Group classes

Whilst on a community physiotherapy placement, I was taking a class of 9 patients for multiple conditions such as general deconditioning, post CVA, post TKR/THR, and one lady with Parkinson’s. The class consisted of a warm up, strength exercises carried out in a circuit format, then a cool down and balance exercises. The class was going very nicely and I was up to taking the balance exercise component. I got all the patients to stand behind/beside a chair in a circle. After beginning moderate level balance exercises the Parkinson’s client lost her balance and toppled over! I got the class to stop the exercises, and my supervisor and I went over to help the lady up. Thankfully she hadn’t hurt herself! She was more embarrassed and did not want us to make a fuss over her. I felt terrible!

My supervisor sat with the client for a while, asked her questions, and told her she’ll ring her to check she is still ok tomorrow. The patient reports that she had had a busy morning and was more tired than usual. My supervisor and I had a talk about the situation, her first question was “do you think you did all you could to make the exercises safe for this class?” I told her I did and why. The supervisor totally agreed, and that on previous classes this client had never shown any signs of being at risk of a fall. The client was also the most active and independent client of the class.

From this situation it reinforced the importance of positioning yourself in a class amongst clients that are of a higher need of assistance. It also showed that in class situations even with all the setting up of the environment for a safe exercise, positioning yourself appropriately between clients, choosing appropriate exercises and being cautious, accidents can still happen. In future I would inform clients not to undertake any strenuous activity prior to the class. (The situation also showed me the large amounts of paper work that must be completed after a client falls!)