We recommend clicking settings at the bottom of the video above and turning on subtitles.
A few months ago I penned an article on Linkedin which you can see here titled “The Future for Rehabilitation?”. In it i explained Paul’s situation. Paul was a Cattle Farmer living in outback Victoria who had torn his supraspinatus tendon lifting a fencepost and for whom, at the time of writing the article, we had just commenced his video-based rehabilitation / strengthening program.
At the end of the article I made the statement “We can’t wait to see how his case unfolds.”
Well here we are at the end of the process and we couldn’t be happier with the result!
Check out the video above to hear all about what unfolded in Paul’s words.
I also alluded in the article to the forward thinking staff at BT Financial whom we were working with and whom had engaged us initially to provide the program for Paul.
Enter the brilliant Occupational Therapist, Liz McClean, who initially suggested using a video-based exercise program and encouraged us to explore providing this for Paul. I asked Liz to provide her perspective of Paul’s case and how it unfolded.
From Liz:
“As an Occupational Therapist, finding solutions to facilitate ongoing recovery progression and independence in activities is the key focus of intervention. This can become significantly more challenging when faced with additional barriers where an individual lives in a remote rural location without access to appropriate rehabilitation. When I first reviewed Paul’s claim, I quickly realised that some creative problem solving would be required. It was clear that Paul needed additional support to increase shoulder strength and activity tolerances, if he had any chance of returning to his farming duties. The idea of providing specialised and client centred exercise physiology via Skype or video linking was considered, and after speaking with Brad Domek, we all realised it could be achieved!
The results were absolutely amazing, and I was thrilled to see Paul making gradual progress with each update from Brad. Prior to this assistance, Paul had been advised he needed to avoid many of his farming duties, and continue with light work only. Does light farming work really exist? Brad did an amazing job with Paul, and was able to ensure the exercise program was specific to Paul’s needs and occupational goals. At the conclusion of the program, Paul had achieved a significant improvement in shoulder movement and strength. He had been able to return to many of his farming duties, which was an incredible result for Paul.
The success of this program proves that barriers can be overcome. Technology can assist in ensuring that all customers have access to appropriate rehabilitation and skilled clinicians, despite their location around Australia – and every customer deserves the best care to ensure a positive outcome.”
Note: Liz McLean has since moved on from BT Financial and is providing her Occupational Therapy services throughout Sydney with a specific focus on applying her specialist skills in the Life Insurance sector. Liz can be reached on 0409 904 959 or liz@emrecovery.com.au
We think that Paul has such an inspiring story and if you agree we’d love you to share it with your customers / clients / workers who may be facing similar battles to those Paul had to overcome. If they can gain some confidence from seeing others who’ve been down the same road and have come out the other side we feel like it’s worth the share.
We’ll be sharing Paul’s story on our FB page which you can link to here and we’d love you to jump over and share it there too. Again, the more we can inspire others to take action the more we’ll see brilliant outcomes like this coming through.
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