Rehabilitation

A

• ACL Reconstruction - Return-to-Sport Rehabilitation

  Protect graft, restore ROM and quadriceps strength, train neuromuscular control, and use objective criteria for return to sport. Early priorities are full extension, progressive flexion, swelling control, normalized gait, and recovery of quadriceps activation.
• Adhesive Capsulitis - Rehabilitation

  Stage-based pain control and capsular stretching with gradual strengthening; consider injections to accelerate recovery. Treatment is matched to irritability and stage.
• Amputation - Preprosthetic and Prosthetic Training

  Shape limb, protect skin, manage pain, and train gait and function with appropriate prosthetic components and energy conservation. Before prosthetic fitting, protect the incision, control edema, maintain hip and knee extension, strengthen proximal muscles and the intact limb, teach transfers and wheelchair skills, and begin desensitization when appropriate.

B

• Burn Rehabilitation - Scar Management and Contracture Prevention

  Early positioning and splinting, ROM, edema control, and scar modulation (compression, silicone) with functional training. Positioning opposes the direction of expected contracture, and range-of-motion work begins as soon as tissue stability permits.

C

• Cardiac Rehabilitation - Phases I to III

  Supervised, progressive exercise with risk factor control after MI, PCI, CABG, or heart failure; monitor symptoms and hemodynamics. Phase I begins in the hospital with education, mobilization, risk-factor planning, and referral.
• Cerebral Palsy - Function and Transition to Adulthood

  Optimize mobility with orthoses, spasticity control, and adaptive tech; plan transition goals for education, work, and independence. Rehabilitation is goal-directed and may combine strength and fitness training, mobility practice, orthoses, adaptive equipment, communication technology, spasticity or dystonia management, and orthopedic interventions.
• Cervical Radiculopathy - Conservative Rehabilitation

  Pain control, short-term collar if needed, directional preference exercises, and traction; avoid early imaging unless red flags. Conservative rehabilitation uses education, activity modification, cervical and scapular strengthening, postural and movement training, and selected mobility or traction interventions based on symptom response.
• Cognitive Rehabilitation — TBI & Post‑ICU

  Address attention, memory, executive function, and processing speed with structured, goal‑oriented therapy; manage mood/sleep; plan graded return to work/school.
• Community Reintegration — Goal Setting & Barriers

  Rebuild participation after illness/injury using ICF framework, SMART goals, and barrier reduction across mobility, self‑care, cognition, and roles. Address environmental and psychosocial determinants explicitly.
• Critical Illness Neuromyopathy - Rehab Approach

  Recognize ICU-acquired weakness; start early mobilization, prevent complications, and plan long-term strengthening and nerve recovery monitoring. Prevention and rehabilitation emphasize early mobility when safe, minimization of unnecessary deep sedation, glycemic and nutritional management, treatment of sepsis and organ failure, and progressive strengthening.

D

• Driving Rehabilitation — Assessment & Training

  Driver rehab evaluates medical fitness to drive and provides training/adaptations. Combine clinic testing (vision, cognition, motor) with simulator/on‑road assessment; prescribe adaptive equipment and training.
• Dysphagia Rehabilitation - Post-Stroke Management

  Screen before oral intake, use compensatory strategies and exercises, and escalate to instrumental assessment to reduce aspiration risk. Rehabilitation combines safe nutrition and hydration with recovery-oriented swallowing therapy.
• Dysphagia Rehabilitation — Post‑Stroke & ICU

  Early screening, instrumental assessment (VFSS/FEES), diet texture modification, postural maneuvers, and targeted therapy reduce aspiration; coordinate with ICU/respiratory for trach/vent patients.

G

• Gait Disorders in Older Adults - Assessment and Devices

  Identify causes (sensory, neurologic, musculoskeletal), reduce fall risk, and match assistive devices to deficits. Treatment targets modifiable contributors: progressive leg and hip strengthening, balance training, gait practice, endurance, medication review, vision and footwear optimization, and management of neurologic or musculoskeletal disease.

