Before coming to the physio there may be a lot of questions running through your head: What is wrong with me? How long will it take to get better? How often do I need to come? What can I do to get better? And one of the biggest ones “Can you help me?”.
Our job is to answer as many of these questions as accurately as possible early in the process so we can set some clear expectations and goals to work towards. You should leave a session feeling like you have some clear answers to these questions with an idea of: Diagnosis, timeframes, treatment plan and some self management strategies you can do to help at home. If you leave feeling like you still have some unanswered questions then it can be a good idea to write them down for next time or to reach out to your physio via email and see if you can get some clarity.
The 5 Stages of Rehab
It may seem that once pain is gone, the injury is gone but this is often where the recovery process begins. Recovering from and thoroughly rehabbing an injury can take a lot of hard work, patience and persistence. A clear structure and plan can help with this process.
The 5 Stages of Rehab is a useful model to show how and what physio can do to help at different stages of your recovery and rehab. We find that working through these 5 stages can help provide direction and clarity to your physio experience and generally try to work with everyone through all 5 stages to gain full recovery and an optimal result. The 5 Stages of Rehab are:
1. Pain Relief
Getting on top of those symptoms. Using different strategies to press the reset button and get you feeling better. This can involve activity modification, manual therapy (hands on work from you therapist), off loading tape, hot/cold therapy and medications if indicated.
2. Range of Movement
Getting you moving better and feeling better. Working to identify areas of movement restriciton/stiffness and then working to restore full or optimal range of motion. When we are chasing range of motion we will typically be asking you to do work at home 1-3 times a day.
3. Motor Control
Learning how to optimise movement around joints or areas of injury. Re-inforcing changes achieved in stages 1 and 2 with corrective and protective lower load exercises. Often done daily or 2 to 3 times a week in the gym. Clinical Pilates is great at this stage of the game.
4. Strength and Endurance
Higher load exercises to build resillience into the musculoskeletal system by reloading the muscles and joints with appropriate strength based exercises. This may involve 2-4 times a week in the gym or lifitng weights at home
5. Maintenance
What can we do to keep you moving well and feeling good? This may involve an ongoing daily exercise routine, motor control or strength programs a couple times a week and some long standing conditions may require follow up maintenance physio sessions.
In reality we find the 5 stages of rehab is a fluid process that is different for everyone rather than rigid stages that get ticked off. We often layer one stage on top of the next stage and can work with you to determine the best option for you at each stage of recovery.
