Even though we’ve temporarily closed the doors of ProActive Rehab’s physical location as part of the nation-wide effort to “flatten the curve” of the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that injury recovery shouldn’t and doesn’t need to stop. We’ve adapted to these strange times by moving our physiotherapy services online.
Virtual physiotherapy, or telerehab, has been gaining momentum in the physiotherapy industry for some time but wasn’t being widely used. That has all changed now!
Our three physiotherapists, Leslie, Stella and Stacey, have worked together over the past few weeks to launch this new, online method of delivering care. Through webinars, training, and learning by doing, we’ve developed skills, tools and procedures that make the telerehab experience easy, effective and positive for our clients.
Using Embodia, the platform we use for exercise and education sharing, we are able to connect with our clients over live video chat. Embodia has an agreement with Zoom for Healthcare that allows us to provide a secure and private platform. If you have a computer, tablet or smartphone and an internet connection, we can get you up and running very quickly.
So much of what we do in physiotherapy is about listening, educating and sharing, all of which we can do very well over a virtual platform. The only thing we can’t really offer is actual hands-on intervention. While some may consider this a handicap, we’re embracing it. We’re required to rely more on our interviewing and observational skills and it helps us connect with our clients in a new way to facilitate the healing and recovery process. Through video, we’re able to assess injuries, examine range of motion, demonstrate and correct exercises, prescribe self-directed soft tissue treatment techniques and make modifications to rehab plans as needed.
We started our first telerehab sessions in late March and the feedback from our clients has been very positive. There have been no problems seeing or hearing us or with the technology, and our clients feel that they’re able to effectively continue with their treatment plans. We are now offering telerehab appointments to anyone that needs our services. New clients are welcome!
Although eventually we’ll get back to offering in-person treatment at ProActive’s physical home, we see telerehab as a viable option to help us meet the needs of our clients in dynamic new ways. Telerehab will be a great option if you can’t get to us in person due to sickness, weather, location or other obstacles. The COVID-19 crisis has pushed this service forward, which will end up being a benefit to our clients long after life has returned to “normal”.
ProActive’s telerehab services are available for new and existing clients and may be covered by insurance or WSIB. Request an appointment or call us to book your virtual rehab session.