If your elderly family member has recently found herself prescribed physical therapy, she might be concerned that she isn’t prepared for it. Working with a physical therapist doesn’t require your senior to have certain abilities or skills already. The goal of physical therapy services is to find the best ways to help your aging family member to meet her health-related goals. That might mean a variety of different things, depending on where your senior is starting out.
Assesses Current Movement and Activity
There are reasons that physical therapy has been recommended for your elderly family member, including the possibility that her mobility is not what it once was or could be. Your senior’s first appointment with her physical therapist is a time for the therapist to assess where your senior is right now. That gives the therapist a starting point to work from with her.
Puts Together a Plan to Improve Mobility and Function
After the assessment, comes a plan from your senior’s physical therapist. This is how your senior’s physical therapist works out the right exercises and other therapies to help your senior to make the progress she needs and wants to make over time. The plan is a long-term one that involves different benchmarks and interventions, specifically tailored to your senior’s needs.
Identifies Other Potential Needs
If there are other needs uncovered in this process, like your senior needing help from an occupational therapist, her physical therapist will make that recommendation. This is how your elderly family member gets all of the help that she needs to address the issues that caused her to be prescribed physical therapy in the first place. Other situations that need to be addressed, like rearranging furniture for safety, might also be recommended.
Documents Care and Progress
Every session with your senior is documented carefully by her physical therapist. That happens so that there’s a record that the therapist and your senior can go over together. It is also important for her doctor to have access to that information to keep track of her healing progress. Physical therapists work closely with your senior’s medical team to make sure that everyone involved is on the same page. That keeps your aging adult’s medical goals aligned with her other goals.
Physical Therapy Providers Reassess After Periods of Time
Over time, your elderly family member is going to make progress, have some setbacks, and maybe even change some of her goals. At first, her biggest concern might be getting more mobile and active, but then she may want to consider making a fall prevention plan to focus on safety. Reassessing her goals and adjusting the plan to meet those goals is an important part of any good physical therapy plan.
Keeping your elderly family member safe and healthy may mean that at times she needs to be open to other types of assistance, like working with a physical therapist. Reducing the confusion about what happens in physical therapy can help your senior to be more welcoming of the idea.
If you or a loved one need Physical Therapy Services in Whitehall PA or the surrounding areas, contact the caring professionals at Extended Family Care of Allentown. Call today at (610) 200-6097.
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