What is mobile phyisotherapy?

This is an interesting question.  The thought of a mobile physiotherapy service came in me in the fall of 2012.  It took about a few months to get my act together, get some equipment and hang a shingle.  The vision behind the mobile physiotherapy service is to eliminate one more barrier to help people get the assessment and treatment they needed to help them function better.  Functioning better can include a number of things, for example, decrease pain, increase strength, increase lost range of motion, loosen up tight muscles, help post surgical client’s get walking (usually starting off with equipment, walkers, and gradually decreasing to walking independently) to name only a few.

When I tell people that we go to people's homes and do mobile physiotherapy, many people state that I must see a lot of seniors.  It is true that I do see some seniors in their house, mostly in winter when it is cold and slippery outside.  Another group of people in which I see are young parents or parents that have more than one child.  Sometimes the parents are nervous about bringing their young child out to a clinic where they feel that they cannot watch over the little one.  The other reason parents like mobile physiotherapy, is that they do not have to pack up 2-3 children, then find a parking spot, leave the children in the waiting room, hoping they do not make a fuss.  When I first arrive many children are quite curious and some will ask all sorts of questions.  After they realize that I am not doing anything really fun or exciting with them, they go about and play by themselves or with their siblings.

Less than 100 sq. ft. is needed for New Leaf Physiotherapy to set-up, assess your injury and start treating you on the spot!

So what does a mobile physiotherapy appointment look like?  As the New Leaf Physiotherapist pulls up to your place, we look for a good, close place to park.  We take out our physiotherapy treatment table and my backpack and walk up to your door.  We take care not to walk across your lawn of through your flower beds.  We arrive at your front door and knock or ring the doorbell.  You arrive and allow us to enter your house.  You direct to the room in which I set my table up, for most people this is the living room.

You get handed some paperwork to start and by the time you finish, the physiotherapy treatment table is out of its carrying case and is set up.  You fill out the paperwork and after we will go through some extra questions.  The paperwork can never get all the answers. When all the questions are answered to our satisfaction, the assessment will begin.  The actual assessment will be individual to you and your issues. During the assessment New Leaf Physiotherapy looks at things like posture, range of motion, movement patterns (for example how you squat), how do the joint feel when they move, how do the surrounding muscles feel, as well as special tests to target the suspected area of dysfunction.

After the assessment is completed, what we find, tight muscles, sore muscles, stiff joints will be explained in plain english.  Then we talk about treatment options and why those options have been presented.  After a course of action has been determined, we act!  Many different treatments, intramuscular stimulation (IMS), manual therapy, soft tissue mobilization, custom exercise programs…

When the treatment is complete.   In a matter of minutes, the backpack and table are packed up and taken out to my car.  

Payment can be made by cash, cheque or mobile debit.  A little bit of a bonus for some.  If you have extended health benefits, i.e. Blue Cross, SunLife, we can directly bill them, from the comfort of your home!  Making your physiotherapy less painful than you imagined.