Experiences of functional recovery after polytrauma in a private Johannesburg healthcare setting: Patients' perspectives.
Mughammad A Reis, Monique M Keller, Heleen van Aswegen
Polytrauma patients in a well-resourced private hospital described physiotherapy as generic and sometimes painful, said financial limits cut their rehab short, and reported no mental health support during admission.
Family support and positive practitioner relationships were what they credited for recovery.
Key findings
1Physiotherapy was perceived as a one-size-fits-all programme not tailored to the individual injury; one participant described a physio who made them cry and refused to stop when asked.
2Financial constraints and job loss meant several participants could only access partial rehabilitation after discharge, despite being in a private healthcare setting with access to well-resourced facilities.
3No participant reported a psychology referral during hospitalisation, yet several described depression, PTSD symptoms, and nightmares they felt hindered their physical recovery.
Still to come
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Eight participants from a single private facility in Johannesburg; findings describe one context and cannot be generalised to public hospitals, other regions, or other injury mechanisms. All injuries were motor vehicle accidents; no falls, assaults, or other mechanisms were represented. Interviews took place 6 months to 1 year after discharge, so recall bias is a real concern for how patients remember and frame their experiences. The principal investigator is a rehabilitation professional, which the authors acknowledge may have shaped how questions were asked and how data were interpreted. Virtual interviews (video call) limited the ability to observe full body language and non-verbal cues. Purposive sampling from one practice's database means the sample is not representative of all polytrauma patients in South Africa. Exclusion of head injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, and cognitive impairments means the most complex recovery trajectories are absent.
Declared interests
The authors state the research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. No other conflicts of interest are declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the negative physiotherapy quotes as evidence that physiotherapy after polytrauma is ineffective. This is a qualitative study of eight patients' perceptions in one private hospital, not a comparison of treatment outcomes, and several of the same participants also described physiotherapy as helping them recover strength and mobility.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →