Getting Back on Your Feet After Hospital in South London

Coming home from hospital is a relief, but many people are surprised by how weak and wobbly they feel. A few days in bed can take weeks to undo. Physiotherapy at home helps you get your strength and confidence back, in the place you want to be.

Why you feel weaker after hospital

Muscles lose strength quickly when they are not used. Older people in particular can lose a noticeable amount of leg strength during a hospital stay of just a week or two, even when the reason for going in had nothing to do with their legs. Add tiredness, new medicines and a loss of confidence, and simple things such as getting out of a chair or climbing the stairs can feel much harder than before.

What physiotherapy at home works on

• Strength: simple exercises to rebuild the leg and trunk muscles you need for daily life
• Walking: walking further and more steadily, with or without a walking aid
• Getting up and down: from your chair, your bed and the toilet
• Stairs and steps: practising safely on your own staircase
• Balance: lowering the risk of a fall while you are at your weakest
• Getting out again: back to the shops, the bus stop or the park

How soon to start

The sooner the better. The first few weeks at home are when strength comes back fastest with the right exercise, and when a fall is most likely without it. Some people are offered NHS rehabilitation at home after discharge, often for a set number of weeks. Private physiotherapy can start alongside it or carry on once it ends.

After an operation

If you have had a hip or knee replacement, or surgery for a broken bone, your physiotherapy will follow the advice from your surgical team. The aim is to get you walking well, back up and down stairs and moving your new joint as fully as possible. Bring your discharge paperwork to the first visit so everything fits with what the hospital has asked for.

Help for families

When a parent or partner comes home from hospital, families often worry about whether they are safe on their own. A home visit can look at how they are managing, suggest equipment that would help, such as rails, a perching stool or a different walking aid, and give everyone a clear plan. Family members are welcome to be there for the visit.

Who you will see

Home visits after hospital across South London are with Rits Rana, a chartered physiotherapist who previously led an NHS community team helping older people and people with neurological conditions recover at home. She assesses and diagnoses directly, so there is no wait for a GP referral.

Home visits across South London

Physiotherapy after a hospital stay is available at home in Wimbledon, Putney, Clapham, Croydon, Bromley, Greenwich and across South London.

Related pages: elderly rehabilitation in Croydon and hip and knee replacement rehab in Clapham.

About Rits Rana

Rits Rana is a chartered physiotherapist (HCPC PH106489, MCSP 119421) providing home visit physiotherapy across Wimbledon, Putney, Clapham, Croydon, Bromley, Greenwich and across South London, and runs an independent mobile practice, Mobile Rehab. Her specialist ground is complex neurological rehabilitation: stroke, brain injury, Parkinson's, MS and motor neurone disease. Alongside that she works with older adults on strength, balance and falls, and treats muscle and joint problems at NHS Band 7 level. She assesses and diagnoses directly, so there is no wait for a GP referral before treatment can start.

Read Rits's profile or call 07818 106406.

Please mention Mobile Physiotherapist.co.uk when you call.