Category: Therapy

Witte Physical Therapy….to….Witte 24/7 Wellness

April 18, 2023

We often think of physical therapy as the place to go after a surgery or major injury. Over the years physical therapy has become more of a place to go when we have pain, issues with balance, or problems doing things that we want to do. But physical therapy can also be a place to go to prevent injury and promote wellness. This last aspect of physical therapy is often the one that gets overlooked.

When Witte Physical Therapy moved into its new location in Louisville in 2019, we wanted to provide resources to the community beyond basic and normal physical therapy. We opened Witte 24/7 Wellness as an avenue for that. Witte 24/7 Wellness is a fitness facility that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It provides an outlet for anyone to improve their aerobic capacity, baseline strength, and overall wellness. With equipment ranging from treadmills, bikes, and ellipticals to cable machines, free weights, and a Smith machine, we have equipment for every member of the facility to utilize. We even have a stair stepper, a water rower, a personal trainer, and an exercise physiologist.

Our exercise physiologist, Alex Trautman, is also one of our physical therapists. This allows us to work with patients on injury prevention in the clinic and then transition our patients into our Wellness center for continue to work on lifetime gains and benefits. This is one of our goals with our patients. Whether you are recovering from an injury or surgery or working to prevent any future injuries or surgeries, our therapists can work with you on a transition plan from our clinic into a Wellness facility. Alex has special training in this area and enjoys getting to work with patients in both settings. Imagine being able to take your PT “with you” after you leave the clinic, what an advantage!

At Witte Physical Therapy our goal is to never see you twice for the same thing. We want to work to get you pain free, moving and feeling better and then give you the tools to maintain and prevent future injuries. Our therapists are trained in this and our facilities allow us to work with to transition you away from the clinic and into your home or a Wellness center.

Physical Therapists Help Active People Live Better

April 11, 2023

Physical therapy has lots of benefits for active people. Athletes, performers, weekend warriors, and people who work in physically demanding jobs can all benefit from the expertise of a physical therapist. Here are 3 ways physical therapists help active people stay that way.

Injury Treatment

Active people get hurt. Physical therapists have the knowledge and skills to help people recover from injuries faster. In addition to helping people recover, physical therapists will look for the root cause of the injury and address that as well, to help keep the injury from coming back. If the injury is severe and requires surgery, a physical therapist will guide the recovery and make sure the person gets back to their activity. But in some cases, a physical therapist can help an injured person avoid surgery in the first place.

Injury Prevention

Surgery isn’t the only thing physical therapists can help people avoid. A physical therapist can also help with injury prevention too. A thorough assessment of an athlete’s strength, mobility, balance, and coordination helps to identify issues that could lead to injury. A PT can then design a program to improve the problem areas before they lead to injury. A PT can also assess an existing training plan and help to identify areas that may lead to sprains, strains, or overtraining.

Improve Performance

In addition to helping people improve areas where they’re weak, therapists can help people get better in areas of strength. A physical therapist can create a program to improve strength, flexibility, coordination, agility or speed. Physical therapists are movement experts. They can break down the requirements of a specific physical task like lifting or throwing, then design a training program that will help people meet those demands.

Physical Therapy is more than just a way to get back on your feet after an injury – it can also help you stay at the top of your game. Whether you’re an athlete, a dancer, or someone who wants to stay in shape, physical therapy can help you reach your performance goals. With the right exercises and treatments, physical therapists can help you improve strength, flexibility, and endurance so that you can perform at your best and lower your risk of injury.

References:

• Research (peer-reviewed)
  1. What we currently do for sports – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31077961/
  2. Sports injury prevention – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35421834/
  3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34238639/
• Articles and Content
  1. https://www.idsportsmed.com/7-benefits-of-sports-physical-therapy/
  2. https://www.childrens.com/amp/health-wellness/how-physical-therapy-helps-athletes-and-what-to-expect
  3. How Can Physical Therapy Help to Avoid Surgery? – Tucson Orthopaedic Institute

Ways to Address Stress

April 4, 2023

April is Stress Awareness Month and I know we all feel the stress and its negative effects sometimes. There are times when we are treating our patients and their stress levels have a direct impact on their progress in therapy. There are times when we therapists are feeling the stress of our lives, inside and outside the clinic. Step one is always to recognize when we are stressed and understand what we can do about it. Stress is often a response to an external stimulus and can often be relieved by removing that stimulus.

