Outpatient Rehabilitation

Our individualized physical therapy treatment services help optimize muscle control, balance, flexibility and mobility; they also build strength and endurance.

Our highly-trained physical therapists evaluate and treat the complex physical and functional challenges that result from spinal cord, orthopedic or brain injury, stroke, amputation, a musculoskeletal condition or neurologic disorder.

In addition, physical therapy is effective in treating a wide range of conditions that result from sports- or work-related injuries and common medical conditions including strains and sprains; muscle, tendon and ligament tears; arthritis; bursitis; tendonitis; joint inflammation; fractures and breaks.

In occupational therapy, we help you develop the skills required for basic everyday life and ultimately, work. Our occupational therapists use a patient-centered approach to address functional, cognitive and visual weaknesses. We employ evidence-based techniques and advanced technologies — functional electrical stimulation and virtual reality — to help you achieve as much independence as possible.

Our therapists develop custom treatment plans that meet your individual needs following neurologic injuries such as stroke or traumatic brain injury as well as limb loss, orthopedic and medically complex conditions.

If you are experiencing problems with communication, language, cognition and swallowing, you may benefit from the speech therapy services and specialized attention offered at SSM Health Rehabilitation Hospital. Our certified speech-language pathologists diagnose and treat a wide variety of disorders resulting from stroke, brain injury, cancer or neurological conditions, including Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.

Speech therapy usually involves individual or group training and education to help you overcome or compensate for any difficulties. Our speech professionals have experience in treating a wide spectrum of disorders, including:

• Aphasia – Impaired or absent comprehension and/or communication skills that result from an injury to the brain's language center. Aphasia can apply to spoken or written words and numbers and is most commonly associated with stroke and brain injury.
• Apraxia - An inability to execute purposeful, coordinated body movements even though muscular strength and mental capacity remain intact.
• Dysarthria - Difficulty in articulating words due to a disturbance in the central nervous system. Speech is characteristically slow and slurred. It is commonly associated with stroke and traumatic brain injury. Treatment involves intensive speech therapy focusing on oral-motor skill development.
• Dysphagia - Limited ability to swallow food, liquids and even saliva due to muscle weakness or paralysis. Dysphagia is most commonly associated with stroke, traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury. While eating or drinking, individuals may experience mild to severe difficulties such as coughing, choking or throat-clearing.
• Cognitive impairment - Usually results from brain injury or a stroke and typically causes difficulty with attention to tasks, memory, reasoning, problem solving and executive functioning, such as goal setting, planning, initiating, self-awareness, self-monitoring and evaluation.
• Voice disorders - Disorders characterized by the abnormal production and/or absence of vocal quality, pitch, loudness, resonance and/or duration, which is inappropriate for an individual’s age and/or gender.

We also offer Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT LOUD^®). A program used to treat soft, monotone, hoarse voice quality and imprecise articulation, together with lessened facial expression that is seen in patients with Parkinson’s disease. LSVT LOUD^® is a treatment program proven to be effective in restoring oral communication in individuals with Parkinson’s disease and other conditions beyond what current pharmacological and surgical interventions can offer.

The LSVT LOUD^® approach centers on a specific therapeutic target: increased vocal loudness. This key target acts as a trigger to increase effort and coordination across the speech production system.

Lymphedema is a chronic lymphatic disease that occurs when any part of the lymphatic system is damaged, causing swelling in another part of the body. There are several causes of lymphedema:

• Surgery used to treat cancer such as a mastectomy or lymph node removal
• Radiation therapy
• Other disease processes such as peripheral vascular disease

Symptoms of lymphedema can include feelings of fullness, heaviness, aches or discomfort, obvious swelling in a part of the body, skin changes or tightness with swelling. People usually notice this when clothing or jewelry doesn’t seem to fit the same or is too tight over a particular area. These symptoms may affect mobility or the ability to perform activities of daily living or work responsibilities.

SSM Health Rehabilitation Hospital delivers high level care in managing lymphedema. Our therapists have received specialized training and are skilled in decongestive therapy, the therapy program utilized by our team to manage all stages of lymphedema in any part of the body.

Decongestive therapy includes:

• Manual lymph drainage — a highly specialized technique to redirect the flow of the lymph (fluid) to unaffected areas of the lymphatic system
• Decongestive exercises
• Skin care for the affected area(s)
• Multi-layer compression bandaging — use of short stretch bandages to effectively manage later stage lymphedema
• Compression garment fitting and selection
• Education on lymphedema prevention and risk reduction