Functional rehabilitation
What is functional rehabilitation?
Functional rehabilitation is a therapy that focuses on function, not impairment. If a person is unable to perform a particular task, the goal of treatment would be to achieve that task using various therapeutic means to do so. Several approaches can be used to achieve this goal. Often interdisciplinary work is advocated especially in more severe cases. However, these more complex cases are usually managed in the larger rehabilitation centers.
This being said, we must not trivialize the smallest restrictions of function that can be incapacitating for many people. A simple tendinopathy, ligament sprain or low back pain can have a significant impact on people’s function.
Why consult a functional rehabilitation specialist?
The reasons for seeing a physiotherapist vary. In general, there is pain and the patient obviously wants to get rid of it, but there may also be a problem in performing certain tasks. Often the pain appears during a functional activity (fetching an object from a height, going up the stairs, sleeping, doing the housework or the dishes, etc.). For many people, pain is therefore interrelated with function. This is even more true for people who have suffered more severe accidents (stroke, head trauma, amputation, severe orthopedic injury, etc.). For some people who have been to a rehabilitation center or an intensive functional rehabilitation unit (IFRU), it is possible that after their passage through the public system, they still need follow-up by a health professional in order to further optimize their functional abilities.
Regardless of the condition, it is just as important to address pain as it is to address function, if function is affected.