There are several ways to cope with stress. We can use technology to download an app that helps us relax, eating a healthy diet, exercise regularly, stick to a sleep routine that works for you, avoid drinking excessive caffeine, keeping a journal, or asking for help. Just finding one or two positive ways to cope with your stress can go a long way to helping you feel better about it.

Taking time to know ourselves, what makes us stressed, and how we can combat our stress are all very important. Please remember to take your time to understand what you need and to work to balance that with the other demands in your life. Never be afraid to ask your family, friends, our trusted healthcare providers for help and direction in how to deal with stress.

References:

https://hr.nih.gov/working-nih/civil/national-stress-awareness-month

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/so-stressed-out-fact-sheet

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/about/copingwith-stresstips.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fviolenceprevention%2Fpublichealthissue%2Fcopingwith-stresstips.html

Physical Therapy and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

March 28, 2o23

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome is a painful condition of your upper quarter that is caused by compression of neurovascular structures just before they enter your arm. The pain and other symptoms could include coldness, numbness and tingling, swelling, arm feels heavy, change of skin color, headaches, hand clumsiness, intolerance to cold, etc. These symptoms are usually made worse when you raise your arm/hand above your head. 

What can physical therapy do to help? There are many things that a PT can do to help a patient suffering from this condition. Patient education is first. How can you expect to get better if you don’t understand what is causing the issue, what you could be doing to make it worse, and how you can help make it better. We will talk through these items and start to work with you to guide you in pain management strategies and modalities that you can do at home. We will then work with you to start a range of motion program to restore your motion while working to decrease your symptoms. We can use manual therapy to increase the space between your clavicle and first rib to decompression the neurological structures. We can also help you move your joints and muscles to help restore normal motion for all your soft tissue structures in your upper quarter. Once ROM is restored we will work to begin to strengthen this area of your body. With proper strength and good foundation the last phase of rehab can start. This phase focuses on functional stability and movement so that you can begin to return to all of your activities without compensation or pain.

At Witte Physical Therapy we take the time to investigate your complaints, educate you on what is going on and how we can help fix it, and then work with you through a program tailored for your needs. Your individualized program will be progressed as you are ready and will be fully customizable to your goals. Give us a call today to get started!

References:

https://www.choosept.com/guide/physical-therapy-guide-thoracic-outlet-syndrome

Tips for Staying Safe with Outdoor Spring Clean Up

March 21, 2023

The weather is starting to turn and spring has officially hit on the calendar. We have hit the second half of March and April and Easter are right around the corner. Spring sports have started and our high school teams are now playing baseball, soccer, golf, and running track. Our youth teams are beginning to get to practice outdoors and the adults are starting to look at their yards, landscaping beds, and gardens and starting to clean up and plan for this summer. How can we stay safe when working on our yards?

The first thing to remember is to plan. We need to plan what we are going to do and how we are going to do it. There can be a lot of lifting in the spring. Lifting fertilizer bags, bags of potting soil, rocks, tree limbs, etc. It is always important to lift with our legs and avoid excessive bending at the waist. Keep your feet shoulder width apart, squat down keeping your back straight and your hips only slightly flexed. Pick up the load with your arms and hold it close to your body. Push up with your legs and do not change your back position. If you have to move the load do not twist your back, but instead move your feet so that the load always stays between your feet and never moves outside one foot or the other.

Yard work can also include pushing a mower, digging some holes, raking some thatch, or preparing the vegetable garden. When working with these tools we wont’ to avoid fully extending our arms and pulling or digging with the tool too far away from our torso. As we are digging down we want to bend our knees and not our waists to drive and pick up the load. As we are emptying our shovel or rake we want to avoid twisting our torso and putting unneeded strain on our backs. 

It is always important to remember to stretch before and after any manual labor. We want to make sure our bodies are prepared for the upcoming work and given time to rest after the work is completed. We also want to make sure our leg and core muscles are strong and being utilized correctly to maximize our power and minimize our stress and risk of injury. Physical therapy can help with all of these things and should be used to prevent injury and to over come an issues or injuries that occur. Witte Physical Therapy has the staff and the training you need to prevent or recover from these injuries. Call us to today for a free consultation!

References

https://www.physio-pedia.com/Lifting

The History of Women and Physical Therapy

March 14, 2023

Did you know that March is Women’s History month? Did you know that women played a major role in starting and shaping physical therapy? It is important to look back on all the contributions that women have made in history, and as a physical therapy company it is especially important to understand how they shaped the profession of physical therapy.

