Rehabilitation and Therapy Services

Atrium Health provides rehabilitation care for patients of all ages and for a variety of conditions.

Physical Therapy

Atrium Health offers physical therapy services for adults, adolescents and children who have orthopedic, sports or occupational-related injuries or disabilities.

With rehabilitation care locations throughout the Charlotte region, physical therapy is always within reach. Good candidates for physical therapy are those who may have pain in these areas:

• Neck
• Back
• Shoulder
• Elbow
• Hand and wrist
• Hip and knee
• Foot and ankle

Physical therapy can also help you if you have headaches, dizziness, problems with balance, pelvic disorders and jaw and facial pain. Physicians also prescribe physical therapy for patients requiring rehabilitation from a stroke, brain or spinal cord injury.

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy helps people gain back lost independence in routine living after experiencing an illness or injury.

Occupational therapists treat a variety of conditions, including:

• Work-related injuries
• Repetitive stress injuries
• Stroke or brain injuries
• Chronic conditions such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis
• Birth injuries
• Learning problems or developmental disabilities
• Burns
• Spinal cord injuries
• Amputation
• Fractures or other injuries from falls
• Sports injuries or accidents
• Vision or cognitive problem

Services offered include:

• Activities for daily living
• Adaptive equipment
• Brachial plexus
• Driving evaluations
• Hand therapy
• Joint preservation and energy conservation
• Low vision rehabilitation
• Mastectomy/breast augmentation therapy
• Repetitive strain/cumulative trauma injuries
• Sensory processing disorder
• Splinting services
• Upper extremity restoration program

Speech Therapy

If you or a loved one has a speech problem, our speech and language pathologists develop a treatment plan to help.

We offer programs for children, from professionals who have specialized training in the following:

• Feeding or swallowing problems
• Assistance in developing verbal communication
• Help with communicating wants and needs
• Correct of articulation errors or a lisp
• Alternative or augmentative communication
• Hearing impairment
• Cochlear implants
• Voice disorders

Wheelchair Seating Clinic

A wheelchair seating clinic is an opportunity for you to choose the right wheelchair or seating equipment. Staffed by physical and occupational therapists, our wheelchair seating clinic offers services to both Atrium Health inpatients and outpatients in the Carolinas.

Our therapists provide specialized evaluations for complex or custom medical equipment such as:

• Custom manual wheelchairs
• Power wheelchairs
• Bathing equipment
• Adaptive strollers or car seats

During the comprehensive evaluations, therapists assess various factors that can impact mobility and equipment needs, including:

• Range of motion
• Pelvic and spinal alignment
• Muscle tone and strength
• Body measurements
• Sensation
• Skin integrity
• Functional abilities
• Home environment and accessibility
• Transportation considerations

Therapists work with equipment providers who supply the recommended equipment and perform maintenance as needed.

Seating and positioning clinic services are available with a physician referral. For information, call 704-355-4325.

Charlotte Continence Center

Our Charlotte Continence Center treats patients with the following conditions:

• Urinary incontinence
• Unrestrained leakage of urine
• Recurrent bladder infections
• A slow or weak urinary stream
• Incomplete bladder emptying
• Frequent urination

Pelvic Therapy

Pelvic physical therapy is a conservative, noninvasive option for male and female patients with pelvic dysfunction. Conditions treated include:

• Pelvic pain
• Urinary incontinence – leakage of urine
• Fecal incontinence – leakage of fecal matter
• Painful intercourse – pain during sex
• Voiding dysfunctions – straining, hesitancy, urgency, frequency when using the bathroom
• Pelvic organ prolapse – weakening of the muscles supporting the bladder, rectum and uterus
• Defecation disorders – constipation and slow motility
• Coccyx pain – tailbone pain
• Low back and pelvic pain during or after pregnancy

Physical therapy begins with an assessment of posture and structural alignment and may include the following treatment options:

• Manual therapy to release restricted muscles and scarring
• Biofeedback using internal or external sensors to display pelvic floor muscle activity to increase pelvic floor muscle awareness
• Electrical stimulation using a low-level current applied internally or externally to assist with pain, and reeducate weak muscles
• Therapeutic exercise to target muscle imbalances, weakness, postural influences and overworked muscles
• Patient education

Pediatric Rehabilitation

Children who experience debilitating illness or injury require special in-depth care. Our pediatric rehab program is nationally recognized; our doctors will provide you and your family with gentle, experienced care.

