Whilst years ago physical therapy used to be something that you had to visit a special facility for, at-home physical therapy is becoming increasingly common and popular. Why is that? Why are so many people choosing to have their physical therapy exercises and treatments at home vs at another specialized facility?
Take a tour with us as we discuss the benefits of physical therapy from the comforts of your home and why so many people prefer this option. By the end of this article, you will know everything you need to know about getting this service at home and whether it suits your needs.
Let’s get started!
Home Convenience
Like anything at home, it is so much more accessible and approachable when it is in the warm atmosphere of your own house. If you have limited mobility then getting out of the home and having to travel somewhere and then travel back can be a complicated and tiring experience.
However, by having a professional come to your home and give you the treatment there, you don’t have to travel, you can be comforted by the familiar surroundings and suffer fewer distractions as a result. In this way, the physical therapy patient can focus more on the healing process and less on any other complications or difficulties.
One-On-One Treatment
In an outpatient environment, the physical therapist likely will have to care for multiple patients with very distinct injuries at the same time. This divides their attention and means that you only receive a fraction of their total care.
On the other hand, when you get physical therapy at home, you are the only patient. This means that the professional therapist can focus solely on your personal physical issues and give 100% of themselves to you and your care. This is like comparing a kid in a classroom vs having a private teacher.
Overall a one-on-one treatment will give you a higher quality of therapy and a better overall outcome or result.
Stress-Free Experience
Trying to heal and recover in a noisy clinical environment surrounded by people all trying to get better is not the most relaxing experience you can have. It can leave you feeling overwhelmed and even stressed and anxious.
At your residence, though, whilst you still have the stress that comes with your current condition, you are in a familiar environment that promotes a state of relaxation and comfort because this is your home after all.
Long Term Effectiveness
When you compare at-home treatment for vs out of home physical therapy the results are basically the same. Both options result in a recovery process with a similar recovery period. The difference however is when you analyze the long-term results.
Though it largely depends on how well the patient adheres to the treatment plan, studies show that this is often more effective when done from home and the long-term recovery is much more successful than physical therapy in other locations.
Exercise Environment
By learning how to exercise and do the different treatments at home, you have a consistent and relatable environment that allows the therapist to show you firsthand how to do the exercise from home.
For example, If the therapist was to teach you an exercise that you can do in a doorway, rather than just explaining what you would need to do at home, they can show you in the exact doorway they want you to use and you will not only understand the exercise and movement better but you will be ready to continue with the same exercise in the same location.
This comprehension of the exercise environment also makes it easier to continue the treatment plan and exercise routines once the therapist has left and can also aid in avoiding many different home injuries that they would have otherwise experienced.
Training Simplicity
Fancy machines and equipment can be very effective for your healing process. However, it is not realistic to expect you to have such equipment within your house. So does this mean that out-of-home treatment is better? Well, actually no.
You see, even if you start out getting out-of-home treatment, at some point, you will likely need to continue doing exercises at home anyway and as we previously mentioned, you don’t have all the fancy gadgets at home.
Therefore, it is often better to keep it simple from the start with exercises that you can do at home, and in this way, once you have to do exercises on your own from your home, you will already know what to do and how to do them.
Using everyday items in your exercises makes your recovery real for you and relatable according to your environment so that you can continue to recover long after the physical therapist stops visiting and you can attain the best recuperation and healing possible.