One of the most tragic thing someone can experience is a loved one in a coma. While some comas may be medically induced following an accident or some other trauma, others are the result of many different things, including illness, ingesting of certain toxins or accidents. Physiotherapy for comatose patients is recommended and performed daily in hospitals for a variety of reasons. In many cases, family members also participate in this treatment in the hopes of bringing their loved one back to "life."
In most hospitals, family involvement to "bring someone out of a coma" is encouraged by the staff. The sound of a familiar voice and human touch are instrumental in helping a comatose patient return to consciousness.
When a person is in a comatose state, no one is exactly sure what is going on in their head. Those who have brain activity are deemed to be alive and there is little anyone can do but wait to see how long it will take for them to come out of the coma. Those with no brain activity are usually considered to be clinically dead, although many continue to stay on life support. One of the most difficult decisions a family member can make is whether to discontinue the life support for a loved one in a coma who is considered clinically dead.
The time period one spends in a coma may vary. Because comatose patients are immobile, it is imperative for them to receive some form of physical treatment on a daily basis. Physiotherapy for comatose patients involves moving their limbs and massage. It is important that their muscles remain strong and that atrophy does not set in. It is also important to keep their blood circulation going. Some members of the medical community also feel that physiotherapy for comatose patients plays another important role, besides physical. Touch is very important to human beings, as is human communication. Often, while the therapist is working with the comatose patient, he or she will talk to them, as if they can hear. Often times, the patient can hear as the ocular nerves are usually the last to go during a coma. This talking, touch, movement, massage and exercise of the limbs can help someone come out of a coma sooner than someone who is just ignored.
In addition, those who receive physiotherapy for comatose patients will regain their strength much sooner than those who receive no therapy. As the muscles were continuously exercised during the coma period, the person who emerges from a coma will have a much better time beginning to walk and moving around. Massaging of muscles also insures that they will not experience atrophy. Compassionate physiotherapists work for hours with comatose patients, massaging their muscles, exercising them, talking to them and trying to bring them out from their comatose state.
Physiotherapy for comatose patients takes many different forms including physical and emotional. Both are equally important. Those who receive physiotherapy for comatose patients have a much better prognosis for rapid recovery when the awaken from the coma than those who do not.
