5 Benefits of Bringing Physical Therapy Into Your Own Home
Physical therapy is sometimes a necessary part of the recovery process after an injury, illness or surgery. But sometimes even just getting to the appointments at an office can be difficult on your body, not to mention all the time it takes traveling back and forth.
At home physical therapy is meant to help with this by bringing the benefits of physical therapy into the comfort of your own home. You can get started by purchasing the best at home physical therapy equipment online and have it shipped to your home. However, you might not be entirely sold on the extra effort and expense. Is it really that beneficial?
Here are 5 reasons to consider bringing physical therapy into your home.
1) Convenience
If you have suffered a critical injury it might do more harm than good to transport yourself to and from a medical office every few days. Physical therapy is meant to help people with limited mobility. So, during the healing process, the less they have to travel around, the more they can focus on mending their bodies.
2) Close Attention From Caregivers
Another plus for keeping patients in the home is that they can have family members and other caregivers around. Older patients may have other chronic conditions that require 24-hour care. It makes it a lot easier for the people taking care of these patients if appointments happen in their homes rather than across town.
3) Comfort
Comfort is also something not to take for granted. If you are having to re-learn how to walk, it’s much more comfortable to do this in a familiar home setting than in an office with bright lights surrounded by strangers. The more comfortable you are mentally, the more relaxed you will be physically. This will make it easier to do the activities required in your recovery process.
4) Prevent Injury
Even if older patients don’t have a chronic condition to deal with, at home physical therapy can help them as a preventative measure. Many senior citizens develop health problems due to not moving around enough. Such general health problems can be avoided with daily exercise. Too often are people choosing to undergo surgeries to fix their aches and pains.
A little preventative care can go a long way in helping senior citizens stay in shape. What better way to prepare for a potential injury than with in-home treatment?
5) Supervised Treatment
Dependence on painkillers is a major health problem in the United States. Many people develop dependence on pain medicines while recovering from surgery. These pills might be good at making the pain go away, but they don’t really help your body heal. It’s true that rest is an important part of the recovery process after a physical injury. But you also have to start using the part of your body that you hurt to strengthen it.
At home physical therapy has been shown to speed up the recovery process while lessening the need for pain medicines. You get personalized attention from a specialist that will track progress and root for you with every step.
Bottom Line
One drawback of this service is that it is more expensive than going to a medical office. That is because specialists cannot see as many people in a day if they are doing one-on-one appointments with patients. The higher cost can make this service prohibitive for some people. However, at home physical therapy is convenient, comfortable, and safe. It’s the way to go if you or a senior in your household struggles to get around. Remember that you need baby steps to get back on track – start small with in-house care.