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Rehabilitation Services

Tulare District Hospital’s Rehabilitation Services department is located at Evolutions Fitness and Rehabilitation Center at 1425 East Prosperity Avenue in Tulare. Besides being more spacious, brand new and well lit, the new physical therapy department offers patients many more options to better health.

Two key new items are the lap and therapy pools and an Isokinedic testing machine that objectively and accurately measures strength and endurance of patients.

Being at Evolutions allows patients to continue strengthening and general fitness and to continue their workouts utilizing a specific program or on their own, even utilizing personalized trainers for the transition to the gym.

The use of the pools is especially helpful in treating chronic pain. The therapeutic pools allow people to exercise often times pain free and to do things they could not do on land.

The department includes physical therapists, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, physical therapy assistants and aides. In addition to outpatient therapy and rehabilitation services at Evolutions, the staff continues to provide bedside physical therapy for patients at Tulare District Hospital.

Physical therapy can best be described as the rehabilitation of dysfunction at a joint, in bone, muscle tendon or within the nervous system. The goal of the therapy is return to function. Patients need to be re-trained for strength and range of motion so they can learn to walk and return to their daily activities.

Occupational Therapy is skilled treatment that helps individuals achieve independence in all facets of their lives. It gives people the "skills for the job of living" necessary for independent and satisfying lives.

The occupational therapy department is now staffed by a therapist who is also a certified hand therapist, or CHT. Hand therapy is a specialized area of treatment in rehabilitation, and the CHT designation signifies a high level of advanced skill and training.

A hand therapist is an occupational or physical therapist who, through advanced study, specializes in rehabilitating patients with conditions affecting the hands and upper extremity.

A hand therapist works with patients who may have been affected by an accident or trauma leaving them with wounds, scars, burns, injured tendons or nerves, fractures, or even amputation of the finger, hand, or arm.

Speech therapy is often needed after a patient suffers a stroke.  Therapists work on cognitive re-training, swallowing disorders and speech re-training.

For more information about our physical therapy and rehabilitation program, call (559) 685-3815.