Physiatry / Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

The department of physical medicine and rehabilitation offers the following services: specialized medical consultation in physiatry and neurological rehabilitation, a prescription board of orthosis and prosthesis for upper and lower limbs. Additionally, we perform electro-diagnostic electrophysiological studies for hospitalized patients and patients in intra-surgical monitoring, along with evoked potentials testing for surgery of the central nervous system, head and neck and spinal surgery The Physical medicine and rehabilitation unit provides assistance to patients in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, cardiac rehabilitation and pelvic floor rehabilitation, as well as outpatient and hospitalization services..

Physiotherapy

This program provides physical rehabilitation services focused on musculoskeletal and joint conditions, spinal injuries, orthopedic surgeries, and shoulder and knee injuries. Physiotherapists in this program are specialized and have been appropriately trained in the management of these pathologies, improving the functional capacity of these patients.

Occupational Therapy

This profession offers patients a program that improves the performance of daily life activities through therapy, covering the whole life cycle, from early childhood to adulthood.

For early childhood, this program enhances sensory, perceptual, motor, cognitive and social skills, necessary for babies to actively explore their surroundings through play, also educating their family for adequate stimulation.

For school children, our purpose is promoting an adequate school performance, taking into account their family (parenting patterns) and school environment (pedagogical strategies), as well as the child’s particular skills or aspects to improve (sensory integration and motor, perceptual, adaptive, social and behavioral skills).

For adulthood, our therapeutic approach aims at integrating patients back into their family, work and leisure environments, through proactive activities that enhance their independence.

Cardiac Rehabilitation

The cardiac rehabilitation program is aimed at patients with coronary heart disease, valvular heart disease, heart failure, heart transplant, congenital heart diseases, and implant devices, among others.

Our objective is helping patients to make lifestyle changes that improve their quality of life, enhancing cardiovascular function through the proper prescription of exercise, education on the management and control of risk factors, as well as providing counselling in stress management. All this in order to prevent the mid and long term progression of cardiovascular disease.

Pelvic floor rehabilitation

This program involves a qualified staff who provide personalized care using high quality equipment and technology for the management of patients with urogynecologic alterations and deficiencies who have been referred from the departments of urology, coloproctology, gynecology, gastroenterology and physiatry, among others. Diagnosed conditions include: urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, urinary urgency, pelvic floor dyssynergy, constipation, prolapse, enuresis, encopresis, neurogenic bladder and sexual alterations, always aiming at patient rehabilitation.

The Physical medicine and rehabilitation unit has developed the following specialized rehabilitation programs throughout its enhancement and evolution process:

Hand rehabilitation

This rehabilitation program is carried out by a qualified healthcare team that combines the comprehensive knowledge of upper limbs, body function and performance. Our purpose is to provide rehabilitative management for elbow, wrist and finger injuries and/or diseases, using specialized skills for evaluation and treatment, in order to recover the function and independence of patients, thus improving their quality of life. We use cutting-edge technology and have excellent facilities that provide a comfortable environment for the rehabilitation process to be more effective and pleasant.   

Neurological rehabilitation and neurodevelopment

This program provides specialized services to pediatric, young adult and elderly patients with neurological disorders (injuries affecting the central and peripheral nervous system). Such services are based on the normal development of movement and movement patterns. For pediatric patients, the purpose of our intervention is to allow any individual with a neurological lesion to have an adequate motor development or to reach the best rehabilitative and/or functional potential, according to their level of commitment. Considering their role as a boy or girl, and their individuality in relation to their family, as well as their expectations and goals in such a way that, together, we can set intervention goals with their participation.

For young adults and the elderly, the program allows a degree of independence in their daily life activities based on the normal development of movement throughout life, in order to establish a basic framework for functional assessment and an intervention plan for the patient. Family members are involved as active participants in the patients’ recovery process, as well as their environment, providing a comprehensive management to reintegrate individuals to their different daily activities and roles in society. The above is to bring patients back to being functional and acquire greater independence.

Physical conditioning

This program is initiated after the assessment of a physiatrist, who identifies the health condition of a person and refers him/her to specialists in the prescription of physical and therapeutic exercise, in order to improve their physical condition and health state through the scientific planning of exercise according to the particular clinical situation of a patient. All populations can have a benefit from this program, especially people with sedentary lifestyles who have weight problems or systemic conditions, such as hypertension and diabetes, and people with musculoskeletal conditions, such as arthrosis and arthritis, among others.

The Physical medicine and rehabilitation unit has a medical team of five physiatrists with training in neurological rehabilitation, electrophysiology, pain management and child rehabilitation, among others. Likewise, we have a select group of occupational therapists certified in sensory integration and vestibular rehabilitation, physiotherapists specialized in physical and orthopedic rehabilitation, neurological rehabilitation and neurodevelopment, cardiac rehabilitation, pelvic floor rehabilitation, therapeutic physical activity, in addition to face-to-face training sessions in the Orthopedics Department for hand rehabilitation, recovery after joint replacement, management and rehabilitation of spinal conditions, shoulder and knee rehabilitation, and foot and ankle rehabilitation.

The rehabilitation service of Fundación Valle del Lili has been the first institution in the region to comply with the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) that proposes a change in the concept of disability, as expressed in the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) (11). The approach of this new classification focuses on biopsychosocial and ecologic components, going beyond the biomedical perspective that has been taken for many years. For this reason, the goal of any comprehensive rehabilitation process is social inclusion, and not just functional medical rehabilitation. In order to fulfill this objective, each one of our programs undergoes an assessment and work process, integrating the efforts of multiple health professionals, using the latest diagnosis and rehabilitation technology, which will help us achieve our patients’ expected goals more effectively.