To help reach your physical therapy goals there are a variety of tools we can utilize to reduce your pain, your muscle tightness or inflammation.
Ultrasound is one of those tools we can use and there is variety of ways we can use it. First, therapeutic ultrasound utilizes sound waves to help speed up cellar processes to help injured tissue heal quicker. Therapeutic ultrasound can also be utilized to penetrate heat into deeper tissues including tendons, muscles, and ligaments to improve circulation, healing processes, tissue extensibility and pain.
Another tool in our toolbox includes electrical stimulation. Electrical stimulation is often referred to as IFC (Interferential current) or TENS (transcutaneous electrical stimulation) and it is the treatment of low voltage electrical currents utilized to block pain receptors leading to pain relief benefits. Patches or electrodes are placed surrounding your area of pain, the e-stim unit is turned on and a gentle tingling sensation is typically felt. Duration of treatment can vary depending on treatment area and intensity of pain.
Combination therapy is the use of ultrasound with electrical stimulation simultaneously which can be utilized to reduce muscular spams, promote improved circulation and to improve muscular activation.
Utilizing a vasopneumatic device is a machine that is attached to a sleeve or brace that is wrapped around affected body part that pumps ice cold water and air through the sleeve for compressive and pain relief benefits. Most commonly vasopneumatic devices are utilized postsurgical to reduce swelling and pain.
Talk to your therapist today to see if any of these treatment options would be beneficial to you!
Unfortunately, sometimes injuries happen while you are at your place of employment. When these injuries occur, it is possible that your employer may be liable for your medical costs. When they are this is called worker’s compensation. This means that your health insurance does not provide your benefits for your healthcare, but your employer’s does. This can be confusing as you often must work with a case manager, an adjustor, and a HR representative to get your care started, throughout your care, and to end your care. This can also include a disability rating at the end along with paying for your cost of care.
Physical therapy comes into play when it is needed after a worker’s compensation claim has been started. Your therapist will help you to improve your pain, get your mobility and strength back, improve your ability to return to work safely, and get you back to work as efficiently as possible. We will also work to help you understand the worker’s compensation process and we will work with your case manager and claims adjuster to ensure that you are taken care. This includes getting authorizations for your visits and ensuring that payments are made on your behalf. We work to be your advocate and your healthcare provider.
Your hands are an extension of your personality often allowing you to show your skill set including sewing, work working, farming or painting for examples. Hand therapy specifically is geared toward restoring the function in your fingers, hands and wrists and sometimes shoulders to allow you to continue with the things you love to do. Participating in hand therapy can result from a surgical procedure, non-operative injury or be part of preventative measures. We assess the strength and range of motion of your fingers, hand, elbow and shoulder along with your nerve sensation to determine a plan specific for you. After assessing your current deficits, we can use techniques such as manual therapy, use of various equipment ranging in textures and shapes along with use of ultrasound or e-stim to help you return to pinching, griping, finger dexterity, with less pain. We alter our plan based on your specific lifestyle and personal goals. Participating in hand therapy can get you back to buttoning your favorite shirt or completing your favorite hobby with less pain.
Research has shown that positive expectations increase the chances of a good outcome. It’s the old self-fulfilling prophecy; your attitude determines your approach to situations. If you believe you’ll be successful, you’ll likely put in more effort. You’ll be more willing to try new things, take some risks and keep trying after failures or setbacks. A negative attitude will likely mean that you’ll take your first failure or setback as confirmation that what you’re trying won’t work or isn’t possible and you’ll give up. Why waste time and effort on something that’s doomed to failure anyway?
YOUR EXPECTATIONS INFLUENCE YOUR RESULTS
There’s some research to prove that positive thinking and expectations make a difference in rehab settings too. A review of 23 articles looking at outcomes for shoulder pain found a few interesting things. First, patients who expected to recover and believed that they had some control of the outcome, ended up doing better than those who didn’t. Second, optimistic patients were found to have less pain and disability after completing rehab. Third, patients who believed they’d have pain and disability after surgery tended to have – you guessed it – pain and disability after their surgery. Research says that you tend to get what you expect.
SO DO YOUR THERAPIST’S
Your attitude is important, but what about your therapist’s? There isn’t much research specific to PT, but there is a study done in elementary schools that might give us some clues. Two psychologists – Rosenthal and Jacobs did a study showing that teacher expectations had an influence on student performance. They told teachers that randomly selected students in their classes were tested and found to be “late bloomers”. These students were expected to show large improvements in academic performance during the school year. When the students were tested 8 months later, the students the teachers believed would improve the most, did.
Why? When teachers think students have a lot of potential to improve, they hold them to higher standards. They teach more complex materials, don’t settle for simplistic answers and are more willing to spend time instructing and working with those students. It’s pretty easy to see how this could cross over into a PT clinic. If your PT thinks you can get better, they’ll probably put more effort into designing your program, spend more time with you and push you harder than someone they don’t believe has a lot of room for improvement.
