What is physiotherapy at home?
Physiotherapy at home in Mumbai means a qualified physiotherapist coming to the flat to assess movement, pain and function, then treating with exercise therapy, hands-on work and joint mobilisation. They also set the programme you or the family run between visits, which is where the bulk of the recovery is actually earned. It is used after joint replacement and fractures, for stroke rehabilitation, back and neck pain, arthritis, balance problems in the elderly, and chest conditions.
Is physiotherapy at home as effective as going to a clinic?
For the conditions Mumbai families actually book it for, yes, and often better. Rehabilitation is about function where the patient lives, so working on their own stair rise, their own bed height and their own bathroom doorway beats doing it on clinic equipment they will never use again. Someone who walks confidently between parallel bars and then cannot get over their own doorstep has only got good at the clinic. What does need a clinic is traction, short-wave diathermy, hydrotherapy and gym machines, and you will be told if your case is one of those.
What happens in the first physiotherapy session at home?
Mostly assessment, which is exactly right. The therapist reads the surgical or medical notes properly, measures joint range in degrees, grades muscle strength, watches the patient walk, sit, stand and take a step, and goes round the flat looking for both hazards and useful furniture. Treatment normally begins in the same visit. By the end you should know the goal, roughly how long it should take, and precisely what to do each day until the next session.
How many physiotherapy sessions will be needed?
Not answerable before the assessment, and anyone quoting a fixed figure on the phone is guessing. You get an expected range after session one, revised as things progress. What actually moves it: the condition, how long since the surgery or stroke, the patient's age and starting strength, whether diabetes or similar is slowing healing, and whether the daily exercises get done between visits. The last of those changes the result more than how often the therapist comes.
What equipment does the physiotherapist bring?
A portable TENS unit, therapy bands and balls, a goniometer for measuring range, and where the case calls for it a portable ultrasound unit and hot or cold packs. Beyond that the work is done with the therapist's hands, the patient's own weight and your furniture. In a Mumbai flat a firm bed, a chair without wheels and the building staircase do more than most machines. If a walker, brace or CPM machine is needed you will be told, and it can be rented.
Do you provide physiotherapy after knee or hip replacement?
Yes, and it is the commonest reason families in Mumbai book. Patients come to us after joint replacement at Lilavati, Kokilaben, Hinduja, Nanavati, Jaslok, Breach Candy, Bombay Hospital, Fortis Mulund and Global among others. Starting early matters after joint replacement, and the first weeks are exactly when getting to a clinic is hardest. Treatment follows what your surgeon has prescribed and typically covers knee bending and straightening range, quadriceps strengthening, walking retraining with a walker or stick, swelling management, and getting safely on and off a bed, a chair and a toilet.
Can physiotherapy at home help after a stroke?
Yes, and home suits neuro rehab particularly well because the objective is coping with this house, not a gym. It covers positioning, keeping the weaker side from stiffening into contracture, sitting and standing balance, gait retraining, and teaching whoever lifts the patient how to do it without injuring themselves. Recovery after a stroke is counted in months, and any physiotherapist worth having says that at the start rather than at session ten.
Does physiotherapy hurt?
Discomfort while a stiff joint is worked is expected. Sharp pain is not, and it means stop and say so rather than endure it. Pain is also diagnostic: where it sits, when it arrives and what settles it tells the therapist more than any device. Nothing is done without being explained first.