Cervical Spine

Joint pain, particularly in the knees and shoulders as well as back pain constitute the large majority of patients who present to their doctor's office with a complaint of pain. Many of these patients proceed to have surgery, all too often with less than optimal outcomes. Many of these patients still have the same pain

Cervical Traction (Parameters): Acute/ 1st session- 6 to 10 lbs., static pull, 5 minutes, gradually increase to patient tolerance. Routine Session- 20 to 30 lbs. or 7% of the patient’s body weight, intermittent pull- 15/15, Time: 20 minute. This treatment will distract the joints in the cervical region and help alleviate the pain.

The patient was compliant to all aspects of treatment and the home exercise program. There are no known alternate explanations of the outcomes of this case report. However, in comparison to the case report by Caldwell et al25., the patient in this case report displayed a faster decrease in pain and return to normal function indicated by 0/10 VAS, 0% neck disability and ability to perform all tasks for work at the last day of treatment, 3 weeks from the first day of physical therapy. Possible explanations for the faster recovery could be due to the slight difference of impairments as well as the addition to grade IV and V manipulations to the cervical and thoracic spine as suggested to have high correlation with decrease in pain and normalization

DOI: 8/24/2008. Patient is a 55-year-old female manager who sustained injury to her neck and back when she slipped and fell while walking down a set of pull out stairs. Per OMNI, she is diagnosed with cervical strain with radiculopathy and lumbar radiculopathy. She underwent C5-6 partial corpectomy and fusion in 05/31/2011.

12/01/15 Progress Report noted that the patient has cervical spine pain. Examination of the cervical spine revealed tenderness noted over the paraspinal and trapezius muscles. However, the exam revealed no discrete tender points or twitch responses on palpation over the neck. In addition, the latest report does not show any sensory or motor deficits. Furthermore, the PT reports available for review indicate that the therapy was done for bilateral hands and wrists. There is no documentation of the attempt of physical therapy of the cervical spine. There is no clear documentation of the failure of aggressive conservative treatment around the cervical spine. In addition, the request is for 15 injections and the guidelines do not support more than 3-4 injections per session. Therefore, the medical necessity of trigger point injections X 15 has not been substantiated. Recommend

Due to the cause of this headache type being primarily musculoskeletal in nature, different manners of physical rehabilitation are often utilized. A research article published by the journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders studied the effects of upper cervical and upper thoracic manipulation versus mobilization and exercise in patients with cervicogenic headaches (Dunning et al., 2016). The results of the study propose that six to eight sessions of manipulation directed to both upper cervical (C1-C2) and upper thoracic (T1-T2) spinal levels were shown to be more effective than mobilization and exercise alone (Dunning et al., 2016). Individuals in the study experienced reductions in headache intensity, disability, frequency, duration, and medication intake; effects were maintained at a 3 month follow up. While encouraging, the study did present with some limitations, such as it is not known if the effects would have been maintained long term. Another limitation is that multiple secondary outcomes were included in the study, and that the results may not be generalizable to other kinds of manual therapy techniques. However, this study may provide evidence that the management of cervicogenic headaches should include some form of cervical manipulation (Dunning et al.,

Shear and friction must be avoided. Lift the patient’s body, avoid external pressure and limit seating time. If the patient is in bed, have them lay in a “30 degree tilted side-lying position and if he or she is a bedrest patient, raise the head of bed to 30 degrees” (EPUAP, NPUAP, & PPPIA, 2014). Even if the patient is

Proper positioning of patient is one of the most significant components of physical therapy. Safe and comfortable position is recommended by health care professional. This process should apply immediately after accident and continue during all phases of recovery. Suitable positioning assists in stimulating motor function, raises sensory awareness, improve respiration and can help normal range of motion in trunk and extremities. One of the most important effects of positioning is to prevent pressure ulcers. Mostly patients lie on back, involved side of non-affected side. The body points that should be considered are shoulder and pelvis. Gluteus maximus and rhomboid muscles become stiff retract shoulder and pelvis. Due to this, shoulder and pelvis must be positioned in a bit protraction in order to decrease spasticity and tightness.(Mehrholz, 2012)

This technique even includes straightening the back without applying force on the body. The client is required to rest on a special table and the medical professional applies a gentle stretch, movements as well as drives to the reduced spine which soothes pressure. This is the most effective alternative to soothe neck and shoulder pain and also mid and lower back discomfort. This even assists strengthen one's posture and an amount of additional advantages for individuals with rear pain.

Because patient selection for surgery can be quite challenging and narcotic intake is at its high, interventional pain management is a great alternative for pain relief. With the use of fluoroscopic guidance, a physician can diagnose and treat a problem that a patient may be having. Determining whether the patient’s pain is radicular or somatic is the first key to creating an appropriate treatment plan as shown in figure 1 (J. Iannucccili, E. Prince, & G. Soares, 2013, p. 308). The treatment plan must consider the procedure needed, the techniques used per procedure, and the efficacy of each procedure. This article will review each topic for the most common back pain

Self-report pain assessments are either one-dimensional (Appendix C) or multi-dimensional and more comprehensive (Appendix D), depending on the patient’s ability to communicate and tolerate lengthy questionnaires, and are regarded as the gold standard of pain assessment measurement as they provide the most valid measure of pain (Wood,

The main purpose of the approach is done with the goal of releasing tension within the body that are a result of accidents, poor posture, emotional issues, and stress. The approach uses “gentle, rhythmic rocking motions” in order to cause the body to relax deeply, which will allow the patient to ultimately live a freer life and move with increased ease (dr.weil.com). The three proponents of the approach include Tablework, Menstatics, and Hook-up (ariticle). A Trager session usually lasts between 60 to 90 minutes, in which the client physically engages in Table Work and Menstatics (Dr.w). Through Tablework, the person being treated, lies on a massage table as the practitioner performs gentle rocking, traction, compression, and other lengthening movements to the client’s body in order to engage the body’s various tissues. The sensations that the clients feel are important to the process, because their bodies are being rocked and supported as if they were babies (article). The second Menstatics phase of The Trager Approach, combines the words “mental” and “gymnastics” (article). Menstatics are self-directed exercises that are given to the client by practicioners after a bodywork session, in which the client is given various exercises to do at home to continue to improve their condition and build strength within

H., De Bacquer, D., & Defloor, T. (2007), titled, “Effectiveness of turning with unequal time intervals on the incidence of pressure ulcer lesions”, for the literature critique. This study concluded that there was no statistically significant difference in incidents of pressure ulcers, when the frequency of lateral repositioning increased from every four hours to every two hours (Vanderwee et al., 2007, p. 64). However, this study applies to patients on pressure-reducing beddings hence more studies are required for the timing of repositioning patients on non pressure-reducing

When you've completed your treatments, your connective tissue should be free from tension, which allows your body to be in proper alignment naturally through gravity. This helps with pain relief and increases range of motion, so you're able to move more freely. The results could be permanent unless your occupation or hobby involves a repetitive motion that causes the problem to resurface. For that reason, it's helpful to understand the root of your pain, so you can alter the activity that creates

In the study, there were 288 patients ages 45-85 underwent a series of assessments to measure their sensitivity to contact heat, cold pressor, mechanical pressure and punctate stimulus. Result was, compared to men, women showed lower tolerances for heat, cold and pressure and greater temporal summation of pain. But, there were no differences by sex in