And so rehabilitation goes… in the neighbourhood

Thomas Mak Cheuk-hang
Physiotherapist I
Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital

Physiotherapist Thomas Mak, a Gen Z young man, spent 500 hours after work with his teammates to explore every corner of Tai Po in order to produce an online platform ‘E-Rehabilitation Exercise Resource Centre’, providing information on rehabilitation for patients undergone total joint replacement. Understanding patients’ difficulty in learning rehab information after they leave hospital or clinic, Thomas and his colleagues list 80 hotspots in Tai Po with rehab facilities on the platform and present post-operative exercises in interesting text and videos. He also created a handy card with QR codes for patients to retrieve information anytime anywhere at their fingertips.

Thomas often offers patients with down-to-earth physiotherapy advice. For example, when a patient planned to travel to Japan after operation, he checked out cabin layout and recommended taking economy class of full service carrier over budget airlines, since the seat pitch is over 30 inches for the former and only 28 inches for the latter, so as to avoid overbending of joints. He went one step further to browse around Japanese bookstores in search of tips of all kinds. He discovered that post-hip replaced patients could sleep on tatami mats by slowly lying down to avoid joint dislocation. Wandering around in community also inspires him in various ways. Noticing the heights of the flight of stairs in minibus and bus are 14 inches and 11 inches respectively, he modified rehab exercises so as to make them easier for patients.

To benefit patients, he is always restless in looking for nouveau ideas. He and his teammates plan to launch a series of water rehab exercises. The new tool will enable patients to relax joints, strengthen muscles and relieve pain by doing lower back and lower limb exercises, tai chi, yoga and post-operation training in public swimming pool. Patients can easily exercise at their convenience in free time without returning to hospital.