This interview led by consultant physiotherapist (MSK practitioner), visiting fellow, HSU Amanda Hensman-Crook, delves into a patient’s personal journey through rehabilitation after fracturing their femur, uncovering what recovery truly meant to them. They reflect on the mix of physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, and individualised exercises that supported their return to daily life, while also noting the thoughtful consideration of other health conditions like osteoporosis. The patients reflections point not only to what worked well, but also to where rehabilitation services could evolve for deeper patient support.

Amanda Hensman-Crook: Good morning. Thank you for speaking to us today about rehabilitation. First question is, what does rehabilitation mean to you?

Patient: It means that after an injury, that I'm offered a range of services that will improve my condition so that I return to a normal day of life, lovely. So why does rehabilitation matter? It matters because it gives me the chance to get back to normal, that I will be assessed and teams within the hospital will work together in close collaboration so that I get the best outcome.

Amanda Hensman-Crook: What was your best experience that you had experienced with rehabilitation?

Patient: When I fell and fractured my femur. After the operation, I was offered a wide choice of things to improve my outcome, hydrotherapy exercises, information on how we could adapt things to improve my mobility.

Amanda Hensman-Crook: What would you have done to make better, is there anything that would have made your rehabilitation experience better for you?

Patient: There was really nothing that would improve it. Sometimes the physios changed, and there was it was no sort of continuity within it. But I didn't feel let down by that. They were all professional in how they treated me.

Amanda Hensman-Crook: That's good. So, in terms of rehabilitation other than your musculoskeletal condition, your broken bone and your femur, was anything else taken into consideration, that you thought was quite good?

Patient: Yes, that they took into consideration that other conditions I have, such as osteoporosis, and they looked carefully at medication for me, so that it wouldn't affect me adversely.

Amanda Hensman-Crook: That's good. In terms of the exercises that you were given, were they tailored to you?

Patient: Yes, tailored to me, my improvement and adapting the exercises to make sure I have the best outcome.

Amanda Hensman-Crook: That's great, along with physiotherapy - was there anybody else in that management of your rehabilitation at that time? Were there any other people that were involved in that?

Patient: The hydro team, yep, the hydrotherapy team were very good, I felt they were very good at adapting if you couldn't do something, they would find a way to adapt it so that you could have the outcome that they wanted you to have.

Amanda Hensman-Crook: That's brilliant. If you were to give some recommendations for rehabilitation in the future, are there any recommendations as a patient, a member of public that you would like to recommend?

Patient: The only thing I can think of is that sometimes the physios changed, and although they gave me the same outcome, I would have felt more supported if it was the same physio that you could build a relationship with.

Amanda Hensman-Crook: Excellent. Thank you very much.