St. David’s Rehabilitation Hospital is a 64-bed comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation facility located in Austin, Texas. Our medical director is the only board-certified amputee medicine physician in Central Texas. The physical and occupational therapists at St. David’s Rehabilitation Hospital are specialized in the evaluation and treatment of individuals immediately post amputation and prosthetic training. Our goal is to help you regain independence and function as much as possible after amputation.
Our amputation rehabilitation program is a 2-phase program. This allows us to follow you from initial amputation through the healing process and prosthetic training.
Phase 1 — Post-operative care/Pre-prosthetic training
This first phase focuses on helping you adapt to initial changes through wound care, mobility training, and psychology services. We also provide comprehensive nursing care to help you through the healing process. During this phase, you can expect:
- Adaptive/medical equipment recommendations
- Collaboration with prosthetist
- Peer visitor program
- Diabetes education if applicable
- Home accessibility evaluation
- Limb protection device evaluation and fitting
- Limb shaping evaluation and fitting
- Mobility training and energy conservation techniques
- Patient/family education and training
- Post-operative wound care
- Skin care to prevent future complications
- Discharge planning services
- Referrals to our outpatient adaptive driving program if applicable
Phase 2 — Prosthetic training
The second phase focuses on your continued recovery and mobility training to incorporate using your prosthesis during everyday activities. In addition to the services in phase one, in phase two you can also expect:
- Walking and balance training with prosthesis
- Training for getting prosthesis on (donning) and off (doffing)
- Skin integrity monitoring and prosthetic wearing schedules
- Prosthetic fitting and adjustments
- Education on care and management of prosthetic equipment
- Community reintegration, such as using prosthesis to navigate ramps, curbs, grass, etc.
- Guidance on return to work and hobbies with prosthetic use
From inpatient rehab, you can transition to St. David’s Outpatient Therapy department, in order to continue your path to recovery. Our outpatient therapy staff specializes in prosthetic training in both the upper extremity and lower extremity. The inpatient and outpatient teams work together closely to help make your transition home after phase two as seamless as possible. The outpatient phase of prosthetic training focuses on:
- Continued practice and fine-tuning for walking with prosthesis
- Progression to less supportive assistive devices when appropriate
- Return to higher level activities when appropriate
- Myoelectric upper extremity prostheses