To have the best chance for a good outcome, you and your therapist both need to expect one. You probably will.
References
De Baets L, Matheve T, Meeus M, Struyf F, Timmermans A. The influence of cognitions, emotions and behavioral factors on treatment outcomes in musculoskeletal shoulder pain: a systematic review. Clin Rehabil. 2019 Jun;33(6):980-991. doi: 10.1177/0269215519831056. Epub 2019 Feb 22. PMID: 30791696.
Rosenthal, R, and L. Jacobsen. Pygmalion in the classroom: teacher expectation and pupils’ intellectual development. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is responsible for a lot of bad stuff. But, if you look really hard and maybe squint just right, there are a few less-than-terrible things to be found. The pandemic forced society to quickly adapt. It pushed forward the adoption of new technologies like Zoom and new ways of doing things, like working from home. There were changes in rules, regulations, and payment related to telehealth. A lot of patients and providers experienced their first virtual health appointment in the past 2 years, and many of them see the benefits. The pandemic forced the telehealth genie from the bottle. Now that patients and providers have seen the benefits, it’s not going back.
Why telehealth is here to stay
Telehealth isn’t going to replace in-person rehab, but it’s likely going to complement it heavily. Research has shown that telehealth is as effective as in-person rehab for a lot of conditions. It’s also shown high satisfaction rates from patients – up to 94% in some studies. For a lot of people, telehealth makes sense. Think about people trapped at home because of a snowstorm or those who are at high risk of falling on the ice. Before the wide adoption of telehealth, these patients didn’t get to see their PT during the winter. Now, they can stay connected virtually and continue healing through the bad weather. Telehealth can also work well for busy people. Patients can check in or have a visit with their PT on their lunch break, or while their kids are at practice.
Where telehealth could go
Even though there have been big advances in telehealth, we’re still in the early phases. It’s hard to predict how telehealth will be used in the future and how it will evolve, but expect it to look a lot different in 5 years. The software being used for telehealth will continue to get better. Expect a more engaging user experience with educational content and maybe some gamification – levels to achieve, points or badges to collect, or some other metric. Hardware will also continue to advance. Maybe the fitness tracker you already have will integrate into your telehealth app, letting your PT track your activity, heart rate, and other metrics. Remote stethoscopes, scales and other medical equipment already exist and will continue to become more common as prices decline.
While telehealth has certainly seen a big advance because of the pandemic, most people still see it as an adjunct to in-person visits. Right now, telehealth tends to be used because it’s more convenient than a visit in real life, not because it’s better. With advances in software platforms and hardware options, telehealth could evolve into something just as good as in person rehab that makes high quality rehab available to everyone.
Obtained from the PPS group of the APTA: https://ppsapta.org/marketing/blog/browse.cfm?recID=17A7D20F-DB83-81B9-8C7902600C3CCF3A&utm_source=Informz&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=PPS%20Informz
With the pandemic there have been changes in our way of life. Telehealth is just another one on the list. Telehealth allows for you to visit us through your computer. We use video and audio platforms to communicate visually and audially with you to provide your physical therapy treatments. While we cannot perform any manual therapy or palpation, we can watch how you move and what issues you are having at home. We can show you how to complete your home exercise program and work through some movement quality issues. Telehealth is a very reasonable option for many who cannot or do not want to leave the house to come into the clinic.
At Witte Physical Therapy we use a secure, HIPPA compliant platform. Once your appointment is scheduled, we email you the instructions you need to securely log in and start your treatment time with the therapist. We can also communicate via email with your exercise plan, and you can communicate with your therapist securely through our patient platform.
A lot of people know what a concussion is, but don’t know how it is treated. A concussion is a “brain bruise” and can cause a range of symptoms. These symptoms can be mild to severe and can last for several hours to several months. Knowing that concussions and their severities are found within a wide range, how would you work to treat these issues.
Treatment starts with rest and recovery. The intensity of the rest and the schedule that it requires can be managed by your PT. This rest period, along with the actual brain injury, can cause issues with muscle strength and overall activity tolerance. Your PT can set up a plan to help you improve these deficits without causing any increased stress to your injury. Often patients have a balance issue and/or an issue with dizziness. Therapy will work to improve your coordination, vestibular, and balance deficits to return you safely back to all activities. PT can also work on the headaches that often accompany your concussion. As you are improving in all these areas a home exercises program will be provided and adjusted based on your needs and what stage you are at in rehab. Finally, a return to play program will be provided so that you can safely return to work, school, sports, etc. As with the varying degrees of the concussion severity the treatment program and duration will vary between patients based on a variety of factors. Your PT can help answer these questions and work through these stages as efficiently as possible.