In the United States Mary McMillian lead and trained a group of “reconstruction aides” to help the soldiers wounded in World War I get back to daily life. The first research article for physical therapy was published in March 1921 and in 1924 the American Women’s Physical Therapeutic Association was established. This organization now functions as the American Physical Therapy Association and is a resource to both physical therapists and patients.

As physical therapy began to grow the polio pandemic became a global issue. The women of physical therapy were used to help restore passive range of motion. In 1940 Sister Elizabeth Kenny brought her treatment practices to the United States to help patients who had been diagnosed with polio.

Throughout the next major wars several woman physical therapists enlisted to be stationed at bases where they could treat injured and wounded soldiers. After the war the profession was expanded to include more civilian uses and to cover injuries that include neuromuscular and cardiovascular issues.

Without these pioneer women the profession of physical therapy may look very different today!

Research

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_therapy

https://www.amhsjournal.org/article.asp?issn=2321-4848%3Byear%3D2014%3Bvolume%3D2%3Bissue%3D2%3Bspage%3D257%3Bepage%3D260%3Baulast%3DShaik%3Btype%3D3

https://journals.lww.com/jopte/abstract/2003/10000/the_history_of_physical_therapy_practice_in_the.3.aspx

Flexibility, Mobility, and Stability

March 7, 2023

How do flexibility, mobility, and stability work together? Is one more important than another?

Flexibility is the total range of motion of joint and the muscles that cross it. Flexibility is important as it is required to complete the most basic to the most complex tasks.

Mobility is the ability for a joint to have its full range of motion without restriction. Mobility is related more to complex and coordinated tasks and joints that work across multiple planes.

Stability is the ability to control a joint and its motion. It is vital in coordination of a joint with its movement and to support surrounding joints.

We can look at several joints in our body to see which joints are considered more mobile and which are considered more stable. Our mobile joints include our shoulders, hips, and thoracic spine. These joints give us the ability to move in many different directions and with different amplitudes of movement. Our stable joints include our cervical and lumbar spine and our knees. These joints are used more to control our motion. You will notice that most of our joints are adjacent to another joint of a different type. Meaning that our mobile joints are adjacent to our stable joints. This is important in dynamic movements, but also can cause issues when there are injuries. Often if you sprain your ankle you will notice some issues in your knee, this is because you have injured a mobile joint and now your stability joint has to work harder to allow for your normal mobility.

Whether you are in physical therapy or working out on your own it is important to work all of these aspects. Flexibility should be worked to improve your ability to maximize your mobility and stability. Mobile joints need to be worked to maintain ROM and stable joints need to be worked to strengthen their stability. As these things improve then you need to work to give your mobile joints some strength and your stable joints some mobility. This is where physical therapy can help find your baseline and build a plan to improve these areas and maximize your overall joint health and wellness.

References:

Physical Therapy and POTS

February 28, 2023

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) is a condition that causes a number of symptoms when you transition from lying down to standing up. These symptoms can include an increased heart rate, dizziness, and fatigue. While there is no cure with adjustments in diet, medications, and exercise you can manage and improve your lifestyle.

POTS affects women more than men and can start as early as your teenage years or as late as your 50s. Higher risk patients tend to be those with serious viral infections, pregnancies, trauma or surgical patients, and patients with certain autoimmune diseases.

While there is no cure for POTS it is often treated with exercise, physical activity monitoring, diet and nutritional changes. This makes physical therapy an ideal discipline to help patients with POTS. A cardiac rehab program may be beneficial to recondition the cardiovascular system and management of POTS symptoms. Exercises could include biking, swimming, rowing, core and leg strengthening activities. Diet and nutritional changes can also help. Eating several smaller meals a day can help with blood flow throughout your body instead of 2-3 larger meals a day. General dietary changes include increasing sodium and water intake, eating higher fiber and complex carbohydrate foods. However, consulting a dietician is key in making changes that are best for you.

For help with your exercise and physical activity monitoring program contact Witte PT!

References:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16560-postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots

https://www.paddykalish.com/blog/pots-postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome

The Importance of Adequate Sleep

February 21, 2023

We have been told by our doctors for years that eight hours of sleep per night is necessary. They continue to preach this, even today. While we are all aware of the eight-hour threshold, many of us may not be reaching that each night. And some of us may not understand why the eight hours is so necessary. With this blog, we will dive into the importance of adequate sleep, what constitutes a good sleep, and steps we can take to make sure we are getting enough sleep for proper function.

Why is sleep important?

