Rehabilitation Hospital - St. Joseph Health - Bryan, TX

Aerophagia is a condition that results from swallowing excessive amounts of air, often leading to symptoms like upset stomach, bloating, and frequent belching or flatulence. GERD (or gastroesophageal reflux disease) is a condition of the digestive system in which stomach acid backs up into the esophagus, causing heartburn, chest pain, difficulty swallowing, and other unpleasant symptoms.

Autism is a developmental disorder that affects an individual’s social, behavioral, and communication abilities. The way individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) think and process information can range from gifted to severely challenged. It is known as a “spectrum” disorder due to the wide variety of symptom types and severity.

Gait training is a series of exercises used in physical therapy (usually following an injury or surgery to the lower extremities) to help individuals improve their ability to walk normally. This method focuses on strength-building and the improvement of muscle memory to regain full mobility.

Beckman Oral Motor Therapy is an intervention that utilizes assisted movement and stretch reflexes to activate muscle contraction, build strength and improve range of motion in the lips, jaw, tongue and soft palate.

Burn care is the treatment of burns depending on the depth, area and location of the burn. Burn depth is generally categorized as first, second or third degree.

Cardiac rehabilitation often involves exercise training, emotional support and education about lifestyle changes to reduce your heart disease risk.

Cardiovascular strengthening is a way to improve heart and blood vessel health through lifestyle adjustments and exercise. Aerobic exercise, which improves circulation and the heart’s ability to pump blood, and strength training, which builds lean muscle and limits the risk factors of heart disease, are both essential.

Casts and splints are used to treat orthopedic injuries, such as fractures and sprains. Casts and splints stabilize the affected bones and soft tissue, holding them in alignment and relieving them of use and strain while they heal. Casts are custom fitted/made, while splints are often ready-made.

Resonance training is a speech-language therapy intervention for speech patterns associated with cleft palate. Resonance disorders in speech refer to distorted nasal energy/sound in the voice: too much (hypernasality), too little (hyponasality), or mixed. Articulation disorders refer to problems making specific sounds.

Compression bandaging is a wrap used to apply pressure in order to stabilize and reduce pain and swelling. In addition to treating injuries, compression bandaging is used to treat/prevent conditions such as lymphedema. It’s important to have a trained professional instruct their use and proper wrapping technique/tightness.

Decongestive exercises are a treatment for lymphedema, the fluid build-up and swelling of a limb due to blockages in the lymphatic system, often caused by cancer. Decongestive exercises — a specifically ordered set of movements done in a slow, controlled way — work with compression to help pump lymph out of the affected area.

Exercise programs are a critical part of successful physical therapy. They are directly connected to quicker pain relief, rehabilitation, and prevention of re-injury. The physical therapist creates a home exercise program for the patient and instructs them in proper form and progression, but it is up to the patient to consistently complete the exercises for recovery.

After head and neck cancer, swallowing rehabilitation is often necessary to restore normal function, as weakened muscles and accumulated scar tissue may disrupt it, both before and after treatment. Swallowing rehabilitation exercises, which are facilitated by a speech pathologist, during and following radiation therapy can help counter the negative effects.

Heat therapy, cold therapy, and massage are rehabilitative treatments for injuries, inflammation, and pain (particularly, but not only, musculoskeletal). Heat therapy loosens muscles and increases blood flow; cold therapy constricts blood vessels and reduces inflammation; and medical massage can manage conditions including headaches and repetitive stress injuries.

Oral aversion in infants/toddlers is the sensitivity to — or dislike/fear of — anything touching their mouths. More common in premature babies, oral aversion often presents problems with feeding, generally a refusal to nurse or eat. Physical and occupational therapies can abate the issue and encourage normal feeding.

Inpatient rehabilitation services are intensive therapies (e.g., physical, occupational, and/or speech therapy) received during a hospital stay. Inpatient rehabilitation allows for doctors and therapists to coordinate and oversee care.

Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) LOUD for Parkinson's Disease is a proven, intensive therapy method to treat speech lapses and disorders that accompany Parkinson’s Disease. LSVT LOUD improves the volume and clarity of the patient’s voice. The program is effective at any stage of Parkinson’s, but should be completed as early as possible for the best outcome.

Manual lymph drainage is a gentle massage technique that uses skin-stretching touch to move lymph fluid away from the swollen area/limb and direct it toward another area with operative lymph nodes that can reabsorb the fluid, effectively draining it. Manual lymph drainage is a part of complete decongestive therapy.

Manual therapy is a hands-on type of physical or occupational therapy to treat musculoskeletal pain. Manual therapy involves manipulating or mobilizing the joints; active muscle release, instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization; stretching; and massage.

Meticulous skin and nail care is part of complete decongestive therapy (CDT) for lymphedema. Because of the high risk for infection associated with lymphedema, proper washing, daily moisturizing with a low-pH lotion, and avoiding abrasion or injury to the skin are essential to prevent infection.

Modified barium swallow studies are evaluative procedures to watch how someone is swallowing foods and liquids using fluoroscopy, or video X-ray. The test may be used in cases of dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) or aspiration (when food or liquid goes into the airway) and can be used for infants, children, and adults.

A system of physical conditioning in which muscles are exercised by being worked against an opposing force to increase strength .

Myofascial release is a physical therapy method that uses sustained, gentle pressure to release pain and tension from the fascia (connective tissue). Myofascial release and other, similar manual therapies are effective in speech therapy treatment of dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), respiration, facial nerve palsy, aphasia, TMJ, and voice disorders.

Occupational therapy is a form of therapy that is designed to help people develop, retain, or regain the ability to do the things they need and want to do in daily life, such as work, school, housework, exercise, and recreational activities.

Orthotics and prosthetics are assistive devices individually fitted for the patient to increase their function and mobility. Orthotics support or correct the affected part of the body, while prosthetics replace it entirely. Success with orthotic and prosthetic devices requires physical/occupational therapy and training the patient on how to work/move with the device.

Outpatient therapy programs refer to mental health and wellness or medical treatments that do not require more than a 24-hour care.

Pain management deals in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of all different types of pain. Pain is actually a wide spectrum of disorders including acute pain, chronic pain and cancer pain.

Pediatric therapy includes physical, occupational, and speech/language therapy for infants, children, and adolescents. It is used to treat orthopedic, developmental, and neurological delays and disorders. Pediatric therapy may also include applied behavioral analysis, which addresses autism spectrum disorders.

Pelvic floor rehabilitation is a specialized physical therapy for pelvic pain and dysfunction. In both men and women, dysfunction in the pelvic floor (the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves at the base of the hip crests) can cause pain and other problems with urination, sex, and the hips/SI joints/tailbone. Pelvic floor rehab aligns, strengthens, and/or relaxes the area to correct the issue.

Physical therapy, also known as physiotherapy, is a service that teaches patients movements and exercises to improve their strength, flexibility, and range of motion. Physical therapy is used to help people recover physical injury, chronic conditions, and disabilities.

Pre-laryngectomy counseling is critical to help a patient understand and prepare for the major changes from a laryngectomy surgery. This involves speech options and swallowing after the operation, and the anticipated mental/emotional effects of the surgery in addition to the anatomical/physiological ones.

Self-care training is an important part of workplace wellness solutions. It provides employees with strategies to manage stress and prevent burnout, and helps them more clearly see the warning signs of when it’s time to prioritize self-care and how to effectively do so.

Speech therapy is a field of health care that is focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of speech, language, social communication, and cognitive-communication disorders in children and adults.

Sport-specific rehabilitation is a type of physical therapy that focuses on recovering as quickly, safely, and strategically as possible to allow the patient to return to play (or compete in) their particular sport, and to return their performance to pre-injury levels.

VitalStim therapy is a painless, noninvasive treatment for dysphagia (difficulty swallowing). A form of neuro-muscular electrical stimulation (NMES), VitalStim externally applies a gentle electrical current to the neck that causes the muscles involved in swallowing to contract, over time strengthening, improving, and retraining their function.