Physical Therapy at DCH Home Health

For many patients the best place for rehabilitation may well be their own home.

Particularly the homebound individuals who require strengthening exercises, gait training, transfer techniques, or development of a home program, benefit the most. Reintegration to their own environment takes place after discharge from the hospital or other facilities. Therapeutic goals can then be reached where patients spend the majority of their time.

Typically the diagnoses treated are fractured hips, total joint replacements, amputations, strokes, and other neurological conditions. Other modalities used in their recovery may be transcutaneous electrical stimulation, or TENS, units, pain control, and the use of continuous passive motion, or CPM, machines.

An added benefit from rehabilitation in one's place of residence is that the physical therapist can perform a safety evaluation. Architectural barriers are assessed and modifications of the home can be done to decrease the risk of falls that many geriatric patients are prone to, and recommendations can be given for appropriate medical equipment that will promote safe performance of their daily activities. These may include such items as shower benches, grab bars, rails, and wheelchair ramps.

Visits by the therapist in the patient's home, generally three times a week, are approximately an hour in length and are on a short-term basis. Ideally the family will also be involved with the care.

DCH Home Health is a hospital-based agency of Methodist Diagnostic Hospital. In addition to DCH Home Health, The Diagnostic Center for Joint Replacement is also a specialty service within the hospital spearheaded by Dr. Leland Winston, an orthopedic surgeon at MDH. Patients discharged from the program return quickly to a normal lifestyle but can receive home physical therapy if needed and ordered by the physician.

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