Inpatient rehabilitation services are available at Levine Children’s Hospital for children of all ages who have experienced a debilitating illness or injury.

We offer specialized services including:

• Addressing feeding concerns
• Working with torticollis, muscle stiffness in the neck
• Infant massage
• Post-surgical care
• Post-concussion or brain injury rehab
• Post-hospitalization rehab
• Therapeutic listening

Workers’ Compensation

We work with the business, medical and insurance communities to reduce the severity and frequency of work-related injuries, provide a safe work environment for employees, and help control costs associated with work-related injuries. Our services include:

• Physical and Occupational Therapy
  Licensed professionals familiar with North Carolina Industrial Committee regulations provide evaluations, care plans and treatment for worker's compensation, allowing the injured worker to return to work as quickly and safely as possible.

• Functional Capacity Evaluations
  This evaluation is useful in determining an employee's return-to-work options.

• Work Conditioning
  This program focuses on restoring an injured worker's strength, flexibility and endurance to a level needed to safely perform job duties.

• Jobsite Analysis
  A vocational rehab specialist analyzes work stations and job tasks to provide a report that includes cost-effective recommendations for reducing and preventing injuries.

• Flexibility, Lifting and Endurance Screen
  This screen compares an employee's physical capabilities to the physical demands of a specific job and helps match an employee's physical capabilities to a job to reduce risk of injury.

• Injury Prevention Education

Better Balance Program

Falls are the leading cause of injury hospitalizations for older people, but they can often be prevented. The Better Balance Program can help seniors who have:

• Have fallen recently
• Have difficulty getting up from a chair
• Have difficulty walking or are unsteady on their feet
• Are physically inactive
• Are fearful of falling
• Complain of dizziness or lightheadedness
• Have problems with senses, such as numbness in the feet or trouble seeing
• Show muscle weakness
• Have neurological or arthritic/orthopedic conditions that limit physical abilities

The Better Balance Program provides a comprehensive patient assessment and identification of fall risk factors. You will also receive an individualized treatment plan to improve your balance and falls risk as well as education regarding fall prevention in the home. We will provide home safety tips, shoe wear and suggestions for life-long exercise and activities to improve balance.

Schedule an Appointment for the Better Balance Program

If you are able to travel, contact 980-402-1970.

If you are homebound, contact Atrium Health At Home at 704-512-2300.

Audiologic Rehabilitation

Our Audiologists provide comprehensive diagnostic services for neonates to adults. 

Testing may include: 

• Behavioral hearing assessment: Requires the patient to show a response to sounds.  Consistent reliable behavioral threshold testing is possible with children as young as 6 months developmental age. 
• Immittance audiometry: Assesses middle ear function through tests called tympanometry and acoustic reflex testing. 
• Otoacoustic emissions: Assesses the function of the cochlea (the organ of hearing).  It is useful in the testing of infants, young children, and monitoring hearing for ototoxicity.   
• Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER): Uses clicks and tone bursts to assess the function of the eighth (hearing) nerve.  BAER testing does not require the patient to show a response to sounds.  BAER testing is useful in estimating hearing thresholds especially in infants, young children and difficult to test populations. 
• Auditory Steady State Response (ASSR): Like BAER testing, ASSR uses acoustic stimuli delivered through inserts looking at the hearing nerve.  ASSR is also useful in estimating hearing thresholds in conjunction with BAER testing.