Rehabilitation
What is rehabilitation?
Rehabilitation is a set of necessary interventions when a person suffers from restrictions in daily performance due to aging or health problems, including chronic diseases, disorders, injuries or trauma. Such as difficulties thinking, seeing, hearing, communicating, moving, having relationships or maintaining a job. Rehabilitation is an essential component of comprehensive health coverage along with promotion, prevention, treatment and pain relief.
Rehabilitation is a highly individually focused health strategy that can be provided either through specialized rehabilitation programs (usually for people with special needs), or integrated into other health programs and services, for example, primary health care, mental health, and vision and hearing programs.
There is a growing need for rehabilitation worldwide associated with changing health and demographic trends to increase the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases and population ageing, as well as the ever-increasing number of victims of traffic accidents, work accidents or war victims in the last decade. The proportion of people over 60 years of age is expected to double by 2050, and there has been an 18% increase in the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases in the past 10 years.
15% of all years living with disability are caused by health conditions associated with severe levels of disability. Rehabilitation is therefore an essential health intervention for people with these conditions.
At present the need for rehabilitation has largely not been met, especially in the Middle East. For example, in many low- and middle-income countries, there is a shortage of trained professionals to provide rehabilitation services, with fewer than 10 skilled practitioners per million inhabitants plus a shortage of institutions working in this field and their inability to keep up with developments needed to meet the needs directly.
Some examples of rehabilitation
- Exercises to restore the ability to swallow or retrain the upper limb to restore coordination, dexterity and movement of the affected limb after a stroke.
- Interventions that improve safety and independence at home and reduce the risk of falls for the elderly, such as balancing training or modifying their home environment.
- Early interventions to address the developmental outcomes of a child with cerebral palsy, such as orthotics, or the provision of training in sensory integration and self-care, which in turn can improve participation in education, play and family and community activities.
- Interventions that improve surgical outcomes after a hip fracture, including an exercise prescription, provide a walking tool and educate hip movements during the healing process.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy and interventions aimed at increasing potency for people with depression.
- Interventions that support daily activities and community access for individuals with vision loss, such as providing strategies to complete personal care tasks and stick training.
- There is a wide range of health professionals who offer rehabilitation interventions, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, orthotics, prostheses, physiotherapists, and others.
Rehabilitation after accidents and injuries
Daily and continuously the pages of the websites are filled with news about traffic accidents or accidents that occurred suddenly to one of them in the course of his work and when taking an overview of this subject, the number of victims is frightening, according to the National Office of Souls (PRB) every year more than one million people die from traffic accidents only and more than 50 million people are exposed to different injuries 30% of them are associated with the symptoms and problems of these injuries in the form of physical disabilities for life, in addition to the difficult conditions that The wars in the Middle East have caused a significant increase in these figures, as millions of people suffer from bullet wounds, shrapnel or poor treatment that have left them with mobility problems and unable to meet their daily needs. This is where rehabilitation is important in helping these people recover and overcome the effects of injuries so that they can meet their own needs and resort to others.
After an accident, a rehabilitation patient may need to try to recover from his injuries. Rehabilitation can involve physical or cognitive rehabilitation as required by the patient’s condition. There are a variety of people who may be involved in rehabilitation including a physiotherapist, a speech and language therapist, a dietitian, a psychologist and so on.
You may receive some rehabilitation sessions at the hospital or therapists will give you exercises to do it yourself either at the hospital or when you return home. Some people need rehabilitation more than others because of the severity of their injuries or type of injuries and are then referred to specific rehabilitation centers. These include spinal rehabilitation, Amputee rehabilitation or neurorehabilitation. The multidisciplinary team, consisting of doctors, nurses and therapists, will discuss rehabilitation options and requirements with the patient and his family to decide on the most appropriate option, depending on what is available.
Benefits of rehabilitation
Rehabilitation can reduce the impact of a wide range of health conditions, including diseases (acute or chronic), disorders, injuries or trauma. It is a highly integrated form of health care that complements other health interventions, such as medical and surgical interventions, helping to achieve the best possible results. For example, rehabilitation can help prevent complications associated with many health conditions, such as spinal cord injury, stroke or fracture. Rehabilitation can also help reduce or slow down the disruptive effects of chronic health conditions, such as heart disease, vascular disease, cancer and diabetes by providing people with self-management strategies and the assistive products they need, or by treating pain or other complications.
