Physical Therapy

The day-to-day writing in the field of Physical Therapy varies depending on the audience. The audience determines the purpose of the writing and writing style. Physical Therapists (PT) use evidence-based exercises and activities to rehabilitate their patients in order for them to reach their unique goal. Since PT’s work with both medical professionals and patients, they must adjust their writing to be able to communicate effectively. PT’s are just one of the many people in the medical field that may work with a particular patient so it is important that the communication between the different layers of the medical field are precise and clear. Writing to a patient is also important because they are the person who is being directly affected

Osteoporosis is a major public health concern that greatly affects the elderly population. Osteoporosis is typically diagnosed and most prevalent in the older population due to the natural aging process. As one ages, bone integrity begins to decline and can influence many aspects of one’s life. As the prevalence continues to increase, focus is placed not only on treatment methods for those diagnosed, but also early prevention methods for those at an early age.1 These treatment and prevention methods of osteoporosis, specifically exercise testing and prescription, will be continue to be discussed in more detail, as well as the scope, pathophysiology, clinical considerations, and recent topics in research.

Physical therapists provide the service of the helping of restoring muscular or nerve damage upon a living organism. They improve the functions of mobility, help relieve pain, and prevent permanent physical damage of patients with injuries or disease. Fitness and health are key to helping patients get through physical therapy. Patient problems vary from physical disabilities such as car accidents to nerve damage like arthritis. Physical therapists, or also known as PT’s, start off by viewing the patients medical history, then they test the patients strength, range of motion, posture, balance and coordination, respiration, muscle performance,

This week’s forum raises a fundamental question on the readiness of the United States physical therapy (PT) profession to integrate prescribing medication as part of its autonomous practice. Currently, the United Kingdom (UK) is the sole nation that has provided their PTs the authority to prescribe medication without any physician’s authorization (Chartered Society of Physiotherapy [CSP], 2012). The UK’s PTs journey in attaining an independent prescriber status underwent a rigorous process before it even came into effect in June 2012. Before achieving the independent status for prescribing drugs in 2012, the PTs in the UK already has supplementary prescribing rights since 2005 (CSP, 2013; Cooper et al., 2008). To adequately address the

The body naturally gets stronger the longer you perform a specific activity. When recovering from knee arthritis you want to strengthen your range of motion in different areas throughout your knee. This can be done by setting multiple goals. Goals are a way of pushing and challenging your body. One week your goal can be to bend your knee to a certain degree. The next week your goal may be to stand for a certain amount of time. By the end of the month, you will be able to see if you have met your goals from week to week. If you did, then you can move on to exercises that are more challenging.

You have raised a thought provoking question. This is the type of inquiry that we should be particularly keen when it comes to our profession. To reiterate my reply from yesterday’s discussion post addressed to Jinky as physical therapists we are expected to possess an excellent skills set on diagnostic process that involves the collection of important data, identifying signs and symptoms, mechanism of injury, and prognosis of the patient (“Today’s Physical Therapist: A Comprehensive Review of a 21st-Century Health Care Profession”, 2011). In addition, in our profession it is a widespread knowledge that physical therapists have a hand in identifying whether a patient needs a referral to another healthcare practitioner if necessary. I encountered

The doctors and authors had strong evidence that when patients visited the treatment center and when directed to do physical exercise at home by a doctor, all patients whether directed to come into a clinic or do their exercises at home, all patients had shown significant improvements with the recovery of their knees. The study had proven that the patients who were directed to come into a clinic instead of doing physical therapy at home had proven to be a better off then the patients who did their physical therapy in the comfort of their own home. The patients progress was tested by a six minute walk that they completed a couple times during and after physical therapy was finished. “Both groups showed clinically and statistically significant improvements in six minute walk distances and WOMAC scores at 4 weeks; improvements were still evident in both groups at eight

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) of the knee is arguably one of the most notorious parts of the body in the sporting industry. When torn and repaired with surgery, it can leave an athlete out of play for up to 12 months if therapy is consistent over that time period1. There are several different ways to repair the ligament in order to regain functionality and recover stability. In any case, physical therapy plays a vital role in regaining these abilities and returning a person’s knee back to normal.

This article addresses an important topic, the effects of knee osteoarthritis on older adults. a correlation has been found between cardiorespiratory fitness and knee osteoarthritis. The study proves that exercise, particularly walking, drastically improves the quality of life among older adults. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of walking on cardiorespiratory fitness in adults with knee osteoarthritis.

The symptoms of osteoarthritis are usually very slow to manifest worsen over time. Symptoms include joint pain, tenderness in joints, joint stiffness, loss of flexibility, a grating sound in the joints and hard lumps around the joints. Though the symptoms can be present in any joint, it’s usually more evident in the affected person’s joints in their knees, hands, hips and spinal column. People at risk are again older people especially women, obese people, those who have had joint injuries, people employed in manual labor jobs, and certain diseases such as diabetes, gout and rheumatoid arthritis where the side effect is osteoporosis. As in osteoporosis, there is no cure for osteoarthritis and the symptoms just keep worsening in patients, but it can be prevented and / or the slow the progression of the disease by staying active and by staying in good physical shape, maintaining body weight. This also help them improve pain and joint

A knee injury can be a painful and debilitating setback for anyone, however for athletes experiencing knee problems it can be a deal breaker that threatens to take them out the game. This is why many professional athletes are opting to treat their knee injuries with cold laser therapy rather than go through traditional knee surgery. Unfortunately, the athletes who rely on their knees the most are also the ones who are prone to knee injuries. Knee damage is extremely common in many sports, especially long distance running, competitive cycling, basketball, tennis, volleyball, skiing and weight lifting. Most athletes' training

The knees are an important part of the body but can be damaged easily during sports. During baseball and softball running is a main part. Knees absorb 2-4 times the impact of the runner’s body for each strike of the foot when running or doing other physical activities. Knee health depends a lot on the weight of the body, the intensity of use along the natural setup. The human body is made to run 20-22 miles, after the runner reaches mile 21 the body starts to work off muscles and other alternative fuel sources. In addition, the kneecap floats on top if the joint and protects the knee from bows but does not provide strength or stability. The knees rely on ligaments and cartilage for support but ligaments heal very slowly and cartilage does not regenerate naturally. Imagine a ping-pong ball stuck to a wall held in place by rubber bands that is how the knee is set up.

Lifestyle changes can be implemented to reduce the risk of developing osteoarthritis. Changes can include limiting repetitive motions that accelerate the process of developing osteoarthritis such as kneeling lifting and

The seeds of this project start with reflecting on my grandmother, Lumida Rodriguez Viscal. In my family, she was the first person to enter a medical profession when she became a licensed physical therapist in 1953. I remember her telling me stories of her work with polio patients. However, by all accounts, she did not particularly want to become a physical therapist. My mother says she really wanted to be a doctor; my aunt says that she wanted to pursue further studies in chemistry, an interest she developed as an undergraduate. Both, however, remember hearing from her that “the scholarships that year were for physical therapy.” So this project starts with trying to understand why and how my grandmother became a physical therapist.

The doctor advised, “The only way to repair your knee is surgery, which comes with a full year off contact sports. Regardless of surgery, you should stay off contact sports.”