Chances are, if you have been in the hospital for a period of time, be it for an operation or an injury, you will be released to the care of a physiotherapist. A physiotherapist is a physical therapist who works with you to make sure that you receive a complete recovery.
Hospital care is expensive and in many hospitals, there is a shortage of beds and space, as well as staff. Whereas people used to stay in a hospital to recover from an illness, operation or injury for weeks, this is not standard practice anymore. In addition to being costly, hospitals often carry germs and many people end up contacting staph infections and pneumonia when staying in the hospital for a long period of time.
Those who are not quite ready to go about their normal lives but are not in any danger, are often released to a rehab facility where they can be under the care of a licensed physiotherapist. Rehab physiotherapy is very common and as many rehab institutions are far more pleasant than hospitals, it is not only physically better for the patient, but psychologically beneficial as well.
Rehab physiotherapy began to become standard practice in the mid 1980s. Many rehab facilities began to open for the express purpose of caring for people who were not sick enough to have to be in the hospital, but not quite ready to go home. Many of these people included those with broken bones due to osteoporosis, those who had undergone medical procedures or operations and those who had suffered a heart attack or stroke. It was deemed to be beneficial to these people for them to become fully recovered before returning home.
With rehab physiotherapy, a patient will generally be transferred to a facility where there are nurses on duty and will be seen by a doctor periodically. Depending on the nature of the patient's illness or injury will determine how often he or she will see the doctor. Nurses and physiotherapists cannot prescribe medication and for this reason, a doctor must see any patients who are taking prescriptive medicine.
During a patient's stay at a rehab physiotherapy institution, they will most likely be encouraged to do as much for themselves as possible and will have daily physical therapy sessions with a licensed physiotherapist. Since physiotherapists have different areas of specialties, a patient may see more than one therapist during the course of their stay at rehab. Depending upon the nature of the injury or illness, a patient's treatment in rehab physiotherapy can last anywhere from two to six weeks.
Not everyone who has an injury needs to be released to a rehab center. There are also many outpatient rehab physiotherapy clinics where one can go to get periodic physical therapy treatments. This happens mostly with younger people who have suffered a broken bone. As younger people tend to heal quicker, outpatient rehab physiotherapy generally lasts a much shorter time than recovery in a rehab facility.
Rehab physiotherapy gives patients an opportunity to recover quickly under the care of a licensed physical therapist in the comfort of a rehab facility that is a lot more pleasant than a hospital. It is a good alternative to being stuck in a hospital room for a long period of time and much better than being sent home before one is really ready to resume an active lifestyle.
