We will guide and support patients on their road toward independence and once again living their own lives. The P.T. will practice with patients the appropriate exercises to develop their muscular potential and regain as much movement as possible. We begin our work with the spinal cord patient by assessing his or her needs and current functional status. Stretching, proper positioning of the body with or without bracing and gradually sitting upright can accomplish this. For quadripligics and high paraplegics, chest P.T. for cupping and clapping to help remove secretions, is important.
Secretion build up can cause pneumonia.
We also begin to train you in wheelchair mobility and parts management. We teach you how to perform wheelchair transfers and pressure reliefs, as well as higher level wheelchair skills that you will need to get around in the community. For those patients that have enough strength in their legs to walk, we add to the above by assessing their bracing needs for proper support during walking. Ambulation training is a progressive process. It may begin by standing in a standing frame or parallel bars, and then moving on to walking with a walker, crutches or canes.