TEXT

Subject and Goals of Physical Rehabilitation Each year, more than 2.2 million individuals succumb to
unsafe working conditions. Millions of others face life-changing injuries. An illness or injury can limit your
ability to move, lift, bend, push, or throw. Your everyday tasks become impossible. Fortunately, physical
rehabilitation helps to regain and restore your physical function and strength.
Physiotherapy (also Physical Therapy) is a health care profession concerned with human function and
movement and maximising physical potential. It is concerned with identifying and maximising quality of
life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, treatment/intervention and
rehabilitation. It uses physical approaches to promote, maintain and restore physical, psychological and
social well-being, taking into account variations in health status./
Rehabilitation is care that can help you get back, keep, or improve abilities that you need for daily life.
These abilities may be physical, mental, and/or cognitive (thinking and learning). You may 122 have lost
them because of a disease or injury, or as a side effect from a medical treatment. Rehabilitation can
improve your daily life and functioning. /
Rehabilitation is for people who have lost abilities that they need for daily life. Some of the most
common causes include: injuries and trauma, including burns, fractures (broken bones), traumatic brain
injury, and spinal cord injuries; stroke; severe infections; major surgery; side effects from medical
treatments, such as from cancer treatments; certain birth defects and genetic disorders; developmental
disabilities; chronic pain, including back and neck pain.
The objectives of physical medicine are relief of pain, improvement or maintenance of functions such as
strength and mobility, training in the most effective method of performing essential activities, and
testing of function in various areas. Tests cover such fields as muscle strength, degree of joint mobility,
breathing capacity, and muscular coordination. ////////////
The overall goal of rehabilitation is to help people get their abilities back and regain independence. But
the specific goals are different for each person. They depend on what caused the problem, whether the
cause is ongoing or temporary, which abilities you lost, and how severe the problem is. For example: 1) a
person who has had a stroke may need rehabilitation to be able to dress or bathe without help; 2) an
active person who has had a heart attack may go through cardiac rehabilitation to try to return to
exercising; 3) someone with a lung disease may get pulmonary rehabilitation to be able to breathe better
and improve their quality of life.
When you get rehabilitation, you often have a team of different health care providers helping you. They
will work with you to figure out your needs, goals, and treatment plan. The types of treatments that may
be in a treatment plan include:////////////////////////
 Assistive devices, which are tools, equipment, and products that help people with disabilities move and
function.
 Cognitive rehabilitation therapy to help you relearn or improve skills such as thinking, learning,
memory, planning, and decision making.
 Mental health counseling.
 Music or art therapy to help you express your feelings, improve your thinking, and develop social
connections.
 Nutritional counseling.
 Occupational therapy to help you with your daily activities.
 Physical therapy to help your strength, mobility, and fitness.
 Recreational therapy to improve your emotional well-being through arts and crafts, games, relaxation
training, and animalassisted therapy.
 Speech-language therapy to help with speaking, understanding, reading, writing and swallowing.
 Treatment for pain.
 Vocational rehabilitation to help you build skills for going to school or working at a job. Depending on
your needs, you may have rehabilitation in the providers' offices, a hospital, or an inpatient rehabilitation
center. In some cases, a provider may come to your home. If you get care in your home, you will need to
have family members or friends who can come and help with your rehabilitation.