Deconditioning Rehabilitation

Recovering from a serious injury, illness, or surgical procedure is often a long and difficult process. In many cases, extensive bed rest and an overall reduction in physical activity are required to allow the body time to heal.

However, the problem is that the human body is not meant to be inactive for such long periods. Even those who lead relatively sedentary lifestyles exercise their muscles, joints, and other body parts in small but essential ways throughout the day. Halting this can result in a sharp drop in fitness, a state known as “physical deconditioning.”

Physical deconditioning can be even more drastic and problematic for those who exercise regularly. For example, if you jog every day, your cardiovascular system strengthens and grows used to your routine. If you suddenly stop jogging, this can essentially “confuse” the body and result in a steep cardiovascular decline. Your health and wellness are surprisingly delicate. While navigating the various healing stages after an injury, illness, or surgery, deconditioning therapy can prove utterly invaluable.

The severity of the symptoms a patient experiences when in a state of physical deconditioning often varies depending on their physical fitness state before their injury or illness. Someone with a sedentary lifestyle, for instance, may not feel the consequences as acutely as someone with a more active lifestyle. That said, physical deconditioning is always a serious problem, regardless of a patient’s previous fitness level.

Individuals suffering from physical deconditioning may feel weaker or more tired than usual, as well as shortness of breath during even the mildest forms of exertion. They may struggle with diminished strength, endurance, and balance, or even outright pain. Depending on deconditioning severity, these effects can interfere with everyday activities, such as walking, leaving the house, and running errands. In more extreme cases, they can make it challenging to enact basic self-care.

Fortunately, treatments such as balance disorder physical therapy and other forms of deconditioning rehabilitation can reverse these effects, allowing patients to return to a level of fitness closer to that which they previously enjoyed, if not better.

The best way to treat deconditioning is with a physical therapy routine specifically designed to that end. No two patients are the same, and no two cases of deconditioning are the same. That’s why physical deconditioning therapy needs to be personalized for each patient’s needs.

During deconditioning rehabilitation, patients and their therapy teams collaborate to develop a customized program of exercises focusing on primary problem areas. Most often, exercises for deconditioning include activities that build and tone muscles, improve heart and lung function, increase joint flexibility, elevate mood, boost endurance, and help maintain balance.

Additionally, since deconditioning rehabilitation plans are meant to consider all of a patient’s daily needs, physical therapists may recommend techniques for simplifying physical tasks and better-conserving energy, reducing instances of overexertion, and generally enhancing one’s quality of life. Like any form of exercise, deconditioning therapy is designed to escalate over time, starting small before gradually intensifying as the patient’s fitness progresses.