RVC Rehab Services welcomes new physiotherapist

By Christopher Tobutt

RVC Rehab Services, located in the Tomlinson Building on Smith Road, is pleased to welcome a new physiotherapist, Balambika Rengarajan.

Balimbika will be assisting Cayman’s first physiotherapist and owner of RVC Rehab Services Jacqui  Tomlinson, in reaching out to Cayman’s community – especially women -  to spread the good news that there is help for many conditions which cause discomfort, pain, and embarrassment, through a spectrum of physiotherapy treatments.

It’s also a message for medical practitioners in other fields—that the physical therapy services offered at RVC Rehab Services make a real difference complementing any treatments they offer

Balambika Rengarajan has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Women’s Health and Physical Therapy from Sri Ramachandra University in India and several years of experience treating women of all ages.

“I am incredibly grateful to Miss Jacqui for taking the lead in women’s physiotherapy in Cayman, and for the opportunity to bring my expertise here and focus on this crucial area….women’s health physiotherapy,” Balimbika said. 

“Our goal is to expand women’s health services for the Island – because we feel that’s an area of need,” said Ms. Jacqui, “For instance, incontinence, menopause - things which are not often spoken about – people just hush it down and say, ‘It’s natural; it’s the aging process,’ when they think nothing can be done about it.

“That’s where Balambika comes in, because she does a lot of work to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and the core muscles so that people don’t have as many issues as they normally would have. Or, for example, post-op caesarean section, she can help patients to get stronger faster.

Women suffer who suffer from pelvic floor dysfunction, associated with incontinence feel embarrassed, but few are aware of the availability of treatment. Because these things are regarded as taboo, they will not come out to seek help, and due to the stigma associated with these conditions, they may not come out in public so much anymore. Effectively they become housebound because they cannot join in normal activities, and may fall into depression.

Part of Balambika’s mission is therefore to let them know that help is available, and they don’t have to suffer like this. “We need to get the word out – this is a very cost-effective treatment, and you don’t have to have surgery,” Ms. Jacqui said.

Pelvic floor muscles can be strengthened through exercise, or through modalities such as biofeedback. Often a process of muscular re-education is needed to bring effective muscle functioning back to normal.

“Women experience a profound sense of freedom as they begin to regain control over their lives: ‘I can go running and swimming again with my friends’  It’s amazing what happens with therapy and the change around in someone’s quality of life, and how they can feel confident again.” 

“There are a lot of examples I could give,” says Balambika.  One such example is a recently married couple – due to anxiety associated with the new married life the wife started leakage and incontinence. I began reaching out to her, engaging in psychological support. Then, through exercises and self-care techniques, she reduced her incontinence and came back into normal life.”

Although Balimbika’s focus is on women’s health, her skills and experience enable her to treat a wide range of different patient types and conditions both men and women experience.   Building up relationships with clients through treatment of one kind of problem such as sports injury or post-op rehabilitation will often lead to them asking for help in more personal situations, too. 

“We’ve been the first private physical therapy department in the Country,” Ms Jacqui said, “I’m excited  to have somebody to come in to continue the services of my business.”

Ms Jacqui said that soon there would be an extension to her business, at Countryside in Savannah.