When an injury, illness, or surgery affects your strength and ability to function, physical rehabilitation is the path toward optimal recovery. And when you need physical rehabilitation, you can depend on our experienced team at iMed Regeneration Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Our team specializes in developing physical rehabilitation programs that meet each person’s unique physical needs and goals, whether you want to return to competitive sports or want to be able to safely go up and down stairs.
Here’s an inside look at what happens during physical rehabilitation.
Physical rehabilitation basics
Physical rehabilitation is a program to restore the strength, movement, and function skills you lost because of an injury or health condition. Your rehabilitation plan includes a mix of exercise, physical therapy, and job- or sport-specific training that’s carefully designed to meet your goals.
Some people need intensive functional rehabilitation so they can return to competitive sports, while others may need to regain work-related skills. Still others may want to restore the strength and balance they need to safely navigate activities like going up and down stairs.
Assess your strength and skills
Before designing your rehabilitation program, we perform several in-depth assessments, including:
Physical assessment
As part of your physical assessment, we do a thorough musculoskeletal evaluation. We measure your strength, endurance, muscle performance, range of motion, balance, and posture.
Functional assessment
The next step is a functional assessment or functional capacity evaluation. We perform different tests to measure your skills. Then we compare your ability to the physical demands of your daily life at home, on the job, and during athletic activities.
Environmental assessment
To fully understand the skills you need to regain or improve, we talk with you about your home and workplace environment. We also consider your daily transportation needs and the types of public spaces you go to.
The goal is to determine if anything in your environment may contribute to future injuries or limit your mobility. Then we address any issues during your rehabilitation.
Develop your rehabilitation plan
Once we understand your diagnosis and physical needs, we work with you to develop the goals you want to achieve during physical rehabilitation. Then we design a rehabilitation plan that’s tailored to reach your goals.
Your rehabilitation may include many different therapies or modalities drawn from physical therapy and chiropractic care. These are only a few examples of the many possible treatments we use to help you rehabilitate:
- Strength training
- Manual therapy
- Gait training
- Fall prevention
- Skills and functional training
- Sport-specific training
- Structured exercises
- Therapeutic massage
- Neuromuscular control training
- Ergonomic training
- Balance training
- Joint mobilization
- Spinal adjustments
- Myofascial release therapy
Your rehabilitation plan also includes at-home exercises and recommendations for modifying your home or workplace to prevent future injuries, maximize your safety, and ensure accessibility.
Implement your physical rehab plan
Physical rehabilitation moves forward at a controlled pace that matches your progression. But rehab also follows specific steps or phases.
Your program begins with gentle or passive activities that reduce inflammation and pain, progresses to restore movement, and then moves on to rebuild strength and endurance.
The final phase involves functional components. We develop activities that simulate the sports and vocational skills you need to get back to your pre-injury life. As we near the end of your rehabilitation, we implement an injury prevention plan.
Throughout your physical rehabilitation, we balance rest with activity so your body can heal properly. We also incorporate pain management. At each stage, we ensure you have achieved enough pain relief and healing before progressing to the next level.
If you need to start physical rehabilitation or have any questions, call our office or schedule an appointment online today.