CHICAGO, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Goal-oriented, motivational physical and occupational therapy helps older patients recover more fully from broken hips, strokes and other ailments that land them in skilled nursing facilities for rehabilitation, according to a research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, U.S. state of Missouri.
The researchers studied 229 patients, 114 of whom were randomly chosen to receive enhanced intervention and 115 of whom received standard therapy. Each was in a skilled nursing facility while recovering from an injury or illness, such as hip fracture, stroke or major surgery.
The enhanced rehab in this study involved the use of motivation during therapy sessions, and the key was centering therapy on goals that were meaningful to the patient.
"We found that when you engage and motivate people, they do better," said the study's first author, Eric J. Lenze, a professor of psychiatry.
Patients receiving enhanced rehab did not get more or longer therapy sessions. Instead, therapists focused on specific goals important to individual patients, and they delivered, on average, 24 motivational messages about those goals during every therapy session. That approach resulted in a 25 percent improvement in functional recovery.
"Now the question is whether those gains will last over the long term. We believe extending enhanced rehab from skilled nursing facilities into the home setting will be the next critical step," Lenze added.
Lenze said one challenge is that therapy can be expensive, and some insurers balk at the expense. But with an aging population, he argues that enhanced therapy could save money for older patients recovering from injury, particularly if the therapy makes them more likely to get back into their homes and stay there.
"Avoiding rehospitalizations and long-term care in a nursing home has a huge economic benefit," he said.
The findings were published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open.
