No two approaches are ever the same, as each person and each injury is different. Even if 2 people share the same diagnosis, the same protocol should not be followed exactly. However, there are occasions when the same techniques are used to treat the same lesion; in this case the parameters vary according to the type of patient, severity, type and stage of the lesion.
Because of all this, in the first session an anamnesis is carried out where as much information as possible is collected. From this point onwards, the action or treatment plan is drawn up, in which numerous variables must be analysed in order to achieve therapeutic success. Some of the most important are:
- Type of injury and phase. It is vital to know what area of the body is affected, what tissue is damaged, how long ago it occurred and how.
- Age. The older a person is, the worse their tissues will regenerate and the more treatment time they will need.
- Weight and build of the patient. The heavier a person is, the more wear and tear and mechanical stress on the body’s joints. The amount of muscle and fat mass will be paramount when establishing rehabilitation programmes.
- Type of physical activity. A very active person who does 4-6 hours of sport a week will not be the same as someone who is totally sedentary (worse evolution and prognosis).
- Profession. It is necessary to know whether the patient’s work requires a high demand for energy, such as lifting weights, or whether it is office and computer work (very static and sedentary).
- Lifestyle and lifestyle habits. If the person watches his/her diet, if he/she does not consume alcohol or tobacco, if he/she does enough sport, etc. Or the opposite (worse prognosis).
- Biopsychosocial sphere. This includes mental health, stress, anxiety, socialising with other people, sentimental and family relationships, work, etc. The more positive the sphere, the better the patient’s evolution will be.
Based on these variables, and many others, professionals design an action or treatment plan with short, medium and long term objectives; they include the techniques that can provide the most benefits and the estimated treatment time.