The role of physiotherapy is to improve and maintain functional independence and physical performance, prevent and manage pain, physical impairments, disabilities and limits to participation, as well as to promote fitness, health and wellness.
“It’s exciting to have a month to recognize the contributions physiotherapists make to health promotion, mobility and improved quality of life for patients,” says Dawn MacDonald, Manager of Ambulatory Care and Rehabilitation Services at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC).
By helping your body move and function to its fullest, physiotherapy can improve the quality of your life and make you stronger by improving your flexibility, freedom, mobility, vitality and so much more.
Physiotherapy is effective in treating patients, from infants to the elderly, with a variety of conditions including heart and lung disease, trauma and athletic injuries, workplace injuries, arthritis and osteoporosis, stroke and brain injury, spinal cord and nerve injury, amputees, cancer patients, pre- and post-surgical, diabetes and incontinence.
Rehabilitation Services is a dynamic area at TBRHSC that provides assessment and treatment to a variety of inpatients and outpatients. The primary goal of treatment is to improve the patient’s level of function to his or her maximum ability.
Therapists may see the following types of patients:
- Cardio-respiratory: airway clearance and improving activity tolerance for patients who are post-operative, intubated or have other breathing issues
- Inpatient and Outpatient Orthopedics: assessment and treatment of post-surgical hip, knee, shoulder and elbow patients, as well as those with fractures and other injuries;
- Medical: therapy for a variety of medical conditions as well as the frail elderly and failure to cope populations. Therapists of this population are very involved in discharge planning decisions
- Neurology: therapy for patients with neurological involvement, including acquired brain injury and spinal cord injury;
- Return to Work: on-site treatment for staff who have been injured;
- Inpatient Cardiac: therapy and teaching for patients with cardiac involvement;
- Outpatient Cardiac: exercise class and teaching for outpatients post-cardiac incident;
- Outpatient Hand Clinic: assessment and treatment of post-surgical hand, elbow and shoulder patients as well as amputations, fractures and other injuries;
- Stroke Program: a team approach to assessment and treatment for patients with recent stroke.
An Advanced Practice Physiotherapist at the Regional Joint Assessment Centre works with the orthopedic surgeon in the triaging, assessment and follow-up of candidates for hip and knee replacement.
In Ontario, there are over 7,500 licensed physiotherapists registered to practice by the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario.
With your independence in mind, a Physiotherapist’s goal is to restore, maintain and maximize your strength, function, movement and overall well-being.
