Rehabilitation Therapy Treatment
A Guide to Different Types of Rehabilitation Therapy
If you've been seriously injured, undergone surgery or experienced a stroke, your doctor may recommend rehabilitation to help you recover. Rehabilitation therapy offers a controlled, medical environment to help your body heal while you regain strength, relearn skills you lost or find new ways to do activities that may now be difficult.
We asked INTEGRIS' Scott Anthony to explain the different types of rehabilitation therapy and how each can be beneficial to those inflicted with different injuries or conditions.
Types of Rehabilitation Therapies:
The three main types of rehabilitation therapy are occupational, physical and speech. Each form of rehabilitation serves a unique purpose in helping a person reach full recovery, but all share the ultimate goal of helping the patient return to a healthy and active lifestyle.
Rehabilitation therapy can be used to treat a wide range of injuries or conditions. “Common conditions treated include orthopedic and musculoskeletal injuries such as sprains/strains/tears or post-surgical rehabilitation, neurological injuries such as stroke, brain injury or spinal cord injury, or multi-trauma injuries due to accidents,” says Anthony. “We also treat less common conditions such as genetic disorders, degenerative diseases and other specialized conditions. We treat all ages from newborns to our oldest patient to date being 104 years old!”
The goal of rehabilitation therapy varies from person to person. "We ask every patient what their goals for rehabilitation are and develop a plan," he says. “This may include different types of therapy such as physical, occupational, speech, music or recreational, and may include different treatment techniques such as therapeutic exercise, manual therapy, neurological re-education or modalities for pain relief, to name a few of the many possible treatment strategies.”
Inpatient vs Outpatient Rehabilitation Treatments
First, it's important to define the difference between inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation therapy. Inpatient rehabilitation refers to treatment or therapy you receive in a hospital or clinic prior to being discharged. Patients who go through an amputation, suffer a brain injury or stroke, experience an orthopedic or spinal cord injury or receive a transplant may require inpatient therapy to recover to a point where they can safely go home.
Outpatient rehabilitation therapy refers to treatment received when not admitted to a hospital or clinic. Outpatient therapy centers offer a blend of services from physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists and psychologists. Outpatient rehabilitation centers tend to offer therapy for a wide range of conditions including cancer, neurological disorders, neck and back pain, speech problems, psychological disorders, pre- and post-natal issues and more.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapists provide occupational therapy (OT) treatments to help individuals who require specialized assistance to participate in everyday activities, or “occupations.” Occupations don't just refer to work or your job, but can also refer to self-care practices, everyday tasks and recreational activities. The goal of occupational therapy is to help individuals participate in the things they want and need to do to live an independent and satisfying lifestyle.
Occupational therapists help by making changes to things that hinder someone's ability to complete tasks such as eating, dressing, brushing one's teeth, completing school activities and working. Modifications may include changing the way the task is approached, changing the environment in which the task is completed or helping a person develop skills necessary to complete certain tasks.
Who needs Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy may be needed by people of all ages, from newborns to seniors. There are endless ways in which occupational therapy may help these individuals, such as:
1. Children with physical disabilities may need a therapist to help them develop the coordination needed to feed themselves, use a computer or improve their handwriting.
2. Adults with depression may require recommendations from a therapist to re-engage in daily activities gradually and in a manner that maximizes their chances for success.
3. An individual who has lost the ability to hold a fork due to an injury may work with a therapist to regain grip strength and modify movements so that they can feed themselves independently.
4. Seniors with physical limitations may need help from a therapist to participate in activities they love in new and modified ways.
5. Those who have suffered a spinal cord injury may require therapist intervention to help them avoid movements or behaviors that may worsen their injuries.
6. Corporate professionals may work with a therapist to create an optimal work/life balance designed to reduce stress and maximize health or modify their work environment based on ergonomic principles. An individual who has experienced a traumatic brain injury and lost cognitive function may require a therapist to assist them with tasks such as applying to jobs or submitting college applications.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapists provide treatment for those who are experiencing pain or difficulty in functioning, moving or living life normally.
Physical therapy is commonly used to relieve pain, improvement movement, provide rehabilitation after a stroke, injury or surgery, assist in recovery after giving birth, assist in the recovery of sports-related injuries, teach individuals how to use devices such as walkers and canes, manage chronic illnesses like heart disease or arthritis, and more.
If physical therapy is recommended by your doctor, a therapist will start by assessing your mobility, balance, heartbeat, posture and how well you can walk or climb steps. From there, your therapist will develop a plan to ease symptoms and help you regain functionality or mobility. Common therapies include:
1. Special exercises and stretches designed to relieve pain, improve mobility or regain strength
2. Massage, heat or cold therapy or ultrasound to ease muscle pain and spasms.
3. Rehab and exercises to help you learn to use an artificial limb.
4. Practicing with gadgets that assist in movement or balance, such as canes, crutches, walkers or wheelchairs.
5. Balance and gait retraining.
6. Pain management.
7. Cardiovascular strengthening.
8. Casting, splinting, burn care or use of orthotics (braces or splints).
Speech Therapy
Speech therapists (or speech-language pathologists) provide treatment for those who have speech issues. Speech therapy can help treat a wide variety of issues involving language, communication, voice, swallowing and fluency. For newborns, a speech therapist may help with conditions such as cerebral palsy, cleft palate or Down syndrome that cause difficulties with drinking, swallowing or communicating.
Children with speech issues such as stammering or a lisp can benefit from communication exercises under the instruction of a therapist. Adults with learning difficulties or who have another condition, such as stroke, neck or head cancer, Parkinson's disease or dementia, can also benefit from the help of a speech therapist.
The goal of speech therapy is to combine the mechanics associated with speech with the use of language. The end result is to help the patient communicate in more useful and functional ways.
Common tactics used by speech therapists include language intervention activities (language drills to practice communication skills), articulation therapy (demonstrating how to move the tongue to create certain sounds), and feeding and swallowing therapy (tongue, lip and jaw exercises designed to strengthen the muscles of the mouth and throat).
Conditions or illnesses that may require a speech therapist include:
difficulty reading accurately and fluently
difficulty controlling muscle function for movement, coordination, language or speech
a loss of ability to understand or express speech due to brain damage
difficulty swallowing
difficulty speaking clearly and making errors in sounds
difficulty with the flow of speech, such as stuttering
difficulty with voice pitch, volume and quality
difficulty with eating, swallowing or drooling
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