What is medical rehabilitation? Medical rehabilitation is a set of medical, pedagogical, psychological and other measures aimed at maximally restoring or compensating for people who have suffered an illness or injury, normal mental and physiological functions (needs) of a person, his ability to work. Examples of needs: health, physical activity, freedom of movement, independence of action, communication with people, obtaining necessary information, self-realization through work and other types of activities.
Unlike treatment, rehabilitation is carried out in the absence of the acute phase of the pathological process in the body
Medical rehabilitation is closely related to other types of rehabilitation – physical, psychological, childbirth, social, economic. It is an active process, the aim of which is the complete restoration of functions impaired due to illness or injury or, if this is unrealistic, the optimal realization of the disabled person’s physical, mental and social potential, his or her most adequate integration into society.
Thus, medical rehabilitation includes activities preventing disability during the period of illness and helping the individual to achieve the maximum physical, mental, social, occupational and economic fitness that he or she will be capable of within the existing disease.
A special place is occupied by medical rehabilitation, which takes into account not only the state of the organs and systems of the body, but also the functional capabilities of a person in everyday life after discharge from a medical institution.
Correct understanding of the consequences of the disease is of fundamental importance for understanding the essence of physical rehabilitation and the direction of rehabilitation effects. It is optimal to eliminate or completely level the damage by performing restorative treatment. However, it is not always possible and in such cases it is desirable to organize the patient’s life activity in such a way as to exclude the influence of the existing anatomical and physiological defect on it.
If at the same time the current activity is impossible or has a negative impact on health, it is necessary to switch the patient to such types of social activity that will most contribute to meeting all his needs.
One of the main goals of rehabilitation is to improve the quality of life of patients, to create such living conditions that will be satisfactory both for patients and for the disabled themselves and their environment.
Rehabilitation should be discussed in cases where the patient has already had experience in social life and socially useful activities
Rehabilitation includes medical and pedagogical correction of the motor, mental and speech spheres in relation to older children and adults. There are a number of pathological factors that immobilize the patient and raise the question of the need for habilitation or rehabilitation. Among these factors are various intrauterine lesions of the nervous system, birth craniocerebral trauma.
In older children, brain and spinal cord injuries, infectious and inflammatory diseases (consequences of encephalitis, arachnoiditis, meningitis, polio), degenerative diseases of the nervous and neuromuscular systems can lead to damage to the nervous system. In adults, the most common cause of disability are vascular diseases with cerebral circulation disorders.
At all stages, comprehensive treatment is applied, ensuring the restoration of impaired functions with the help of physiotherapy exercises, massage, physiotherapy, orthopedic procedures and medications. In Western Europe, and in particular in Germany, an important element of a comprehensive approach to rehabilitation is the use of equipment that facilitates the work and expands the capabilities of specialists in the field of physiotherapy and physiotherapy, which improves the final effect of rehabilitation. These are devices designed for walking training or restoring the function of the hand and arm.
It is important to conduct active corrective and educational work and to provide the necessary speech therapy assistance provided by speech therapists (under the supervision and with the participation of a physician) in health care and education facilities to people (mainly children) with speech disorders. to correct the latter. The number of people adapted to work may increase thanks to properly conducted rehabilitation activities. Effective organization of the entire set of medical, pedagogical and widely understood social activities is needed. It is important to ensure the continuity of the corrective action steps. Treatment should be timely and long-term.
Detailed neurological, psychological, pedagogical and speech therapy examination of children with severe damage to the nervous system, persistent and painstaking work of physiotherapists to restore impaired functions, neuromotor re-education allows for partial or complete adaptation of disabled children and adults in society.
Rehabilitation is an investment that can bring economic benefits to both individuals and society as a whole. Thanks to rehabilitation, costly hospitalizations can be avoided, hospital stays shortened and re-hospitalisations prevented. In addition, rehabilitation allows people to gain an education and find paid work, maintain independence in everyday life and minimize the need for financial support or care.
