Physical therapy care is suggested in a variety of different situations. Of course, a physical therapist who works there might handle your therapy if you’re in the hospital. You can visit an outpatient physical therapy clinic if you need sports treatment.
Some patients find it challenging to travel to physical therapy outside their homes. These persons may still enjoy the benefits of home physical therapy services. A physical therapist could visit them at home to help individuals regain their normal functional mobility. Seniors may benefit significantly from in-home physical therapy, as studies have shown that patients respond more quickly and adhere to their treatment plans when receiving in home physical therapy for seniors. Additionally, being surrounded by the familiarity and comforts of home can lift seniors’ spirits and keep them in a good mood, which is crucial for long-term recovery and progress.
Home Physical Therapy For Seniors
You might not be able to move as well as you once could as an older adult. You might also need specific non-medical home care needs, such as long-term care, the usage of specialized drugs, or even the restoration of muscle strength through muscle training sessions.
Home Physical therapy services can help older persons feel more robust, more in control, and have a higher quality of life while still allowing them to feel at home. Physical therapists give you more control over your body. Physical therapists will collaborate with you to keep your body active by recovering your mobility and enhancing your strength.
Different Home Physical Therapy Services
Different manual home physical therapy services involve the therapist manipulating the patient with their hands to relax, lessen their pain, and increase their flexibility. Various home physical therapy services:
- Cold therapy treats illnesses like arthritis and reduces pain, swelling, and inflammation. Ice packs (15 to 20-minute sessions), ice massage, rest, ice, compression, and elevation are all part of the treatment (RICE).
- Heat therapy helps to loosen stiff joints caused by osteoarthritis or other disorders that have rendered you immobile by relaxing muscles and enhancing blood circulation. Before exercising, muscles are also loosened with heat.
- Hydrotherapy employs water to treat illnesses and preserve health to cure soft tissues, improve blood flow, and calm the entire body.
- The use of electrical current to induce a physiological response in the body is referred to as electrical stimulation. Electrical stimulation has a variety of applications. Electrical stimulation therapy is frequently combined with cold laser therapy to promote faster recovery.
- Every session, physical therapists instruct their patients. Patients are trained to carry out daily activities, safeguard their bodies from further harm, exercise at home, and make their homes safer.
- Before and after exercise, ultrasound uses high-pitched sound waves to relax the muscles and lessen muscle spasms.
In-Home Physical Therapy for the Treatment of Particular Conditions
In-Home, Physical therapy is helping patients with various ailments and medical conditions, some obvious and some less so, according to the medical community.
- Even if they don’t exhibit any symptoms, most adults 65 and older have some degree of spinal arthritis. Through the use of aquatic exercises, heated packs, electrical stimulation, and other methods, physical therapy can help prevent future symptoms.
- Physical therapists (PTs) perform home physical therapy for seniors, in which you are compelled to use your weaker arm or hand while your strong limb is constrained. It is possible to simulate movements with motor imagery and mental practice. It stimulates your brain’s motor control centre.
- Patients with Parkinson’s disease engage in home physical therapy for seniors’ trunk flexibility exercises to prevent the disease’s robotic symptoms.
- Patients with incontinence are shown where to look and engage the appropriate muscles. Exercises for the pelvis assist in building stronger muscles that aid in bladder control.
- Home physical therapy for seniors helps people living with Alzheimer’s remember things better and postpones the beginning of more severe memory issues, according to PTs. They also employ “mirroring,” in which the physical therapist acts as a mirror, guiding the patient’s movements. Other strategies help patients remember particular activities, such as dancing and gardening.
- Home physical therapy for seniors can help people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which causes breathing problems, by strengthening their muscles and boosting their aerobic capacity.
Some Benefits of Home Physical Therapy for Seniors
1. Keeping Your Mobility
Growing stiff and beginning to lose balance, strength, and agility are frequent in older persons. Additionally, losing flexibility, bone density, and muscle tone is simple if a person leads a more sedentary lifestyle. Home Physical therapy for seniors helps them to move quickly.
2. Helpful for Age-Related Diseases
Helping older persons with various health conditions is the second advantage of home physical therapy services.
For instance, home physical therapy for seniors can help lessen the signs and symptoms of Arthritis, Osteoporosis, and some cancers.
3. Controlling Pain
Pain control is another advantage of home physical therapy for seniors citizens.
As a result of various medical issues, many older persons have chronic pain. Physical therapy can lessen pain symptoms, reducing reliance on prescription drugs. For senior individuals, some doctors even recommend physical therapy rather than painkillers.
4. Reducing Fall Risk
One of the most significant risks older persons face is falling because:
When someone falls, they sustain a significant injury 1 out of 5 times (e.g., broken bones or head trauma).
Every year, three million older persons visit the emergency room due to fall-related injuries.
More than 95% of hip fractures are brought on by it.
In home physical therapy for seniors is a fantastic technique to stop falls. Home physical therapy for seniors allows them to retain their strength, balance, and fitness.
5. Recovering From a Surgery or Injury
If a senior breaks a bone or requires surgery, the injured limb is frequently immobilized for a while. In home physical therapy for seniors is beneficial in recovering from surgery.
