Rehab Select Blog

If you or a loved one is spending time in the hospital due to a serious medical event, surgery, or illness, and discharge planning is underway, you may have heard the term "care planning meeting" used in reference to those preparations. So just what is the purpose a care planning meeting? Who is responsible for setting up these meetings? Who will be involved and what do they offer in terms of improving patient care?

If you will be having a knee or hip replaced to treat joint damage done by arthritis, you should know that how your recovery and rehabilitation is handled is as important as the joint replacement surgery itself in terms of achieving an optimal outcome – reduced pain, increased mobility, and improved quality of life. That means having a good plan in place well ahead of your procedure date for your recovery and rehabilitation period is essential. Here are some planning tips that can help you ensure the best recovery.

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, 54 million people either already have osteoporosis or are at high risk for developing the disease due to low bone mass. The consequences of this very common and often debilitating disease can be severe and in some cases, even life threatening. Studies suggest that approximately one in two women and up to one in four men age 50 and older will break a bone due to osteoporosis, and serious fractures in the hip or spine are among the most common. Knowing what steps to take to preserve bone health is essential. So what can be done to prevent osteoporosis, or, for those already diagnosed with the disease, minimize its effects?

If you are in the process of planning a surgical procedure or have recently had an unexpected surgery as a result of an injury, cardiac event or other acute medical incident, post operative rehabilitation is an issue that you will be concerned with during your recovery period. After serious procedures your health care team may suggest a short term rehab facility for your post-op rehab, which will provide intensive rehabilitation therapy in an inpatient setting. If so, there are a number of factors to consider as you weigh that advice.

Knee replacement procedures are surgeries that remove part or all of a damaged or diseased knee joint, replacing it with a prosthetic, or artificial, joint. These procedures are the most common form of joint replacement surgery and are performed in approximately 600,000 patients every year in the United States. So why do so many people need knee replacement? Here we'll look into what conditions commonly lead to knee replacement surgery and a number of facts and statistics about these procedures that may be helpful to those considering a means of treatment.

Osteoporosis affects the strength and density of bones. If you have been diagnosed with it, chances are you have a lot of questions about how the disease will impact your body. While the effects vary greatly from one person to another depending upon the severity of the disease and its rate of progression, there are some issues that many osteoporosis sufferers have in common. Here we'll outline the most common effects of this disease on the body to help you gain insight into problems you may find yourself dealing with in the years to come.

Joint replacement surgery is a procedure in which an orthopedic surgeon removes part or all of a diseased or damaged joint – most commonly the knee or hip – and inserts a prosthetic as replacement. The goals of this procedure are to reduce chronic pain and improve mobility in patients, goals that these procedures achieve in the majority of cases. So why do people need these procedures? While there are many conditions that can damage joints and create a need for joint replacement, there are some that are more common than others. Among those are these 3 conditions that often lead to joint replacement:

Short term rehabilitation programs are an important component of heath care, providing essential support to patients as they recover after serious medical events. Hospitals and physicians routinely recommend rehab programs for patients who, while no longer in need of acute medical care in a hospital, are not yet fully recovered and require additional therapy and care. What do these patients need to consider as they explore their rehabilitation options?

Osteoporosis is a common and often debilitating disease that affects the strength and density of the bones, causing them to become weak, brittle, and prone to fractures. It is most common in people over the age of 50, affecting one of every two women and one of every six men in that age group. So what is the long term impact of osteoporosis on the health and well-being of people affected by this disease?

Do you have knee arthritis? If so, you're in good company. The knee is a very complex joint that is subjected to a great deal of stress every day. These factors contribute to the very common nature of knee problems, which affect more than 6 million people over the age of 62 and another 5 million between the ages of 40 and 62. Among the most common problems is arthritis, with the knee being the most frequently affected joint. Educating yourself can help you manage the impact of knee arthritis. So what do you need to know?