are a time to evaluate which components of the plan are working and which are not.

Long-term Treatment and Prevention

While components of the rehab plan can be to address immediate issues, the majority of the plan should be about preventing similar injuries from happening in the future. This is done by building muscle and flexing joints and ligaments.

Variety

There must be a number of components to each person’s rehabilitation plan. Having a rehab plan of only exercises may not work for everyone. Incorporating strength training, massage, and even acupuncture might be even more effective.

Components

There are commonly five physical components of each plan.

Do’s and Don’ts

The do’s and don’ts section of a rehab plan will effectively outline what should be done and what should be avoided. Including specific and easy-to-understand examples in each plan will increase the effectiveness of the rehab plan.

Exercises

Strengthening exercises are a part of every single rehabilitation plan. The exercises will be tailored to fit each individual injury and person. Included exercises are meant to be built upon as time goes on.

Relief Stretches

Along with exercises, there should be a section for stretches that will ease pain and release tension. This section is important because, without it, you could be risking further injury.

Massage

Massages are a great way to move around any built-up fluid in the injured area and can help reduce swelling as well. Additionally, massages can provide pain relief.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a way to relieve nerve pain and inflammation in joints. Small needles are placed into the skin and pressure points which stimulates blood flow and can also promote healing.

Talk to the physiotherapists at APEX Physiotherapy and Chiropractic in Durham to get started with your perfect rehabilitation plan!