Useful information on rehabilitation

Once your health or pension insurance has agreed to your demand of a medical rehabilitation treatment and if you never have undergone such a therapy, a lot of questions will perhaps swirl through your mind and you want perhaps to know what is awaiting you in the rehabilitation.
Therefore we have gathered on this page some general information concerning the medical stationary rehabilitation, which may be useful for you in order to prepare your rehabilitation stay and which may contribute to the success of your stay in our “Fachklinik St. Georg”.

What do you intend to achieve through the rehabilitation?

At the initial examination, the physician will draw up together with you your personal rehabilitation program. This requires already at the beginning of the rehabilitation treatment the definition of your personal goals. It is very important that you talk first with your physician about your wishes and expectations, so that the therapy scheme can be adapted as far as possible individually to your health conditions and your personal living conditions. The more precisely you will describe your personal goals, the better your personal expectations can be taken into account in the planning.
This concerns your physical abilities and your professional situation as well as your psychological shape. Goals of the rehabilitation can be, for example:

improvement of the physical abilities
enhancement of the mental and psychological capacity
learning of strategies for coping with difficulties and strengthening of the psychological resilience
clarification of the professional and social situation; professional and social reintegration
information about your disorders and assistance to cope with them in everyday life
change of behaviour and/or of life style as a prevention measure and in order to maintain the quality of life in the long-term

The first contact with your doctor in our “Fachklinik St. Georg” will perhaps reveal a lot of “findings” concerning your situation and arouse some questions. Therefore it is really useful to think before the beginning of the rehabilitation about your goals, notions and expectations. Sometimes talks with the employer or with your family and friends are helpful.

Health training, nutrition and physical exercise are important elements of rehabilitation

1. Health training

The health training during rehabilitation includes general issues and disease-related programs, which are adapted to the different indications, such as oncological diseases, “diabetes mellitus” (diabetes) or metabolic diseases. The elements of the health training, which are important for you, will accompany your therapy like a red line throughout the stay.
Your active contribution is crucial for the success of the health training. The rehabilitation aims at giving you a positive attitude towards the change of your habits concerning nutrition, physical exercise and leisure activities and at inducing you to adopt definitely a healthy life style.
Often it is only little steps which have a considerable impact on your health and even a decisive influence on your living quality and your life expectancy. The rehabilitation, following the motto “Helping you to help your self”, is supposed to give important stimulation for a definite change of the life style.

2. Healthy nutrition

Frühstück We are living in an “affluent society”. The supply of food doesn’t leave anything to be

desired; the over-abundant offer tempts us to indulge in consumption. Thus most of us eat too much, too fat and too sweet. Considering that two thirds of all deceases are due to pathologies caused by a false nutrition, we become aware that the rehabilitation represents a great chance concerning health-conscious nutrition.
After your arrival at the “Fachklinik St. Georg” at Höchenschwand the doctor will determine whether a special diet is necessary and helpful for you. However, even if you don’t need a special diet, the nutrition plan of a rehabilitation clinic will make sure, that you will get all necessary nutrients. The so called light whole food is moreover deprived of all ingredients being supposed, according to the experience, to cause metabolic troubles.

RAL The regional character of the dishes allows the use of fresh food of the local production.
In special nutrition courses in the training kitchen of the clinic tips and useful information are given regarding the choice of healthy food and its appropriate preparation. In this regard it is important that the learned practice is easily applicable in everyday life. For a health-conscious nutrition guarantees a healthier future.

3. Physical exercise

Our habits as to physical activity have changed in the course of the centuries. The industrialization and new technologies such as television and computer have resulted in a reduction of physical activity both in professional and private life. A lack of physical activity causes, however, a loss of muscle power and a reduced resilience of our locomotor system and of the cardiovascular system, and favours this way the development of numerous diseases.
Thanks to the varied offers within the physiotherapeutic program, the rehabilitation can help to regain power, endurance and mobility. The best effects are achieved by means of an endurance training involving in particular physical activity similar to that of everyday life, such as swift movement in form of Nordic walking, hiking or jogging. The first successes can often be achieved by slight modifications of everyday habits, for example climbing the stairs instead of using the lift. In order to be efficient, the endurance training should be practised 3 times a week for 30 minutes.
A suitable endurance training does not only enhance the physical resilience. It helps also to reduce the weight, to lower elevated blood fat levels, to improve the oxygen provision and to strengthen the immune system. From the orthopaedic point of view, the enhancement of the physical power and the improvement of coordination skills help to move without difficulty and pain even at an advanced age.
The rehabilitation, especially the physiotherapy may also offer the opportunity to detect and to correct false movement and posture patterns, giving way possibly to entirely new and pleasant physical experiences, which facilitate the maintenance and the application of the new movement patters in the long term.