Rehabilitation Engineering

1. Rehabilitation Engineering
Unit - 1
Introduction & Principle of
Rehabilitation Engineering

2. Lecture - 3
• Diagnosis of Disability and Functionality of body organs
• Primary & secondary Disabilities
• Goals of Rehabilitation

3. Diagnosis of Disability
• All specialties in therapeutic medicine require early and
precise diagnosis in order to institute the most effective
treatment. The same logic applies to rehabilitation, and the
disabled should be given early evaluation and intensive
treatment to prevent permanent disability.
• The total person, physically, emotionally, vocationally and
socially, must be considered in the diagnosis. The patient is
evaluated as a human being and not as a “case”. Patients
with multiple disabilities need to be handled sensitively.
Diagnosis of disability may be expressed either in terms of
the amount of disability (disability evaluation) or in terms
of the amount of remaining function (functional diagnosis).

4. Functional Diagnosis
• The diagnosis of the condition of the patient when
he comes in to rehabilitation is usually known, but
the amount of remaining function is not.
• Rehabilitation professionals are trained to arrive at
a functional diagnosis to evaluate the residual
capabilities of the individual and strengthen them.

5. Functional Diagnosis - Characteristics
1. Objective, using measurable factors so that the
results are statistically more reliable.
2. Descriptive so that the actual situation is accurately
reflected.
3. Simple enough so that rapid evaluation is possible.
4. Reproduced, so that constancy may be maintained.
5. Comprehensive, so that the diagnosis is complete
and specifically utilized in the direct care of the
patients and is relevant for epidemiological
investigation.

6. Multiple Disabilities
• About 12 percent of individuals with disability
suffer from more than one type of disability.
• For example, a child with cerebral palsy would
probably have, in addition to the delayed
milestones and motor problems, damage of the
part of the brain responsible for sight and hearing.
In addition it may have mental sub normality.
• As a consequence to these impairments, it may
display temper tantrums and not cooperate with
the therapist.

7. Primary and Secondary Disabilities

8. Disability Limitation
• The role of medical rehabilitation is disability limitation. Disability
limitation refers “to preventing an increase in the intensity or
scope of an existing disability”. This measure, therefore,
becomes necessary after termination of active medical or surgical
treatment.
• For example, a patient with stroke gets admitted under a
neurologist during the acute phase, which ensures that he
survives the stroke. When he or she gets discharged from hospital,
he needs to be taken through the recovery phase. This may take
weeks or months.
• Disability limitation is particularly indispensable for those who
are chronically ill or disabled and absolutely mandatory for
geriatric patients.

9. The vicious cycle of inactivity and
immobilization due to disability

10. Goals of Rehabilitation
• Handicapped individuals have problems with:
1. Orientation: For a person with head injury or cerebral palsy, the
orientation to surroundings would hamper his activities of daily living
like feeding or toileting.
2. Physical independence: It is the prayer of every handicapped person
that he reduces dependence on the people taking care of him.
3. Mobility: Poliomyelitis and paraplegia are conditions that severely
hamper mobility and thus even day to day tasks like moving around
in the house can become very challenging.
4. Occupational integration: Training and placement in a suitable job.
5. Social integration: “No man is an island”, and attempts must be
made to integrate handicapped people into society, and not isolate
them.
6. Economic self-sufficiency: The job must ensure a means of livelihood.

11. Importance of Physiatry
• Medical and sociovocational rehabilitation is the
responsibility of a team of professionals headed by
a Physiatrist, the key person in the guidance of the
rehabilitation program.
• These professionals combine and coordinate to
uplift the handicapped.
• The fundamental goal of rehabilitation is to add life
to years; not years to life.

12. End of Lecture-3