physiotherapy Telehealth

Physiotherapy Telehealth Owen Sound
Thank you for choosing Physio Care to address your health concerns.
Please browse our frequently asked questions to find answers to your questions. If you require further assistance please do contact us.

What is Telehealth?

Physio Care is pleased to offer Physiotherapy via Telehealth in Owen Sound. As the name suggests, Telehealth is health care assessment and treatment provided via telephone or a video conferencing platform. This enables us to provide remote delivery of health care services. We can address your pain and dysfunction without the need to meet in person. This may not be the most ideal thing for some of you but we would still be able to assist you in managing your problem better than “Dr. Google”.

Why are you doing Telehealth?

We have extensive social distancing protocols in place to combat COVID19, but people still get hurt and need physiotherapy to get better. Hence we came up with the plan to offer Telehealth. Physiotherapy Telehealth is a viable alternative to provide physio care through secure video conferencing platform. Telehealth enables us to assist you in feeling better until it is safe for us to meet in the clinic.

Why a secure online platform, why not facetime or skype?

In order to protect your personal and medical health information we are providing this secure online platform (Jane). The common methods like “facetime” or skype calls do not pass the regulatory requirements. The “Jane” platform is simple and easy to use. It is secure and is compliant with the regulatory norms.

How would you do the telehealth appointments?

We first talk to you over telephone or communicate via email to determine if you will benefit with telehealth. Once we determine that, we set up an appointment for an online consultation via a secure online platform called Jane which is accessible via a smartphone, tablet, laptop or a computer.

We would make a diagnosis based on your symptoms and movement tests and provide you treatment solutions to manage your problem. We will do the assessment to determine the underlying problem, we may modify the assessment methods or use the help of a family member or friend to assist us. Once we ascertain the underlying problems, we will provide you appropriate treatment solutions.

Physiotherapy TeleHealth Owen Sound treatments would involve;

Education –We would spend quality time to educate you on,
What is causing the pain and dysfunction.
What we are going to do about it.
How it is going to help you recover.
We want you to be involved in your treatment as we work towards your recovery together.
Application of Kinesiotapes – we will demonstrate application of kinesiotapes during the consultation or send you videos on how to apply Kinesiotapes to manage your pain and dysfunction.
Equipment’s – we could assist you to order equipment’s that you may need (Kinesiotapes, resistance bands, tensor-wrap, splints, etc.) and have it delivered to your home or you could do a curbside pick up from our clinic location.
Exercises – Exercises are a important component of physiotherapy rehab, we will teach you the exercises and send you a home exercises program via email and if needed we will send you links to videos as well for your follow your exercises safely.
Exercises to improve your strength, balance, agility and core muscle strength.
Ergonomic advice for your home and home office – some of you may have set up impromptu home office using dining room tables, and laptops, we would be able to suggest you of ways to make it ergonomically more efficient.
Conditioning exercises and strategies to lessen the implications of staying home. We are at risk of deconditioning if we do not move enough and we can discuss ways of doing it safely.

“There is this video making rounds in social media where the person spills some oil or soap solution on the floor and does a standing jog/run – NO, please don’t do that, you are at a very high risk of falling and hurting yourself”

How long will the appointments last?

The initial appointment will last between 45 minutes to 1 hour and the subsequent follow up appointments would last between 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

If you would like we can offer a 15-minute telephone consultation at no cost, to determine if you would benefit from telehealth or if you need an in-person visit. If you are in a situation where an in-person visit is needed we could offer it to you or refer you to a place that offers an “in-person” visit.

What do I need for my telehealth physiotherapy appointment?

We recommend a device that is mobile like your smart phone, a tablet, or a laptop but a desktop is fine.
If your device has a camera, we would be able to facilitate video appointments.
If you have wireless headphones or loud enough speakers it would be helpful if we have to get you away from the video source during the assessment or treatment.
Lighting – To allow a clear image during the video call.
Clothing – wear something that is easy to move in. For example, if you have a shoulder issue, a tank top will be great, if it's a knee or ankle issue shorts would be perfect.
Adequate internet signal for video conferencing (skype style) or we can consult via telephone as well.
In terms of exercises equipment, we can work with what you have in-home or we can arrange either a home delivery from the vendor directly or a curbside pick up from our clinic here in Owen Sound (as long the social distancing norms allow)
We would need the phone number of the local police, fire department, emergency ambulance service (not 911), as they would not take our calls to your region if you are not from the Owen Sound area.
Emergency contact (friend or family member) to call if something happens to you during your session with us.

How effective is telehealth?

There are studies that show that telehealth is an effective form of delivering physiotherapy, it was primarily used to reach people living in remote areas and now it is widely adopted due to social distancing protocols that are in place for combating COVID19.

There are studies that have shown that there is a 90% agreement in the diagnosis between telehealth and in-person practitioners and close to 80% satisfaction rate with telehealth compared to in-person sessions.

We do understand and accept that telehealth cannot replace the “in-person” experience and that there are some valuable manual therapy skills that we would not be able to use in a telehealth treatment, however under the current social distancing protocols, telehealth is a practical and safer alternative to an in-person visit.

If you are not sure if telehealth would be useful for you, please do give us a call at 519-373-4464 or email us at physiocareowensound@gmail.com and we will determine if telehealth is something that may help you get better.

What are the conditions you treat via tele health?

Any new onset of injury and you are not quite sure how to go about it. For e.g, the neck pain you woke up with, the tingling sensation in your hand, the hip and knee pain after that seemingly simple walk.
You have started your exercises and want to progress it but want to make sure that you are doing the right one's
You have had this chronic pain for months if not years and you want to address it.
You are pregnant now or you are a new mom and want to learn safe exercises that you can do with out hurting yourself.
You have pelvic health issues like incontinence, pain, prolapse and want to get an assessment and start treatment for that.

There are so many scenarios where we can make a difference for you, we would be able to assess you and guide you better during our telehealth session.

Who can you treat via telehealth?

Our clinic is in Owen Sound, Ontario and we are registered physiotherapists here in Ontario. We can treat anyone who resides in Ontario. However, our recommendation would be to find a physiotherapist closer to your geography so that when the restrictions are lifted you could meet your physiotherapist for your in-person consult. .
If your healthcare practitioner is currently not offering telehealth appointments now, we could assist you in managing your problem until the restrictions are lifted.

Would you offer telehealth in the future?

This is certainly something only time will tell. This is new for the majority of us and telehealth has its limitations, especially, the limitation on the manual therapy skills that we could impart in a clinic. However, as we explore the possibilities of what can be accomplished with telehealth, we are able to appreciate the people whom we could serve, especially those living in remote areas and in places where our expertise is unique and so yes this is certainly something we will look forward to offer in the future as well.

What if I do not want telehealth but want to consult you for future in-person appointments?

Most certainly Yes. We could set up an appointment to go over your history and the mechanism of pain and explore the options to address your pain and dysfunction. Perhaps we could even start off your treatment sessions prior to our first “in-person visit”. This would be very valuable for those dealing with chronic pain and pelvic health issues.

If telehealth is not a good option for you, we will let you know right away and wait until this is all over for us to meet in person.

How will I pay you for my visit?

You would be able to pay with your credit card or debit card in a secure online platform, just the way you would do an online shopping in amazon. In the event you are not sure how to go about it please give us a call and we will guide you through.

Does my extended health insurance cover my appointments and do you offer direct billing?

Most of the insurance providers are now onboard to cover your telehealth physiotherapy appointments. We would suggest you contact your insurance provider prior to booking with us just so to be sure.

Click this box to get a list of insurance companies we can do direct billing,