Neurological rehabilitation in Chatsworth, one-on-one with Dr. Ed

Your first visit is an evaluation of about 60 minutes, depending on what you need, one-on-one with Dr. Ed. He watches how you stand, walk, turn, sit down and get up, and how you use your arm and hand. He measures strength, range of motion and balance, asks what you could do before and what you need to do now, and explains in plain terms where the problem is and what can change.

From there, every visit is about 60 minutes with Dr. Ed, never handed off. Treatment is built from what the evaluation found and usually mixes:

• Balance and coordination training, starting from where you are safe and moving the goal each week.
• Gait retraining: the mechanics of walking, turning, stairs, curbs and uneven ground, with or without a walker or cane.
• Strength work for the weak side and the muscles that have been doing double duty.
• Functional training on the moves that matter: standing from a chair, getting in and out of a car, reaching into a cupboard, carrying a cup.
• Hands-on manual therapy to loosen stiff joints and tight muscles, including neuro-developmental treatment (NDT) and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF).
• Electrical stimulation, therapeutic ultrasound and red light therapy where they help a muscle fire or a tissue recover.

You leave each visit with a short written home program, three or four things you can actually do, which Dr. Ed adjusts as you improve. A family member or caregiver is welcome to sit in and learn the exercises with you. How many visits you will need depends on your condition and how you respond, so it is set after the evaluation, not quoted up front. Visits run until 8pm on weekdays and on Saturdays, so a working family member can bring you.

Stroke recovery is a separate service line at Chatsworth Physical Therapy, and the one Dr. Ed most wants people to know about. Once your doctor clears you for outpatient physical therapy, start. The weeks and months after a stroke are when the nervous system is most ready to relearn, and the sooner the work begins, the more of it sticks. Bring your discharge paperwork and any exercises you were given, and Dr. Ed builds on them rather than starting over.

Sessions follow the order your body needs: sitting and standing balance first, then walking, then stairs, outdoor surfaces and getting around the house without thinking about it, then the arm and hand. Each step is practiced in the clinic and then handed to you and your family to repeat at home, because the repetitions between visits are where most of the recovery happens.

Progress does not have to stop after the first few months. People who keep working often keep improving long after that, and the goal is the same at every stage: more of your day back, done your way.

From the blog: What stroke recovery looks like at an outpatient clinic