H

• Hand Therapy - Flexor and Extensor Tendon Rehab

  Protect repair while preventing adhesions using surgeon-specific protocols; progress from passive to active motion. Custom orthoses position the repaired tendon to reduce stress while allowing the prescribed exercise program.
• Head and Neck Cancer - Voice and Swallow Rehab

  Prevent and treat dysphagia and dysphonia with early therapy, ROM, and compensatory strategies during and after chemoradiation. Speech-language pathology treatment can include swallow exercises, compensatory postures, diet modification, airway-protection strategies, voice therapy, trismus exercises, and communication alternatives after laryngectomy.

I

• Inpatient Early Mobility - Deconditioning Prevention

  Reduce delirium and functional decline with protocolized early mobility, minimizing tethers and coordinating with nursing and therapy. Mobility progresses from positioning and active range of motion to sitting, edge-of-bed activity, standing, transfers, marching, and ambulation as physiologic tolerance allows.

L

• Low Back Pain - Exercise-Based Management

  Favor active care with graded activity, core stabilization, and education; avoid routine imaging and prolonged rest. Education should encourage continued activity and explain that pain during recovery does not necessarily equal tissue damage.
• Lymphedema After Cancer — Diagnosis & Therapy

  Cancer‑related lymphedema: diagnose clinically (Stemmer sign) and stage; first‑line is complete decongestive therapy (CDT) with compression, manual drainage, exercise, and skin care. Consider surgery for refractory disease.

M

• Multiple Sclerosis - Fatigue and Mobility Management

  Combine energy conservation, exercise, spasticity control, and mobility aids; manage heat sensitivity and mood. Rehabilitation emphasizes energy conservation without promoting inactivity.

N

• Neurogenic Bladder and Bowel - Rehabilitation Strategies

  Use intermittent catheterization, antimuscarinics, and bowel regimens with scheduled timing and suppositories; prevent infections and constipation. Bladder strategies may include timed voiding, intermittent catheterization, an indwelling catheter in selected situations, medications to reduce detrusor overactivity, and urologic procedures when pressures remain unsafe or continence goals are not met.

O

• Orthotics & Prosthetics — Selection & Training

  Match device to functional goals and impairment level; ensure proper fit, training, and skin care; reassess as function changes.

P

• Pain Rehabilitation - Opioid-Sparing Multimodal Program

  Integrate exercise, CBT, sleep optimization, and non-opioid analgesics; taper long-term opioids with shared decision making when appropriate. Multimodal rehabilitation combines graded physical activity, strength and aerobic conditioning, behavioral pain skills, sleep treatment, pacing, occupational restoration, and treatment of depression or anxiety when present.
• Parkinson Disease - Gait and Balance Training

  Use cueing, amplitude-based training, and dual-task strategies to reduce freezing and falls; optimize meds timing with therapy. Therapy uses high-amplitude movement practice, progressive strength and aerobic exercise, balance training, turning practice, obstacle negotiation, and task-specific gait training.
• Pelvic Floor Dysfunction in Men — Rehab Approaches

  Men’s pelvic floor rehab targets post‑prostatectomy incontinence, chronic pelvic pain syndrome, and defecatory dysfunction with pelvic floor muscle training, biofeedback, bladder/bowel retraining, and pain modulation.
• Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation - Urinary Incontinence

  Behavioral therapy and pelvic floor muscle training are first-line; consider biofeedback and referral if refractory. Pelvic floor muscle training is first-line for many patients with stress and mixed incontinence and can also support urgency management.
• Post-COVID or Prolonged Illness - Deconditioning Rehab

  Screen for post-exertional symptom exacerbation, start low-intensity activity with pacing, and treat orthostatic intolerance. For straightforward deconditioning without post-exertional malaise, rehabilitation can use gradual aerobic, resistance, balance, and functional training with pacing.
• Post-Fracture Rehab - Osteoporosis and Function

  Early mobilization with protected weight bearing, edema control, and osteoporosis secondary prevention to reduce future fractures. Begin safe mobilization as early as permitted, with progressive strength, balance, gait and transfer training and the least restrictive assistive device.
• Post‑Stroke Spasticity — Botulinum Toxin & Therapies

  Set functional goals, use botulinum toxin injections targeting focal spasticity, combine with therapy/splinting, and escalate to intrathecal baclofen or neurolysis for diffuse severe spasticity.
• Pressure Injury - Prevention and Management in Rehab

  Risk stratify, reposition, optimize nutrition, and use pressure redistribution surfaces; treat with debridement and moisture control.
• Pulmonary Rehabilitation - COPD

  Improve dyspnea, exercise tolerance, and quality of life with supervised exercise, breathing training, and self-management education. A pulmonary rehabilitation program combines supervised or structured aerobic and resistance training, education, inhaler technique, breathing and pacing strategies, nutrition and psychosocial support, smoking cessation, and an exacerbation action plan.

