Case Study: A Client’s Story of Recovery from Physical and Psychological Injury through the Mind Movement Program

The client had suffered multiple spine fractures following a fall from a height. Eleven months on from their accident, the client was referred to Altius Group’s Mind Movement Program.

The client had become job detached and had reduced daily functioning because of pain associated with the injury. They were experiencing poor sleep, had withdrawn from their support network and suffered from adjustment disorder with low mood due to their injury and associated challenges.

Client Challenges:
The client wished to return to a normal life, however had trouble engaging in physiotherapy because of their low mood and concerns about flair ups to pain.

The Mind Movement Treatment Program
The Mind Movement program allows for integration of Psychological intervention with Physiotherapy, Exercise Physiology or Occupational Therapy Services. Our allied health professionals are able to tailor the support provided across these areas on an as needs / case by case basis. In this case the following Mind Movement allied health treatment was provided to meet client goals:

Psychological Treatment: We focused on pain management strategies from a psychological perspective, to assist the client to understand their pain experience. Supportive cognitive behavioural therapy was provided with a focus on challenging unhelpful thinking patterns related to their recovery and fear associated with physical exercise. There was a focus on behavioural activation and challenging social withdrawal by encouraging the client to seek support from their social network.

The client:

• experienced improvements in their ability to engage in their physical treatment program, physiotherapy, without the onset of fear.
• was better able to manage their pain.
• reported improvements to their thinking, reporting more positive thinking overall.

Physical Treatment: Psychological treatment enabled the client to engage in the next stages of their treatment, including increased exercise with an exercise physiologist and vocational rehabilitation.

The Results
At completion of the program, the client’s depression and anxiety stress scale scores (DASS-21) had shifted from extremely severe to mild on the depression scale, mild to normal on the anxiety scale and extremely severe to normal on the stress scale.

Improvements to wellbeing were seen through increased engagement in their preferred activities and reports of increased social engagement, as well as improvements to their wellbeing index.

A Wellbeing index change of 10 points is considered statistically significant. On this scale, the client increased their wellbeing score from 28 (probable depression and poor wellbeing) to 44 (low average wellbeing).

Most significantly, an individual with severely limited functioning and no hope for the future developed renewed confidence, self-efficacy and independence. They were truly enabled to realise their health potential and participate in life with dignity and a sense of optimism.