At Granville Physiotherapy, we prioritize your unique needs and goals in crafting personalized treatment plans for amputee rehabilitation. Our approach commences with a thorough assessment to comprehensively understand your medical history, functional abilities, and aspirations for recovery. This assessment forms the basis for a customized treatment plan designed to maximize your potential for mobility, independence, and overall well-being.

Key Components of Our Individualized Treatment Plans:

• Thorough Assessment: We perform a detailed evaluation of your residual limb, overall physical condition, and any related medical factors. This assessment helps us identify specific challenges and opportunities for improvement.
• Goal Setting: Together, we establish clear and achievable goals based on your aspirations and functional priorities. Whether your focus is on walking proficiency, pain management, or enhancing daily activities, we align our treatment plan to support your objectives.

Our physiotherapist provides comprehensive training in the use of prosthetic limbs, ensuring proper fit, function, and comfort. Our goal is to optimize your prosthetic use for mobility and daily activities. Here’s how our prosthetic training program works:

1. Prosthetic Fitting and Adjustment: Our experienced team works closely with you and your prosthetist to ensure your prosthetic fits perfectly. We make precise adjustments to enhance comfort and functionality, reducing the risk of discomfort and potential injuries.
2. Education on Prosthetic Use and Care: Understanding how to use and care for your prosthetic limb is crucial for long-term success. We provide detailed education on donning and doffing (putting on and taking off) your prosthesis, along with instructions for daily maintenance and troubleshooting common issues. This knowledge empowers you to confidently manage your prosthetic and optimize your daily activities.

At Granville Physiotherapy, we emphasize gait training to improve walking patterns and balance exercises to enhance stability and prevent falls. These exercises are tailored to your specific amputation level and functional abilities, ensuring personalized and effective rehabilitation. Here’s how we approach gait training and balance exercises:

Gait Training Techniques:

• Weight Shifting Exercises: These exercises help you become accustomed to bearing weight on your prosthetic limb. They involve shifting your weight from side to side and forward and backward, enhancing your comfort and confidence in using your prosthesis.
• Parallel Bars Training: Initially, we use parallel bars to provide support as you learn to walk with your prosthetic limb. This controlled environment enables you to concentrate on proper form and technique while mitigating the risk of falling.

Balance Exercises:

• Core Strengthening Exercises: A strong core is critical for sustaining balance. We incorporate exercises like flat planks, bridges, and seated balance exercises to enhance your core stability, which directly impacts your gait.
• Proprioception Training: Proprioception, or the sense of your body’s position in space, is crucial for balance. Exercises like balancing on foam pads or using balance boards help improve your proprioceptive abilities.

Residual Limb Strengthening:

• Resistance Training: We use resistance bands, weights, and body-weight exercises to focus on strengthening the muscles surrounding your residual limb. This enhances your capacity to effectively control and utilize your prosthesis.
• Isometric Exercises: These exercises involve contracting your muscles without moving your limb. They are particularly beneficial for building strength in the residual limb while minimizing strain.

We employ techniques to manage residual limb pain and phantom limb sensations, promoting comfort and improving your ability to participate fully in rehabilitation.

1. Desensitization Techniques:

• Gentle Massage: Massaging the residual limb helps reduce sensitivity and alleviate pain by promoting blood flow and relaxation.
• Tactile Stimulation: Using different textures, such as soft fabrics or brushes, we gradually desensitize the residual limb, making it less reactive to touch and pressure.

2. Neuromodulation Therapy:

• Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation: TENS units deliver mild electrical impulses to the residual limb, helping to block pain signals and reduce discomfort.
• Mirror Therapy: This technique utilizes a mirror to create a reflection of the intact limb, tricking the brain into perceiving movement in the amputated limb, which can help reduce phantom limb pain.

3. Manual Therapy Techniques:

At Granville Physiotherapy, we utilize a range of manual therapy techniques to help minimize pain and improve mobility for amputees. Here’s an overview of the techniques we use:

• Joint Mobilization:

Gentle Oscillations: Applying gentle, rhythmic movements to the joints near the residual limb can help improve the range of motion and reduce stiffness, maintaining joint health and preventing secondary complications.

• Soft Tissue Manipulation:

Trigger Point Therapy: By applying pressure to particular points within the muscles, we can alleviate referred pain and release muscle knots, which are common sources of discomfort for amputees.

• Scar Tissue Mobilization:

Cross-Friction Massage: This technique involves applying pressure perpendicular to the direction of the scar, helping to remodel the scar tissue and enhance its elasticity, which is crucial for prosthetic fitting and comfort.

4. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT):

• Pain Coping Strategies: CBT helps you develop effective strategies to manage pain, including relaxation techniques, stress management, and positive thinking.