You may have heard a lot of talk about “Telehealth” recently, especially in light of all that is going on in the world due to COVID-19. In fact, you may have already had a telehealth consultation with your GP or other healthcare providers. But, you may ask, telehealth for Women’s Health Physio?? How does that work?
Well, it is actually a really effective way to treat a huge range of women’s health-specific physio issues. These issues may include pre and postnatal care, incontinence, pelvic girdle pain, return to exercise postpartum, tears during childbirth, musculoskeletal pain pre and post pregnancy and
prolapse.
Telehealth is especially helpful for those that are unable to make it into the clinic, or for those who would prefer to stay at home. Fortunately, telehealth has opened a lot of doors for us physios. Of course, the consultation will be a little different to what a face-to-face consult looks like, however, you
are still able to get the benefits from an online session that you would normally get in a face-to-face session.
With consideration to the women’s health domain, we are still able to determine what is the underlying cause of the problem. We can achieve this by obtaining a thorough history of the condition, it’s presentations and behavior. Based on this knowledge, we can then do tests that can
assist us to be targeted in our treatment approach. It is during this assessment where things may look a bit different to what you would experience during a face-to-face consult.
We get to be a bit creative here, and instead of the physio doing the assessments, we talk you through how you can perform these on yourself! This provides us with excellent feedback on your condition allowing us to tailor the treatment to you. Once this step is completed, we are able to commence treatment. This is achieved through education, advice, activity modification, and exercise prescription, encompassing a holistic
approach to help you. The research has shown, people who take part in physio telehealth treatment, actually achieve the same, if not better outcomes when compared to a face-to-face consultation.
It is extremely important to seek help sooner rather than later as often issues can become worse or lead to other complications if left untreated. It can be a bit daunting to take the step to book a telehealth consult, but we have been receiving really positive feedback from those that have already decided to venture out of what they previously have known and we are achieving great things!
By Sarah D’Arcy