Most people think of home health therapy as receiving therapy at home from an agency. They often think that they need to go through a home health company to access this care. They are often told that their insurance does not cover it or requires additional requirements to be able to use it. However, did you know that you can receive therapy at home from Witte Physical Therapy?
We are not a home health company and we do not bill as a home health company. However, many insurances, including Medicare Part B, allow for you to receive therapy at home using the same insurance benefits that you would use in our clinics. This means that if you are worried about the spread of COVID, fresh off a surgery or injury that limits your mobility and ability to drive, or if you are just more comfortable in your home you can obtain the same great physical therapy service from Witte PT without leaving your house.
A therapist will come to your house, evaluated your condition, and needs, and work with you to develop a plan that fits your goals and lifestyle. This allows for flexibility for your needs and does not prevent you from moving to the clinic as you feel better. If you are interested in learning more about receiving outpatient physical therapy from Witte Physical Therapy in your home, please contact us at any of our clinics or through our website, www.wittephysicaltherapy.com.
Physical therapy can be used for a variety of things and one of the more important items is working on fall prevention. Falls are a leading cause of hospitalizations in the United States. Fall can cause sprains and strains, or more concerning fractures, head injuries, and life long lingering deficits. It is important that we do all we can do to decrease our risk of falling. Physical therapy utilizes a variety of tests of measures to determine what your most likely cause or causes of a fall could be. Therapists look at your motion, strength, balance, vestibular function, eyesight, environmental factors, home setup, etc, to ensure that we are getting the total picture of what your life is like. From these assessments we then start a plan tailored to your needs and your life to make sure that we are addressing all the factors that could cause you to fall. Utilizing in clinic treatments, a home exercise plan, and adjustments to your lifestyle and environment we can help you keep your risk of falling as low as possible.
With New Year’s Day right around the corner, we need to take some time to reflect on 2021, set our resolutions for 2022, and work on our own goals for the next year. It is important to celebrate the new year in your own way, but we cannot lose sight of where we have gone and what we have done over the past year.
At Witte Physical Therapy we have moved into our new space in Plattsmouth, we have expanded our staff and services, and we have worked to become more involved in our communities. We continue to work with our staff to better their skills and knowledge to enhance the patient experience. We have added more space and improved the functionality of our clinics. We are also adding a golf simulator for our patients and the community to rent out starting in 2022!
The purpose of this blog is two-fold. First to talk about the importance of reflection. Reflection gives us the time the stop our busy lives and schedule, to think about how our activities and situations have played out over the past year, to review how we handled ourselves in these areas, and to begin to learn how we would or would not make changes in the future.
The second purpose of this blog is to learn how to set SMART goals for the upcoming year. These goals could be personal, such as financial, spiritual, healthy, family, etc; or they could be related to our career. Whatever your goals are and however you want to set them it is important to follow the SMART goal framework to ensure that they are specific and attainable.
S – Specific: We need to make sure our goal is spelled out. This includes who or what it is for, who is responsible for it, and what needs to be done to accomplish it. For example, I want to lose 20 pounds in 2022.
M – Measurable: How are you going to make sure that you are meeting your goal? Is it measured in pounds lost, money gained, the number of times you are going to go to the gym, etc? For example, I want to lose 20 pounds in 2022 by going to the gym 7 days per week.
A – Attainable: We all want to win a million dollars in 2022 but is this achievable. Can you expect to make it to the gym 7 days a week when you are busy with your work and your kid’s activities a few days a week? Setting high goals is great, but if you cannot reach them then you will not follow through. For example, I want to lose 20 pounds in 2022 by going to the gym 4 days per week.
R – Relevant: If you have a goal of losing 20 pounds in 2022, then why set a goal that is not related to that. This means that if you want to look good in a swimsuit in 2022, a goal to lose 20 pounds is relevant. If you want to earn more money in 2022 then it is possible that there are more relevant goals for you to set than to lose 20 pounds. For example, I want to lose 20 pounds in 2022 by going to the gym 4 days per week so that I can look better in my swimsuit this summer.
T – Timeframe: We must have an end date on our goals. If our goal is to lose 20 pounds in 2022, how likely are you to follow that for 12 months. Goals don’t need to set for 12 months, but they can be set in steps for 2022. A goal to lost 10 pounds by Easter is achievable. Once that goal is met then set a goal to lose the next ten. For example, I want to lose 20 pounds by Memorial Day 2022 by going to the gym 4 days per week so that I can look better in my swimsuit this summer.
By using the SMART goal framework, you will find that you can set specific short and/or long term goals to help you meet your resolutions for 2022. Set a goal for health, a goal for family, a goal for finance, and a goal for your career. Write them down, work hard to follow and achieve them, and then reflect on your progress next December 28, 2022!