R

• Rotator Cuff Tear - Nonoperative Rehabilitation

  Reduce pain, restore ROM, then strengthen rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers; avoid early aggressive overhead loading. Initial rehabilitation reduces aggravating overhead load while preserving motion, then builds rotator cuff and scapular endurance with a structured home or supervised program.

S

• Spasticity Management - Stretching, Oral Agents, and Botulinum

  Reduce tone that impairs function using stretching, positioning, oral antispasmodics, and focal chemodenervation; monitor weakness and sedation. Rehabilitation therapy with range of motion, positioning, splinting, strengthening, and task practice is foundational.
• Spinal Cord Injury - Acute Rehabilitation and Complications

  Start early rehab, prevent pressure injury and DVT, manage autonomic, bowel, and bladder issues, and plan mobility with level-appropriate equipment. Early care combines positioning, pressure redistribution, venous-thromboembolism prevention, pulmonary hygiene, range-of-motion work, progressive upright tolerance, transfer training, bowel and bladder programs, and patient/caregiver education.
• Stroke - Neglect and Visual-Spatial Training

  Identify hemi-neglect and use scanning training, limb activation, and environmental modifications to improve safety. Rehabilitation uses repeated functional scanning toward the neglected side, visual anchors, environmental setup, cueing, limb activation, task-specific practice, and caregiver training.
• Stroke Rehabilitation - Early Mobilization and Recovery

  Stroke rehabilitation should begin with early multidisciplinary assessment once the patient is medically and neurologically stable, but 'early' does not mean prolonged high-intensity mobilization in the first hours after stroke. Rehabilitation is individualized across mobility, activities of daily living, swallowing, communication, cognition, mood, vision, continence, and participation, with repeated goal setting and secondary-prevention planning.

T

• Total Hip Arthroplasty - Precautions and Rehabilitation

  Respect surgical approach precautions, normalize gait, strengthen abductors, and prevent dislocation and DVT while restoring function. Begin bed mobility, transfers, walking with an appropriate assistive device, and basic strengthening as soon as medically safe.
• Total Knee Arthroplasty - Postoperative Rehabilitation Protocol

  Control pain and swelling, restore extension first, progress flexion and quadriceps strength, and prevent thromboembolic and wound complications. Mobilization usually begins on the day of surgery or soon after, with transfers, short-distance ambulation, ankle pumps, quadriceps and gluteal activation, and progressive knee range of motion as tolerated.
• Traumatic Brain Injury - Cognitive and Physical Rehabilitation

  TBI rehabilitation begins early with prevention of secondary injury and transitions into multidisciplinary treatment of mobility, cognition, communication, behavior, mood, sleep, vestibular symptoms, headache, and community participation. Recovery is highly individualized; severe TBI often requires structured inpatient rehabilitation, while mild TBI usually uses education, graded return to activity, targeted symptom treatment, and follow-up for persistent deficits.

V

• Vestibular Rehabilitation - BPPV and Vestibulopathy

  Use canalith repositioning for BPPV and gaze stabilization for unilateral vestibular loss; avoid prolonged vestibular suppressants. For BPPV, perform the appropriate canalith repositioning maneuver and reassess rather than prescribing routine antihistamines or benzodiazepines.
• Vestibular Rehabilitation — Indications & Protocols

  Use targeted vestibular therapy for unilateral/bilateral hypofunction, vestibular neuritis, PPPD, and post‑concussion; perform canalith repositioning for BPPV. Customize gaze stabilization, balance, and habituation drills.

W

• Wheelchair Seating & Pressure Relief — Basics

  Proper seating prevents pressure injuries and improves function; choose cushion/backs based on risk and perform regular pressure relief and skin checks.
• Work Hardening - Return to Work Programs

  Functional, job-specific conditioning with graded exposure and ergonomic modifications to restore work capacity. Programs progressively reproduce job tasks with increasing duration, load, repetition, and environmental complexity while reinforcing safe mechanics, pacing, and self-management.