Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation involves the prescription of specific
stretching, strength, stability and proprioception (balance) exercises, to
promote full healing from injury and to help avoid further injuries in the
future.
It needs to be specific to the individual and must encompass
their goals and requirements for returning to normal full function, whether
that is going back to work, playing with the kids or taking part in sport at an
amateur or professional level.
Often after injury if insufficient rehabilitation is
undertaken the body will compensate for the loss of strength or flexibility
that occurs, and underlying issues such as muscle tightness or imbalance will
remain. These compensations may lead to re-injury at the initial site or
secondary problems in other areas of the body.
It is important to remember that to provide the appropriate
level of safe rehabilitation, a practitioner must have a solid understanding of
the underlying mechanisms of injury, the anatomy, physiology and biomechanics of the body and the healing processes that occur during recovery.
Our Osteopath Dawn will examine and treat the body from a
global and holistic perspective; this enables her to identify possible
imbalances, which may occur due to injury. In addition she has extensive
training and experience of rehabilitation exercise prescription for sports and
spinal injuries.
You will often be prescribed some basic rehabilitation
exercises during the early phases of your treatment and these may be sufficient
depending on the condition. However it is sometimes necessary to continue and
progress these exercises, even after you are symptom free.
Depending on your goals you may require sports specific
rehabilitation drills with the idea being that when you return to your chosen activity
your body is better conditioned than prior to the injury.
Examples of the rehabilitation programs we provide include:
- Post knee surgery- meniscus and ligament repair (including ACL)
- Post ankle ligament injury
- Post spinal disc injury (bulging or prolapsed disc) or spinal surgery
- Spinal joint/muscle injury
- Post shoulder joint surgery (e.g. for rotator cuff tear)
- Post abdominal hernia surgery
- Rehabilitation following any ligament or muscle injury (e.g. hamstring, calf or shoulder muscle strain)
Sometimes the period of rehabilitation is relatively short
or it may last for several months depending on the severity of the problem, for
instance rehabilitation following anterior-cruciate ligament surgery can be up
6-9 months.
