ancer rehabilitation

Cancer rehabilitation

Rehabilitation during and after a cancer helps people regaining physical, social, psychological and work-related abilities and maintain independence. This is done chasing the following goals:

  • strengthening, in order to face limitations caused by cancer and/or cancer treatment.
  • managing fatigue, overall weakness, sleep issues and pain
  • minimizing hospitalization favouring an earlier return to home
  • limiting stress, anxiety and depression
  • increasing the ability to self-care and independence
  • reducing the care and support needed from caregivers (family members, friends and/or paid resources)

Our physical therapists team help patients in:

  • improving physical strength and ability to move
  • recovering muscle loss from long-term bed rest
  • working on difficulty with balance
  • reducing dependence on assistive devices
  • facing limitation in moving a specific body part after surgery
  • controlling certain kind of pain
  • managing lymphedema (a peripheral fluid buildup from comprimised lymph nodes treated with lymphatic drainage
  • counseling the hospital to home transition
  • progressively resuming ADL
  • improving coping strategies
  • guiding lifestyle changes
  • linking patients and their families to community resources and specific patients’ associations.

Cancer rehabilitation is a comprehensive approach that embrace the patient and his family through a program of mixed education, counseling, pain treatment, nutrition advices, exercise program (in the PT clinic and at home), support to quit smoking and instruction on how to optimize dressing, bathing, using the toilet and doing basic chores.

Depending on the patient needs, multiple professionals trained in specific areas of cancer rehabilitation might assist him along the way in order to help him adapting to temporary or permanent changes due to cancer and/or cancer treatment.

As a physical therapists team we cooperate with the patient oncologist, general practicioner, nurse, nutrician/dietician, psychologist and all the other involved professionals in order to offer the best possible integrated care to our patients.