Functional rehabilitation centers welcome people who have lost certain physical or cognitive abilities after a trauma or illness. Several therapists thus work together to enable them to rediscover certain uses.
Definition: what is functional rehabilitation?
Functional rehabilitation is a set of methods of occupational therapy, physiotherapy and neuropsychology which allow you to recover motor or cognitive impairment. Functional rehabilitation takes place in a dedicated center and is offered to patients after an accident, illness or trauma. The course of care is totally personalized and often requires multidisciplinarity in order to allow the patient to make progress.
Which doctors to consult for functional rehabilitation?
In a process of functional rehabilitation, “a coordinating physician oversees the team of professionals in charge of the patient’s rehabilitation. These paramedical professionals are mainly physiotherapists, occupational therapists, neuropsychologists, speech therapists but also dieticians, teachers of adapted physical activity, psychologists or social workers“explains Dr Jean-Denis Bernard, coordinating doctor for all the CLINEA establishments in PACA.
1841 establishments are functional rehabilitation centers in France
What is a functional rehabilitation center?
Functional rehabilitation centers are health establishments that welcome people who are often disabled in order to help them regain certain functional abilities whether physical or cognitive, whose use people have temporarily lost after an accident, surgery or trauma. Patients can be hospitalized there completely or can present themselves for day hospitalization. According to the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Orders), in 2017, 1,841 establishments declare an activity of follow-up care and rehabilitation (SSR) in metropolitan France and in the DROMs.
The nearest hospitals or clinics refer a patient to the rehabilitation center. Upon arrival, the patient is hospitalized and an entry assessment is carried out by all the therapists concerned in order to target the functions that the patient must recover to enable him to carry out activities of daily living. “After one month, whatever the pathology, a reassessment is carried out of the patient’s therapeutic project in order to see what has progressed, why it is no longer progressing, rethink our strategy, focus on other things. Our objective : that the patient does not have the feeling of stagnating and progress all the time.”
What are the indications for functional rehabilitation?
When the patient is sent to a functional rehabilitation center, he is then directed to one of these three sectors depending on his pathology:
- The neurological sector which brings together people who have had a stroke or who are suffering from neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis;
- The locomotor sector which brings together polytrauma, trauma to a limb or spine, sports trauma;
- The post-operative sector which brings together people in need of rehabilitation after an operation such as the fitting of a knee prosthesis but also after a vascular amputation caused by diabetes for example;
- The geriatric sector which makes it possible to make a transition before returning to nursing homes or at home when the elderly person suffers from a trauma or a neurological pathology.
Are functional rehabilitation sessions reimbursed?
Functional rehabilitation sessions are fully covered by social security and reimbursed.
Thank you to Dr Jean-Denis Bernard, rehabilitator by training and coordinating doctor of all CLINEA establishments in PACA.