5 Reasons to Consider Nutrition and Behavior Change in Rehab

1. Nutrition, that being the foods we eat and science behind its digestion, provides energy for our bodies, for our patients’/clients’ bodies. However, proper nutrition does more than fuel day to day activities.
2. In a rehabilitation setting nutrition can affect functional mobility and recovery. First off, for our patients/clients to participate in therapy sessions, they need to be fueled to do so. But in addition to that, proper nutrition will facilitate more efficient healing, building, and strengthening of tissue, which will ultimately affect functional outcomes. 
3. Nutrition also plays a role in the development of chronic disease. With proper nutrition, your patients/clients will not only function better, but reduce their risk of developing conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. And for the older population, adequate nutrition can prevent malnutrition and the devastating associated effects. 
4. With the previous three reason in consideration, nutrition will ultimately affect your patient/client’s quality of life. Are they able to thrive in the environment in which they live? And are they able to do so without the burden of disease?
5. As a healthcare provider, know that you can help facilitate behavior changes if needed. Including changes that can help your patients/clients achieve the benefits of proper nutrition. Though remember, much more goes into merely providing education. Among many factors, medical history and scopes of practices must be taken into account.

via - Dr. Patrick Berner, PT, DPT, RDN - Fuel Physio

If you're looking to add a nutritional screen to your practice, check out Dr. Patrick Berner's awesome resource, now updated with 4 easy to digest (pun intended) sections. The newest section is on patient behavioral modification strategies, definitely important for nutrition and health/wellness.

Keeping it Eclectic...

Part of my focus for the past few years has been expanding my knowledge base outside of traditional PT practice. Nutrition has been a big focus and getting people to focus on lifestyle changes is a great way of helping patients with a health problem that also just happens to have a persistent pain state or continuous re-injury.

5 Fundamental Key Points to Implementing Nutrition in PT

1) Knowing that Nutrition Impacts Rehabilitation Outcomes, Risk of  Developing Chronic Disease, and Quality of Life

• Nutrition is essentially fuel, the energy and nutrients for the body to do work, to survive, and to recover. The quality of fuel intake will influence the body’s overall metabolic state and outcomes. 

2) Nutritional Screening

• At the bare minimum a screen must be performed. Identifying if your  client/patient needs nutritional intervention or referral. If done right, this can be easily added to your traditional intake forms or merely be a conversation. 

3) Client/Patient Medical History

• If your client/patient has a poorly controlled medical condition,  intervention may be beyond your skill set. You never want to provide nutritional intervention that targets a specific disease. 

4) Scope of Practice (Physical Therapy & Dietetics/Nutrition)

• Every state is unique when it comes to the depth of intervention you as a physical therapist/physical therapist assistant can provide. If you are unsure, contact your state PT board or association for clarification and visit NutritionAdvocacy.org for nutritional laws.

5)Personal Scope of Practice (Knowledge & Comfort)

• To speak on nutrition, you need to have a baseline knowledge of the essentials and stay current with the latest in high quality evidence. You also need to be comfortable addressing the multitude of factors that affect an individual’s eating pattern (beliefs, culture, preferences, socioeconomic status, etc.). 

Plus bonus 6th key point! If you are uncomfortable with this in a PT setting, knows the signs of when to refer out to a trusted RD or similar provider.

6) The Decision of Intervention or Referral

• Taking into consider all of the key points above, will you as a healthcare provider give intervention yourself or refer to the appropriate professional?

via Dr. Patrick Berner, PT, DPT, RDN aka Fuel Physio

Interested? Check out Fuel Physio's Online Nutrition course! It includes a must have nutritional screen any clinician can implement for the clinical decision making for nutritional intervention.

Keeping it Eclectic...