Orthopaedic Hospital | Rehabilitation: Back Class

Back Class

Due to the predominance of lumbar spine pathologies referred for physical therapy, the Orthopaedic Rehab Specialists at Orthopaedic Hospital offers a Back Class in an effort to streamline care and to best utilize the patients' time in their therapy sessions, to assist in safely returning employees back to work.

Objectives

The purpose of the Back Class is to best utilize available physical therapy resources to expedite the employee's return to work by:

Maximizing the time available for one-on-one patient treatments with a physical therapist.
Providing an environment conducive to therapeutic exercise, positive patient-therapist interaction, patient social interaction, and wellness.
Streamlining patient care.
Reducing payor costs.

General Overview

The "Back Class" program consists of two primary phases:

Acute Phase
Rehabilitative Phase

Acute Phase

During the "Acute Phase," the patient is seen one-on-one by a licensed physical therapist for manual techniques and modalities to reduce inflammation and stabilize, reduce and centralize symptoms. Patients are educated on positive & negative body & spine movement, general body mechanics (including, but not limited to lumbar & pelvic stability, neutral lumbar spine, and assessment of work-related tasks) and elementary lumbar & pelvic stability exercises.

Rehabilitative Phase

During the "Rehabilitative Phase," the patient's current symptom level is reassessed, along with their specific workplace tasks (e.g. lifting, sitting, reaching, etc.). The "Rehabilitative Phases" progresses with therapeutic exercise with the goal of returning the patient to his or her prior level of function at work. Exercises are tailored to each patient's needs, and are eventually performed in a group (gym) setting, with gradual progression from elementary non-weight-bearing exercises to more advanced, functional and work-specific weight-bearing exercises.

Back Class Program Enrollment

Candidacy for the "Back Class" Program is based primarily on diagnosis. Patients with orthopaedic diagnoses involving the lumbar spine or lumbar sacral area are considered for enrollment. Patients with or without radiating symptoms are equally eligible, as are patients with broadly divergent levels of subjective pain.

Functional Assessment Evaluation

Occupational injury patients are given a Functional Assessment Evaluation. Patients are interviewed to retrieve the following information:

Common Work Tasks
Task during which injury occurred
Leisure time activities

The tasks and activities are analyzed by the therapist and broken down into sub-tasks (e.g. A work task of moving crates would entail a sub-task of lifting. A leisure task activity of playing golf would entail the sub-tasks of twisting to swing the club, and bending to pick up the ball.)

The therapist then recreates the sub-task(s) necessary to perform the work task and assess the patient's ability to perform the task through a rating system:

"Difficulty" is described as one or any combination of the following presentations:

Pain (Assessed via patient inverview)
Stiffness (Assessed via direct observation and subsequent estimation by the therapist)
Fatigue (Assessed by performing the task repetitively as may be required at work. The level of fatigue is assessed by the therapist according to the ration, amount of time the patient is able to perform the task and the amount of time the patient will be required to perform the task at work).

The therapist then summarizes the functional ability of the patient using the above rating scale.

Functional Goals

The goals are written into the format set forth in the "Functional Assessment." Goals are written at the initial evaluation and reassessed at the point of entrance into the "Rehabilitative Phase" and every two weeks thereafter until program completion. Progress Summaries Progress summaries are sent to the patient's physician prior to the patient's re-evaluation appointment, and to the case manager if required. The summaries include treatment rendered, the patient's subjective, objective and functional status and recommendations.

More about Rehabilitation:
Rehabilitation Main Page
Children's Physical Therapy
Return to Work Program
Sports Medicine

More Treatments & Services

Fees
The Orthopaedic Hospital Rehabilitation Service accepts Workers' Compensation, Medicare, Medi-Cal, private insurance and direct payment.

Appointments
To schedule a Back Class or Functional Assessment Evaluation, please call Monday through Friday, between 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at: (213) 742-1450.

Hours
Monday through Friday,
7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

Location
Physical Therapy Rehabilitation
Lowman Building (1st floor)
Orthopaedic Hospital
2400 South Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA 90007

Additional Information
For more information regarding the Orthopaedic Hospital Physical Therapy Department, or for assistance in scheduling an appointment, please call: (213) 742-1450, click here to email us, or visit the physical therapy service website:

orthorehabspecialists.com

Orthopaedic Hospital
2400 South Flower Street
Los Angeles, California 90007
(213) 742-1000

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