Rehabilitation is a successful investment, with cost benefits for both individuals and society. It can help avoid expensive hospitalization and reduce the length of hospital stay. Rehabilitation also allows individuals to participate in education and employment opportunities, remain independent at home, and reduce the need for financial or caregiver support.
Misconceptions about rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is not a disability service for people with long-term disabilities. It is also not only a service for people with physical disabilities. Instead, rehabilitation is an essential part of effective health care for anyone with a problem, acute or chronic, poor or injury that limits performance, and should therefore be available to anyone who needs it.
Rehabilitation is not only provided in specialized rehabilitation settings, but can also be very effective when integrated into broader health programs.
Rehabilitation is not a luxury or an optional health service for those who can get it. Nor is it a strategy to decline when preventive and therapeutic interventions fail. In order to achieve the full social, economic and health benefits of rehabilitation, timely and affordable rehabilitation interventions should be provided to all. In many cases, this means starting rehabilitation at the early stage of the injury and continuing to provide rehabilitation along with other health interventions.
Treatments used in rehabilitation programs:
There is a wide range of treatments used in the rehabilitation process, whether for patients or victims of different accidents, and each type of treatment has a specific area or conditions to be treated, and through specialized experts, an integrated program can be identified in accordance with the situation of each patient and the most important of these treatments:
Hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy is the use of water in the treatment of various conditions, including arthritis and rheumatic related complaints. Hydrotherapy is different from regular swimming as it includes special exercises performed by the patient in a warm swimming pool. The water temperature is usually 33-36°C, which is warmer than the usual swimming pool.
Hydrotherapy is usually in the physiotherapy department of the hospital. Under the supervision of an expert in this field, he supervises the patient’s exercises and follow-up of his condition, and the concentration of exercises can be adjusted to match the patient’s condition and symptoms. Hydrotherapy also tends to be different from routine water games, which can be very strenuous, as they generally focus on controlled slow relaxing movements and relaxation.
Hydrotherapy is useful regardless of the number of joints or limbs in which the patient has problems and usually resort to this type of treatment in the case of joint replacement surgery or if the patient is suffering from back pain, adhesive vertebral inflammation and psoriatic arthritis can also be used for other types of bone and cartilage problems. Although exercises are usually designed for everyone, group sessions are sometimes offered to people with similar conditions.
How does hydrotherapy help?
Hydrotherapy can help in several different ways:
- The warmth of water allows the muscles to relax and relieve pain in the joints, helping the patient to exercise.
- Water supports the patient’s weight through buoyancy, helping to relieve pain and increase the range of joint movement.
- Water can be used to provide resistance to joint movement. By pushing the arms and legs against water, which also helps to improve muscle strength.
- Scientific studies have shown that hydrotherapy can improve the overall strength and fitness of people with various arthritis and fractures and exercises can be tailored to the individual needs of the patient so that they can begin to build their strength and flexibility slowly and gradually.
- Additional water support may make the patient feel that he or she can exercise more than usual, so you should not overdo it. Exercise and the warmth of water may make you feel tired after treatment, but this is very normal.
In general, hydrotherapy is one of the safest treatments for arthritis and back pain.
Mud therapy
It is a therapeutic technique following physical therapy based on a special type of clay rich in salts and minerals and rich in decaying aquatic plants formed over many years by geological, biological, chemical and physical processes where this clay is used on the body under the supervision of the specialist in the form of sessions as a thermal therapy.
How mud therapy works
Hot mud or clay helps relax muscles, reducing topical swelling around joints, muscle tension, and strengthening anti-inflammatory activity and immune processes within the body. Coil-shaped clay is used to treat disorders of the locomotor system, gynecology and respiratory disorders.
In which cases clay therapy is used?
Hot clay is used to treat rheumatism, inflammation, neuralgia and obesity. Heat improves blood circulation and stimulates metabolism. This treatment also helps eliminate cellulite and stretch marks.
As widely used in cosmetics it can be applied as face masks. Applying masks once a week helps to stimulate and tighten the skin and lock fluids in the skin layers. Regular use of clay causes wrinkles to disappear and prevents the appearance of new wrinkles.