The 4 Stages of Complete Rehabilitation Rest and protect the injury, regain your movement, regain your strength, regain your function, the right treatment for you. After the healing process has begun, the next step is to start regaining movement and mobility. The primary goal of the repair step is to gently relax the body to pre-injury range-of-motion (ROM) levels, or as close to pre-injury levels as possible. Gentle soft tissue exercises and range of motion are important to start this stage, so that it doesn't stretch too far or aggravate the injury.
Flexibility exercises can also help prevent the long-term effects of decreased range of motion or function. Small weights can be used during exercises if safe to do so, but more intensive strength training is not recommended at this time. Once your range of motion has been restored as best as possible, the next stage of physical rehabilitation is to begin to regain strength. Resting during the recovery phase can cause muscle atrophy or wasting that leads to weakness and loss of endurance.
In the strength stage, the goal is to minimize these losses and return to pre-injury muscle strength and endurance levels, along with cardiovascular endurance. With the use of weight machines, strength training can be performed safely and accurately, while reducing the risk of aggravating injuries or risking further injury. This is an incredible advantage and makes them excellent tools for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is a concept that is widely discussed worldwide.
This is nothing unexpected, since more than 1 billion people live with some form of disability, which represents more than 15% of the world's population. In addition, according to a recent report, 2.41 billion people worldwide live with conditions that affect their functions in daily life and would benefit from rehabilitation services, which is equivalent to 1 in 3 people needing rehabilitation services during the course of their illness or injury. Goal setting is used to direct rehabilitation interventions toward a specific outcome (s) and can result in greater client satisfaction and better recovery. Setting shared goals can also coordinate multidisciplinary team members and ensure that they work together toward a common goal and that nothing important is missed.
Objectives can also be used to assess the success of rehabilitation interventions. The goal of the third phase of rehabilitation is to increase strength. Isometric (pushing against an immovable object) can be used first, followed by the use of elastic bands of different strengths, free weights, cuffs, or weight equipment. A few days ago, I was going through news articles about strokes and found a headline that said that the purpose of rehabilitation is to return lost skills.
The first thought that crossed my mind was “more or less, since it's really just” the purpose of rehabilitation. This reaction certainly has the potential to surprise those who read it as strange. Because really, if recovering skills lost due to injury is not the goal of rehabilitation, then what could that point be? In a post-acute rehabilitation center, there are several other vitally important aspects of rehabilitation that are equally essential in the patient's journey to long-term success in their family environment. There is a growing body of literature devoted to the underlying theories, methods, and evidence for goal setting in rehabilitation.
Regardless of who the beneficiary is, who provides it, or the context in which rehabilitation is provided, optimizing function is the ultimate goal of rehabilitation and is critical to the patient's well-being, regardless of the underlying health condition. Support from a rehabilitation provider to help the veteran set, work and achieve rehabilitation goals helps build trust and a sense of hope for the future. A term and acronym to underpin, remember and support the rethinking of goal-setting actions and activities, with potentially more relevance to rehabilitation. Goal setting helps health professionals plan their interventions for what is best or most meaningful to the patient, rather than what is best for health professionals (where there are differences).
Goal setting is important for rehabilitation because it can motivate the patient, especially when they are functional and relate directly to real-life activities. The table below is from The Learning Corp and is an excellent demonstration of how to take initial patient or client statements and turn them into practical and measurable goals. A meaningful goal can maximize patient participation and motivate them to participate in rehabilitation to achieve their goals. Instead of considering this as a failure, unmet goals can be used to analyze what could be a realistic outcome for the person's rehabilitation and to guide challenging discussions about expectations versus reality.
Rehabilitation is a highly person-centered health strategy in which treatment addresses underlying health conditions, as well as the user's goals and preferences. . .
