Physical Therapy as Home Care: What Can Be Accomplished

  

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Physical therapy is centered on identifying and maximizing the quality of life and movement potential of patients in treatment, prevention and rehabilitation. There are many different settings where physical therapists can treat their patients including hospitals, schools, nursing homes and private homes. This article will focus on the home setting and outline the benefits of taking that approach.

Many recent studies have described the home-based therapy approach as safer, more efficient and more effective in comparison to other strategies. According to Dr. Pamela Woods Duncan’s (PhD, PT, professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Division at Duke University) 2011 NIH-funded study about stroke patients, “home-based intervention is more accessible, more feasible, and it was also associated with fewer risks”[1]. In a similar study, “Young and Forster found that home physiotherapy [was] more effective and resource-efficient than day hospital-based rehabilitation”[2].

Outside of stroke patients, the benefits of in-home therapy are also clear for the elderly. Researchers from the Yale School of Medicine concluded that “the decline of frail elderly people living at home can be slowed, if not prevented with a home-based physical therapy program”[3]. This makes sense because favorable treatment outcomes depend to some extent on patients following therapy instruction and the elderly are more likely to do so with one-on-one care at home.

Other benefits of physical therapy in the home include:

- “Improved compliance by not missing treatment sessions

- Therapists can evaluate a patient in their real natural environment

- Patient's don't have to travel to a clinic thus making it more time efficient

- Privacy for the patient and their family

- Eliminate disruptions from other clients, phone calls, etc.

- Following surgery, having a therapist come to the home may eliminate complications of driving a car or having to negotiate dangerous obstacles on your way to an outpatient clinic.”[4] 

Although in-home physical therapy is not for everyone, it is an option that merits consideration. If you’re the type of person who wants to stay close to home with your friends and family while still receiving quality care, then this may be the perfect option for you.