Ultrasound helps haemophilia patients gain confidence in exercise
For people who suffer from Haemophilia, injuries from exercise or activity can cause bleeding into their joints or muscles. This can lead to unwanted stress and sometimes long hospital stays. Thanks to your donations, we’ve been able to provide a specialist machine that enables patients to see what is going on inside their bodies and helps physiotherapists encourage patients to stay active after spending a lifetime of being told to be careful.
We spoke to Rosalyn Teweleit, Physiotherapist at Nottingham’s NHS hospitals, to find out the difference this machine is making.
“In the past, patients who suffer from haemophilia have been told to take it easy, avoid doing any physical activity and exercise. This was due to the fact that their blood doesn’t clot and can cause them to bleed internally or externally which can cause major health issues and concerns. Thanks to modern medicine, this is rarely the case.
As a physiotherapist, I try to get my patients to be as active as possible, but with patients who have been told to be extra careful and avoid activities in which they might get hurt, it’s an incredibly hard transition for them to make.
This is where the Chison Sonoeye Ultrasound comes in. It’s a portable device which allows us as physiotherapists to show them that by being active, they aren’t causing unwanted damage to their bones and helps educate them on the difference exercising can have for their current and future selves.
We use this device as an educational tool to see inside, because if we just say to them not to worry, they’ll still worry, but we’re able to actually show them that there isn’t anything to be worried about.
Patients with haemophilia are also more likely to get permanent illnesses such as arthritis, so we can show them where it is in their joint and reassure them that it’s not a bleed. We know it’s painful, but we can help with the pain. It’s reassuring to them to be able to see that it’s a flare up of their arthritis.
It’s still very new to the department, but we hope it’s going to make a big difference to patients as it can ease their anxiety and reassure them if they think they are in for a long hospital stay.”
We wouldn’t be able to fund this life-changing device without your continued support. If you’d like to help fund more projects like this one, please donate below.