Osteopathy Australia – Exercise-based rehabilitation

Exercise-based rehabilitation

Exercise-based rehabilitation involves movement and movement instruction to enhance physical capacity or movement in patients who have sustained an injury, undergone recent surgery, have a chronic illness or injury. Patients may have experienced loss of normal functional ability or need help with recovery and want to improve their general health and wellbeing.

What is exercise-based rehabilitation?

Exercise-based rehabilitation programs aim to restore patient functionality to pre-injury capacity, manage issues post-surgery or adjust patients to life with a chronic illness or injury.

Osteopaths may provide exercise-based interventions in private practice, other healthcare settings or within communities, and programs may be developed either for individuals or groups.

Exercise-based rehabilitation assessment

An exercise-based rehabilitation assessment may include the following clinical components:

Identification of lifestyle and functional goals;
Movement-based assessment using physical tests. This involves an assessment of your body and how it moves to identify your strengths or imbalances that may impact your ability to perform daily activities;
Assessment of resting blood pressure and heart rate, body composition, strength, control, balance, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular fitness and ability to perform specific functional tasks;
Identification of factors that may have contributed to any loss of your normal function through a discussion of your history.

An exercise program designed to suit you

Your osteopath will involve you in developing an exercise program to help you build your physical and mental resilience. This means you will:

Be involved in selecting an exercise setting or settings that meet your individual requirements;
Be engaged in selecting exercise techniques from a range of appropriate exercises designed by your osteopath;
Receive advice about how to apply prescribed exercises using the correct technique to avoid aggravating or causing further injury;
After you start an exercise program, your osteopath will review how well your clinical exercise program meets your needs. They will reassess changes to your function before, during and after an exercise program has been applied. Adjustments to your exercise program may be recommended.