Rehab Select Blog

If you are facing a serious health challenge that has led to a hospital stay, chances are good that your chief goal is to get back in shape and back to your normal life – and your own home – as quickly as possible. But what if you aren't quite ready or able to step back into your life? Maybe you need a bit more recovery time and some rehabilitation therapy before you can manage on your own at home. Is short term rehab the best way home?

Strokes affect more than 795,000 people in the U.S., and 610,000 of these are first or new strokes. They can cause significant impairment to motor skills, language, cognition, and physical function. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, “The long-term effects of stroke — which vary from person to person, depending on the stroke’s severity and the area of the brain affected — may include: 

• cognitive symptoms like memory problems and trouble speaking; 
• physical symptoms such as weakness, paralysis and difficulty swallowing; 
• emotional symptoms like depression and impulsivity, and 
• heavy fatigue and trouble sleeping. 

If your medical care providers feel that you need rehabilitation therapy after a serious illness, injury, surgery or a medical event, such as a heart attack or stroke, following that recommendation will mean making some decisions about your care. Usually, the first of those is whether to use outpatient therapy or inpatient rehab to meet your rehabilitation needs. Here, we'll go over 5 frequently asked questions – and their answers – about outpatient therapy to help you make a solid decision.

There are many types of rehabilitation therapy, each designed to address specific ranges of issues. What they all have in common is their primary goals: To help individuals recover from illness, injury, surgery, stroke, cardiac events or other medical issues and regain functional abilities and independence lost to these events. Here we'll outline 7 types of rehabilitation therapy commonly used in treatment plans designed to meet those goals.

If you are in need of the services at an inpatient rehabilitation facility, quality care and effective treatment are both essential to getting the best recovery and rehabilitation results. So what do you need to know to make sure that happens? Our quick guide to comparing inpatient rehab facilities can help you make a solid decision as you choose where you will get the rehabilitative care you need to get back on your feet and back to your life.

If you or a loved one has suffered a stroke, choosing the best path to recovery can be a confusing process. In most cases, that path will include rehabilitation services, since stroke rehabilitation is an essential element of a successful recovery. Generally, stroke survivors are asked to choose, with the help and advice of their medical team, between options that include short term care programs, outpatient rehabilitation services, long term care facilities or home-based rehabilitation. When faced with an unfamiliar and overwhelming decision, it often helps to know where experts stand on an issue. In this post, we'll look into what the American Stroke Association recommends for stroke rehabilitation and recovery.

Inpatient physical therapy offers intensive rehabilitation therapy and comprehensive care to people who are affected by functional and/or medical difficulties. Common examples of when it is needed are the aftermath of a serious accident, illness or injury, during recovery from a stroke or cardiac event, or during surgical recovery, particularly orthopedic procedures. So how do you know if inpatient physical therapy is right for you?

Anxiety is a problem that many COPD sufferers struggle with as they manage the symptoms of the disease. It is a natural response to breathlessness, the decline in oxygen levels that occurs during these episodes triggering a stress response in the body. That stress response typically makes breathing even more difficult, which causes greater anxiety – a viscous cycle that can take a severe toll on a person's health and quality of life. For that reason, learning how to manage anxiety is very important in terms of coping with COPD day-to-day.

Have your medical care providers recommended that you spend some time in a multispecialty inpatient rehabilitation center? Such referrals are often made when patients are being discharged from the hospital but aren't physically or medically prepared to function safely and independently at home. An inpatient rehab stay can offer these patients the care and therapy they need to regain a level of health, function and independence that makes them and their healthcare team confident in their ability to manage on their own. So what can you expect from a stay in a multispecialty inpatient rehab?

Every community requires support and the River Region United Way is just one local organization that provides resources for a five-county region in Alabama. This includes, Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes, Montgomery, and Macon.