Physical therapy and rehabilitation

HCA Houston Healthcare offers inpatient rehabilitation when you require a higher level of care following an extended illness, stroke, surgery, injury or trauma. In this program, you typically receive one-on-one therapy sessions for three hours a day, five days a week. Inpatient rehabilitation has been found to be a beneficial course of treatment for the following conditions:

• Amputation
• Arthritis
• Burn injuries
• Orthopedic injuries
• Pulmonary disorders
• Recent orthopedic surgery
• Stroke incidents
• Traumatic brain injuries

During inpatient rehabilitation, depending on your condition, we offer the following inpatient therapy treatments:

• Occupational therapy — Our occupational therapists use therapeutic techniques and functional tasks to help you achieve your maximum function following injury or surgery. They help you resume activities of daily living, such as dressing, bathing, feeding and grooming.
• Physical therapy — Our physical therapists provide a variety of treatments to preserve and strengthen muscle and motor function. We use exercise and gait and balance activities to help you return to your prior level of independence. These one-on-one sessions also help improve your functional mobility and gross and fine motor skills.
• Speech-language therapy — Our speech-language pathologists provide evaluations and treatment when you have speech, language and/or swallowing disorders. They retrain and improve speech and address swallowing concerns related to injury, surgery or a neuromuscular condition.

To be admitted to the program, you must meet the following criteria:

• Medical stability
• Need for 24/7 nursing care
• Require a minimum of two types of therapy
• Written referral from a physician

In addition to our inpatient services, we offer outpatient physical therapy and rehabilitation when you require less intensive care. Outpatient physical therapy focuses on helping you regain strength and range of motion through three primary areas of therapy, including pain management, exercise and education. Our physical therapists specialize in treating the following conditions on an outpatient basis:

• Back pain
• Lymphedema
• Neck pain
• Pelvic floor dysfunction
• Post-surgical recovery
• Sports injuries
• Work injuries

HCA Houston Healthcare offers aquatic therapy as a specialized outpatient rehabilitation service. Aquatic therapy reduces pain, while minimizing stress on the muscles and joints, as compared to traditional land-based physical therapy options. Aquatic therapy offers you buoyancy, sensory input, resistance and compression. 

Cardiac rehabilitation is designed to lessen your chance of having another cardiac event, and can help lessen the symptoms and severity of existing heart conditions. Cardiac rehab may be recommended if you have a health history of:

• Coronary angioplasty
• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Open heart surgery

Lymphedema can be caused by cancer treatments that remove or damage your lymph nodes. The condition can't be cured, but can be managed through therapy to reduce discomfort and decrease swelling. Lymphedema therapy relieves swelling in the extremities by moving lymphatic fluid out of the affected area.

Our neurological rehabilitation programs are for when you have experienced a neurological event, such as stroke or neurosurgery. Neurological rehabilitation aids in your recovery, helping your brain relearn basic activities, such as talking and moving. This form of rehabilitation also utilizes occupational, physical and speech therapies.

We provide pre- and post-surgical rehabilitation in both inpatient and outpatient settings. We are focused on returning you to your maximum level of functional independence, improving your mobility, relieving pain and preventing further injury. Our highly skilled physical therapists specialize in treating sports injuries, joint conditions, spine, neck and lower back pain.

Pelvic floor disorders happen when pelvic muscles or connective tissues weaken or are injured, which can cause pelvic pain, pelvic floor prolapse, bladder control problems or bowel dysfunction. Physical therapy is a conservative alternative to surgical interventions for pelvic floor disorders.

Depending on the type of pelvic floor disorder you have, your physical therapists may use:

• Biofeedback to facilitate strengthening and/or muscle relaxation
• Bladder retraining
• Diaphragmatic breathing techniques
• Electric stimulation
• Manual therapy
• Muscle relaxation techniques
• Therapeutic exercises

Pregnancy and postpartum bring many changes to women's bodies, but physical therapy help to improve ailments, such as back aches, scar tissue from cesarean sections, as well as weakness or pain in the pelvic floor. Our skilled physical therapists will help you determine the proper treatment for your body during and after pregnancy, and manual therapy, strengthening exercises, relaxation techniques and stretching may help you prepare for delivery, or provide relief after you've given birth.

Pulmonary rehabilitation has become a standard of care for chronic lung disease. While it can't reverse the disease process, it can improve symptoms, quality of life and pulmonary function if you are experiencing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic asthma or pulmonary fibrosis.