Getting older has its fair shares of ups and downs, but our body needs more care and diligent maintenance with age. Your muscle power can reduce and your eyesight can weaken when you get older. Some other changes that can happen are an increase of body weight, deterioration of coordination and joint pain. These changes can affect our mobility and independence adversely therefore, we need to make sure that we are doing all we can to ensure our bodies are kept fit.
Independence is something that we value especially when we get older as there are many conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, arthritis that can have an impact on quality of life. You can find it difficult to climb the stairs to go upstairs in your house or to walk to the nearest grocery store. This is where physio healthcare comes in as a wonderful solution. Physiotherapists can work with elderly people and help prevent the onset of disability or disease. They can also help in treating current conditions that the elderly in their care are suffering from. In-home physiotherapy especially can make a big difference in older people’s lives as it makes physiotherapy more accessible for them. It can be quite difficult to make a regular trip to a health clinic due to mobility and transportation issues. And many health conditions tend to go unnoticed as people avoid care.
You can go for a physiotherapy appointment to get an initial assessment. Here, the physiotherapist will identify the problems that you have and how these can be managed with a carefully curated plan. There will be a subjective examination which will involve a conversation with the person about what their concerns are and an objective examination where the capabilities of the elderly person are checked. A thorough medical history can be taken so that the physiotherapist can get a comprehensive view of the person.
A physiotherapist can help in assessing the physical problems that an elderly person is suffering from and then formulate a treatment plan accordingly. There will be an exercise regimen that will be given to the person to ensure that their mobility, strength and balance are improved. Also, if the person is living with pain, there are certain massage techniques and exercises that can alleviate it. Some of the exercise treatments given will include strengthening exercises, exercises to help relieve pain, flexibility work, practising functional work such as going up and down a staircase and getting up from a chair or bed. The correct use of walking aids can be advised by the physiotherapist as well as how to correct the gait. If required, they will also recommend a walking aid such as crutches or a frame. Physiotherapists can also help in the aftermath of a stroke which will result in weakness or one part of the body, loss of balance and reflexes, joint stiffness etc. There are neuro-physiotherapists who will be able to formulate treatment plans to encourage brain ability to re-organise the pathways that have been compromised in the event of a stroke.