Rehabilitation & Therapy

The most experienced rehabilitation team in Atlanta, Grady’s physical and occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists care for a wide range of patients. We help surgical, trauma, stroke, burn, and cancer patients regain maximum mobility after treatment. We work with people struggling from arthritis, bursitis, and other age-related conditions, as well as those recovering from sports injuries. We teach brain injury patients how to speak again.

At Grady, rehabilitation therapists are important members of our patient care teams. We make sure each patient receives appropriate rehabilitation support, but also get patients on their feet as quickly as possible to encourage speedy recovery.

Because Grady is Atlanta’s busiest Level 1 trauma center, our therapists routinely deal with complex injuries that other hospitals rarely see. This makes us experts in the most challenging conditions and injuries. And it gives patients a unique quality of care that’s built on years of experience.

No one in Atlanta has the rehabilitation expertise you find at Grady.

Grady’s therapists care for more than 100 patients a month, providing one-on-one attention that is rarely available at storefront rehabilitation centers found all over town. Our standard operating procedure requires every qualified patient to get a rehabilitation consult to determine whether therapy is required. We also provide outpatient rehabilitation services and inpatient services at our Crestview Health and Rehabilitation Center for patients who need more time to transition to home.

Because our therapists routinely deal with complex cases, other institutions often refer patients. And many people who have been dissatisfied with the rehabilitation therapy they’ve gotten elsewhere, turn to Grady for help.

Make an Appointment

Call (404) 616-1000, Monday-Friday, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. to schedule your appointment.

If you are an existing Grady patient and have a MyChart account, visit MyChart to request your appointment online.

Rehab therapy can help any patient of any age whose medical condition, illness, or injury limits their ability to move and function. Grady’s rehabilitation therapy staff strives to help you improve your ability to function and care for yourself.

Patients are referred for service after a stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury, orthopedic injury, surgery, cancer, loss of limb, neurological, or medically complex conditions. Sometimes, physicians refer patients to therapy at the first sign of a problem like arthritis because rehabilitation is considered a conservative way to address some conditions.

Therapy can help restore mobility and activity, as well as teach individuals to make changes that can help to prevent injuries. In general, rehabilitation therapy is used to:

• Reduce or eliminate pain. Therapeutic exercises and manual therapy can help relieve pain and restore muscle and joint function. These therapies can also prevent pain from returning.
• Avoid surgery. If physical therapy helps you eliminate pain or heal from an injury, surgery may not be needed. If surgery is still required, therapy will make you stronger for the experience, and speed your recovery.
• Improve mobility. If you have trouble standing, walking, or moving, physical therapy can help. Stretching and strengthening exercises help restore your ability to move.
• Recover from burns. Burn patients often need rehabilitation therapy to restore their ability to move.
• Recover from a stroke. Stroke patients typically lose some degree of function and movement. Physical therapy helps strengthen weakened parts of the body and improve a person’s balance and ability to walk, and helps restore motor functions so a stroke patient can be more independent. Speech-language pathologists can also help a stroke patient recover the ability to speak and to swallow.
• Recover from or prevent a sports injury. Therapists understand how different sports can increase your risk for specific types of injuries. They can design appropriate exercise programs to help you return to your sport.
• Improve your balance and prevent falls. When you begin physical therapy, you will be screened for fall risk. If you’re at high risk for falls, therapists will provide exercises that safely and carefully challenge your balance and improve coordination to help you walk more safely.
• Manage diabetes and vascular conditions. Exercise can be an important part of a diabetes management plan, and help to effectively control blood sugar. Therapists can also help diabetics who have problem with sensations in their feet and legs to prevent complications down the road.
• Manage age-related issues. As people age they can develop arthritis or osteoporosis, or need a joint replacement. Rehabilitation therapists can help manage arthritic or osteoporotic conditions conservatively and help joint replacement patients recover.
• Manage heart and lung disease. After a heart attack or surgical procedure, you may receive physical therapy. For patients with pulmonary problems, physical therapy can improve quality of life through strengthening, conditioning and breathing exercises.
• Manage Women’s Health and other conditions. Women have specific health concerns, such as with pregnancy and post-partum care. Therapists can offer specialized management of women’s health issues.

Rehabilitation therapies broadly fall into three categories: occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology. Each specializes in different parts of the body and different conditions. Here are some of the more common diagnoses offered:

Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapists conduct a variety of tests and evaluations. Our therapies focus primarily on the upper extremities, but we help patients resume activities of daily living, such as dressing, bathing, feeding, and grooming. We help patients with balance, treat them for acute cognitive dysfunction, and assist with splinting for the upper and lower extremities.

Speech-Language Pathology
Speech-language pathologists also conduct a variety of tests and evaluations. Our speech-language pathologists treat patients for motor speech disorders, language impairments, and swallowing disorders. We also help patients with acute cognitive dysfunction.

Physical Therapy
Physical therapists also conduct a variety of tests and evaluations. We do gait training to help patients walk better, exercises primarily for the lower extremities, balance and transfer training, and hydrotherapy for wounds that require debridement.

Grady has some of the region’s most experienced rehabilitation therapists, including specialists in occupational and physical therapy, and speech and language services.

Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapists enable people of all ages to live life to its fullest by helping them promote health, and prevent – or live with – injury, illness, or disability. Our licensed occupational therapists treat patients through the therapeutic use of everyday activities. They help these patients develop, recover, improve, as well as maintain the skills needed for daily living and working.

Occupational therapists routinely help children with disabilities to participate fully in school and social situations, help people to recover from injury to regain skills, and provide support for older adults who experience physical and cognitive changes.

Physical Therapy
Physical therapists show patients how to prevent or manage their conditions by using treatment techniques to promote the ability to move, reduce pain, restore function, and prevent disability. Our licensed physical therapists are highly-educated health care professionals who can help patients reduce pain and improve or restore mobility, often without expensive surgery and while reducing the need for long-term use of prescription medications.

Physical therapists also work with individuals to prevent the loss of mobility before it occurs. These therapists also work with burn and wound patients to perform hydrotherapy needed to help restore mobility and promote healing.

Speech-Language pathologists
Speech-language pathologists work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults. Our licensed speech-language pathologists work with patients of all ages to help them overcome speech disorders, language disorders, and social communication disorders.

They also treat cognitive-communication disorders that usually result from a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or dementia.

As one of the nation’s elite teaching hospitals, our orthopedic clinicians are involved in studies aimed at finding better, more effective ways to care for patients. Research conducted at Grady is helping to redefine the way doctors around help patients recover. This commitment to research means that Grady offers the best standard care – and the best emerging care.  The benefit to patients is clear: They have access to treatment options unavailable at most other institutions.