Are you looking to continue your rehabilitative treatment while practicing physical distancing and self-isolating?
Good news! pt Health now offers virtual physiotherapy, giving you the opportunity to receive treatment from the comfort of your own home through video conference technology.
Wondering how virtual physiotherapy works? In this Spotlight, we’ll share some first hand information from one of our physiotherapists with you.
Lauren MacKinnon, Physiotherapist at Sherwood Park Physiotherapy – pt Health has been offering virtual physiotherapy here for the past few weeks.
Today, we’re talking to Lauren about her experience with this service so far.
Q: Tell us about the type of treatments you can provide through virtual physiotherapy.
A: Virtual care is a great way to maintain the patient-therapist connection. It can be used to assess new patients, as well as follow up with long-term patients. Although we cannot provide manual therapy, which is typically a large part of our in-clinic treatments, there is still a lot that we can offer our patients.
Virtual care gives patients a dedicated time for one-on-one interaction with their therapist. Patients are able to ask questions and express concerns and receive immediate feedback/education. We are able to teach and review exercises and ensure the patient is performing them correctly.
We are also able to order products to be delivered directly to the patient’s home if they require tools to assist them in their home exercise program and self management strategies.
At times, we can suggest mobilization techniques that the patient can either do by themselves or with the assistance of a family member/roommate.
Personally, I like to follow up with my patients after our appointments with emailed exercise handouts and videos to reference techniques that we have discussed.
Q: What has the patient experience been like with virtual care?
A: I feel that the patient experience has been a positive one so far. This has been a new experience for all of us, whether we are therapists providing treatment or patients receiving treatment.
We only get to see our patients for a short period of time each week, but virtual care enables us to gain a better understanding of the patient’s home or work environment and allows us to modify and progress their home exercise programs more appropriately. It has provided us with continuity of care, especially for WCB and MVA patients; however, it is open to everyone.
Whether your injury is old or new, we are here to help.
Q: Can you share your favourite story of how you helped a patient with virtual care?
A: I’m not sure I have a favourite story from virtual care quite yet. However, I did have one patient that was very pleased with how quickly PureCare delivered her products to her house (i.e. in one day!) and that they came with a mini package of Skittles.
Overall, I feel that patients are happy to have the option of virtual care, and I am happy that I have a way to help people in these uncertain times.
Learn More Or Book Today
If you’d like more information about virtual care or would like to book a virtual care appointment, please visit our Virtual Care page or call us at 1-888-314-2726.
[pthealth_newsletter_signup]