Water-based rehabilitation
Water-based rehabilitation is a patient driven, self motivated program to encourage patients to strengthen their muscles in their entirety.
It has particular application to the lower limb and spine.
Core muscle strengthening can optimally be achieved by walking in water several days a week. This permits strengthening of the core back, abdominal and lower limb muscles.
Patients who undergo large joint replacement are encouraged to walk in water several days a week. The optimal results are achieved by patients who spend at least 30 min, 5 days a week.
This ensures that any pre-operative muscle weakness is rapidly rehabilitated helping the patient regain independent gait and confidence much more quickly than simply by doing exercises or attending physiotherapy in isolation.
Optimal outcomes can best be achieved by a combination of periodic physiotherapy attendance, coupled to water-based rehabilitation.
The patient must be central to this process and actively involved to achieve the best outcome.
Physiotherapy
Rehabilitation is central to obtain a favourable outcome for every orthopaedic treatment.
The traditional teaching of early icing and rest with support remains a basic rule.
Physiotherapy has an important role in rehabilitation particularly in terms of soft tissue injury where there may be bruising and swelling causing secondary stiffness.
Massage and muscle stretches will be very helpful in that situation.
Physiotherapy rehabilitation is particularly helpful in patients who have difficulty in mobilisation and to ensure compliance with recovery.
Supervised rehabilitation with periodic physiotherapy attendance will help a patient achieve their goals, in the optimal time, to obtain maximal recovery.
For physiotherapy to work successfully, the patient must invariably undertake an exercise program independently.
Pure dependence on physiotherapy, in isolation, will rarely suffice.
