Personal appearance is essential to our sense of pride and wellbeing, and it’s important to maintain this into later life. Likewise, it’s important to maintain our mobility and exercise routine.
Like most of us, Margaret takes care in looking her best, so it was especially dispiriting for her when decreased mobility made it harder for her to style her hair.
Recent surgery had made it difficult for her to raise her left arm above 90 degrees – and all Margaret wanted to do was reach up to put her hair up with a hair clip.
An operation left Margaret with neck muscles feeling tight and limited movement in her left shoulder when she was admitted to Whittlesea Lodge nursing home from The Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Tangible target
The Physio Co gives its clients goals to strive for, so there’s a tangible target in sight to make all that hard work worthwhile. For 79-year-old Margaret, that goal was ‘to be able to reach up and put my hair up with my hair clip’.
Margaret’s exercise program focused on improving shoulder movement using one-to-one physiotherapy to work on joint mobility and strength, and increasing daily activity by using her left arm more. Among the exercises were ‘climbing’ her fingers up the wall as high as possible to increase the range of movement.
Margaret’s challenge was to achieve her goal within eight sessions, but she beat that with something to spare, taking only one initial assessment and four treatment sessions.
Staying positive
Physio Mandeep Bedi said: “I’m so proud of Margaret for working with me to improve her left shoulder. I thank her for making my job so much easier and more enjoyable, and staying positive.
“It was a great feeling when Margaret said, ‘It is because of you I have done my hair for the first time’.”
Margaret was equally complimentary about her physio, adding: “You are truly a gem and after your massage I don’t have pain in my neck and I am able to do my hair for the first time.”
Well done, Margaret and Mandeep, for writing another chapter in The Physio Co’s story of inspirational seniors smashing their goals.
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