Mobility Disorders and Mobilization of Patients

Review of the work

Mobilization is the basis on which any care that is exercised in an immobilized patient is based. For example, it is impossible to correctly prevent complications associated with immobility if the patient is not adequately mobilized. Dressing the patient, making postural changes, washing, feeding, assisting with bowel movements, or any other daily activity is much easier for the caregiver, while being more pleasant and less traumatic for the patient, if the professional has training adequate in this matter.

The hands are the main instrument of caregivers for mobilization. Their contact with the body of the patient allows the transmission of information about movement, security, closeness, affection and humanity. Contact is the means that enables interaction between the person who is moving and the one who is being mobilized. Through this contact, the patient knows what is intended to be done with him and is able to actively participate, to a greater or lesser degree, in the mobilization. In this new edition of this book, two closely related subjects are fused together, but which are seldom treated simultaneously: on the one hand, the different disorders that affect mobility; and on the other hand, how to mobilize people suffering from these disorders. Immobility can limit only some of the affected person's capacities to carry out their activities with independence and normality, or it can make the individual who suffers completely impossible. We speak respectively of relative or absolute immobility. There are many diseases that can cause mobility disorders, some of which are associated with the aging of the person. Others, on the other hand, tend to appear at an earlier age. There are certain disorders directly related to mobility such as those that affect balance, gait, and movement. Falls can be a consequence and origin of immobility, which is why they deserve extensive treatment in this book. A fall in an elderly person cannot be considered a mere accident. Falls alone constitute an important geriatric syndrome, since they are closely associated with the physical frailty of the elderly and the suffering of certain disorders, in many cases still undiagnosed.Finally, it must not be forgotten that immobility is a source of problems and that the immobilized person is a patient at risk due to functional deterioration caused by lack of movement, disorientation, the danger of pneumonia, or the development of ulcers due to pressure, to cite just a few examples. Preventive measures for all these potential complications must be an inescapable part of the care given to any immobilized patient. In the second part of the book, the way to carry out the most frequent mobilizations is studied. Adequate adaptation of the environment is the essential precondition for a correct mobilization to be possible. A poorly adapted environment can only be compensated by the use of greater physical force, which implies, in addition to the physical effort of the caregiver, a significant risk of injury to the latter, and harming or injuring the patient. Once the environment in which the mobilization is carried out has been properly prepared, the professional or caregiver who handles the patient must know a series of basic principles that must be taken into account and applied when mobilizing. The active participation of the patient, contact, interaction, and knowledge of how the human body moves, are the fundamental aspects of these basic principles. Many people, especially the elderly, suffer a progressive loss of certain capacities, especially physical strength, which are the cause of the appearance of certain limitations when developing daily activities that they previously performed without difficulty, such as getting into bed or getting out of bed. a sofa. Teaching these elderly to carry out these activities in a simpler way can mean something as important for them as the possibility of maintaining or regain their independence. All of these topics are discussed and developed throughout this book. The book itself is an invitation to immerse oneself in a broad and fascinating subject, which deals with a fundamental aspect in patient care and that therefore should be a basic subject in the curriculum of any person and professional who dedicates himself to the care and sick management.