How to arrange physiotherapy for an elderly parent

Written for the person doing the arranging, not for the patient. What to ask, what to check, and what to do when you cannot be in the room.

Before you read this

This is general information about how recovery usually goes. It is not a treatment plan, and it is not a description of what Lifeline Health Care does in any particular case. The plan your surgeon or hospital gave you is the one that counts.

Start with what the hospital actually said

Before arranging anything, find whatever the hospital wrote down. A discharge letter, a surgeon's instruction sheet, a physiotherapy referral, even a note handed over at the ward door, all of it is the actual brief for whoever you arrange to visit.

Bring it to the first conversation with any home physiotherapist, whichever service you choose. It answers questions a phone call cannot, and it is the one document that already exists and costs nothing to hand over.

What to ask any home physiotherapist before you agree

Ask all of it in one message. A service that minds being asked has told you something.

Who will actually come to the house, and will it be the same person each time?
What are their physiotherapy qualifications, and are they registered anywhere?
Do they visit my parent's area?
What does a visit cost, and what does a course of visits cost?
Roughly how long does a visit take?
What do I need to have ready in the room?
Will they speak to my parent's surgeon or send any notes back?

Every one of them can go in a single message before you agree to anything, which is why each has a button next to it rather than a paragraph.

Ask about arranging visits for a parent

What your parent will want to know, which is not what you want to know

The list above is the one you need. It is not the one your parent needs, and the two are easy to confuse because you are the one arranging the visit.

You are checking qualifications, cost and who is coming. Your parent is more likely wondering what is going to happen to their body, whether they will need to undress, and whether a stranger is about to see them at their most vulnerable. Neither list matters more than the other, and answering only yours can leave your parent facing a first visit that nobody has actually described to them.

The room, and the practical things nobody mentions

This is general, not a description of any particular visit. Home physiotherapy is usually done wherever the patient already is, most often a bedroom, on a firm surface, with enough space to stand or move on one side of it. A bed is often enough, and nothing usually needs to be bought or installed.

It is worth thinking about who else will be in the house, and whether your parent would rather have someone else present or not. Moving anything breakable or in the way is a five-minute job, not a preparation project. If the room is small or awkward, say so when you arrange the visit and it can be planned around.

If your parent does not want it

It is common for a parent to refuse physiotherapy, or to agree reluctantly and then dread it. That is usually not about physiotherapy itself. It is more often about dignity, about not wanting to be a burden, or about a stranger seeing them undressed and unable to get up without help.

A first visit does not have to be a commitment. It can be an assessment and a conversation, and it is reasonable to say so in advance, to your parent and to whoever you arrange to visit. Your parent is allowed to say no to the physiotherapist at any point, in their own home, and anyone worth letting in already knows that and expects it to be respected.

There is no script here for persuading someone into treatment they do not want. Your parent is not an obstacle to manage. If the refusal continues, that is information worth passing on to whoever is coordinating their care, not a problem to solve alone.

If you are not in Gurgaon

Arranging home physiotherapy for a parent in Gurgaon from another city, or around a working day that does not leave much room, is common, and none of it needs to be done in person. Everything on the list above can be asked over WhatsApp, including by someone who has never met the physiotherapist and will not be in the room during a visit.

What is harder to do from a distance is judge how a visit actually went. Asking your parent afterwards, in plain terms, what happened and how they felt about it is worth as much as anything a service can tell you in advance.