Lack of home physiotherapy services: Lockdown delays recovery of knee surgery patients

The patients who had knee surgery are facing tough time due to lack of home physiotherapy services during the coronavirus lockdown.

The pandemic has cut short home visits of physiotherapists, whose post-operative care is crucial for patients to recover from their surgeries.

People who had knee surgeries before the COVID-19 onset are struggling without the service as building complexes have refused entry to the physiotherapists.

Hospitals like Hosmat have 10 physiotherapists travelling from MG Road, Whitefield and Kengeri to their patient’s place for therapy sessions.

“In a few gated communities, physios are not allowed. So, patients visited the hospital at least once a week,” Dr Sherin George, head of physiotherapy at Hosmat Hospital, told DH.

"In the case of some patients, we saw that the stiffness had set in post-surgery due to lack of physiotherapy. Such patients will take a long time to recover."

Prior to the lockdown, people who had total knee replacement surgeries, anterior cruciate ligament surgeries (to keep the knee from sliding forward) and posterior cruciate ligament surgeries (to keep the knee from sliding backward) in February and early March - need physiotherapy for two to three months.

“Since we can’t take the equipment to them, they rely on weight cuffs and bands available in the market,” Dr Sherin said.

Dr Thomas Chandy, CMD and chief of orthopaedics at Hosmat, said the hospital has physiotherapists doing home visits once or twice a day. “They would easily do 30 trips a month,” he said.

The hospital witnessed a 70% drop in the number of surgeries during the lockdown, which is now beginning to improve. The number of home visits by their physiotherapists also fell by 50% since elective surgeries had dropped, but patients who had the surgeries before the lockdown need care.

Online rehab hub

A start-up called SuVitas is providing a solution by launching an online rehab hub for medical conditions, including post-surgical rehab for various neurological and orthopedic conditions such as stroke, head/spine injuries, joint replacements and fractures.

The company offers one-on-one sessions or group therapy sessions and webinars. “We have been working to provide the services virtually for the past six months,” said Dr Vijay Janagama, director of new initiatives at SuVitas, adding that the surging need for the services has prompted them to go full-fledged.