                There are many benefits for our minds and bodies that sleep can provide. Sleeping has the ability to reduce stress. If we aren’t getting enough sleep, we tend to have higher cortisol levels due to the irritability we may feel throughout our day. The higher the cortisol levels, the higher the stress or anxiety in our system. Sleep is also known to help maintain an ideal weight. The less sleep we get, the more food we are likely to consume. This increases body weight or BMI and could potentially be detrimental to our health. It is known that our appetite increases when we haven’t received enough sleep and rest, causing us to eat more and gain extra pounds. Finally, sleep has the ability to alter our decision-making.  When we are deprived of sleep, our brain is not functioning at its optimal level, leaving us to make choices that may not be the best for us.

What constitutes a good sleep?

                As mentioned earlier, the best sleep for an adult is going to be between 7 and 9 hours long.  Any more, or less, and you may be looking at some of the issues described above. You’ll know you’ve had enough sleep when you can wake up feeling refreshed and re-energized, ready to take on the day! While some sleep all night, it may not be a restful sleep. Some may suffer from disorders that prevent restful sleep, such as sleep apnea, and continually feel fatigued throughout their day. Tests can be administered to determine whether or not a person suffers from one of these disorders. It is said that a person may enter in and out of “cycles of sleep” throughout the night with about 25% of your sleep being considered “deep”. As the body spends most of the night sleeping, it has the ability to heal and repair muscle tissue and balance hormones. 

How do we get enough sleep?

                The easiest adjustment to ensure plenty of sleep is changing your bedtime. Don’t be afraid to jump into bed earlier to make sure you hit at least the 7 hours of recommended sleep. Setting an alarm 10-15 minutes before bedtime may be a good reminder to wind down for the night. Creating a good sleeping space will also help you obtain the hours of sleep needed for one night. Put up some dark curtains, make the room a comfortable temperature, and utilize a fan or sound machine for a gentle, steady noise you can sleep to. If you have a favorite blanket or pillow, make sure those are nearby for optimal comfort. Finally, avoid electronics. The blue light from the screens is known to keep your brain firing and your body wide awake. Place all electronics out of reach and consider reading before your head hits the pillow. This will help your body move towards a relaxed state and prepare for a good nights’ sleep!

Resources:

https://health.gov/myhealthfinder/healthy-living/mental-health-and-relationships/get-enough-sleep

https://www.bannerhealth.com/healthcareblog/teach-me/how-sleep-can-affect-stress#:~:text=Sleep%20decreases%20cortisol%20levels,in%20anticipation%20of%20a%20fight.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sleep-and-weight-loss#:~:text=Getting%20enough%20sleep%20may%20help%20prevent%20increases%20in%20calorie%20intake,intake%20(%2016%20%2C%2017%20).

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/8718-sleep-apnea

CMC Joint Arthoplasty Rehab

February 7, 2023

Did you know that one of the most common joints to get arthritis in your body is at the base of your thumb? Many of us as we age see a “squaring” of the base of our thumb joint. This is often due to arthritis and if painful and restrictive could mean that joint needs replaced. Replacing it often decreases your pain and improves your function with things like grip, pinch, and grasp. While the surgery helps to improve these things, it often requires some rehab afterwards to improve your function and maximize your potential.

After surgery you are typically in a splint for 4-6 weeks consistently. After that time your surgeon will speak with you about weaning off of your splint and starting for physical therapy. Physical therapy typically starts with ensuring proper motion of your neck, shoulder, elbow, and wrist. These joints are often not used as you are recovering and could have become weak and stiff. Therapy also will discuss your sleep pattern, diet, and activity modification at home. Therapy will also spend the first few visits working on improving your range of motion passively and within the restrictions of your replacement.

About 6 weeks after surgery you can begin to work on range of motion actively. Your therapist will help you with the progression and restrictions of this new phase. As your motion improves you will be instructed to begin working on very light functional activities, such as writing. As these things improve over the next month you will be able to move into a strengthening phase.

About 10 weeks after surgery, you can begin to strengthen your thumb and hand. Working on gripping, pinching, and grasping on introduced. By this point you are nearly out of your splint with most activities and trying to start to return to normal activities without compensation. Most patients are back to using their hand with normal daily activities at about 12 weeks and will regain fully restored functional use of their thumb by about 6 months.

If you are have had a CMC replacement or are considering it please reach out to Witte Physical Therapy with any questions you may have!

https://www.verywellhealth.com/carpometacarpal-joint-arthroplasty-5208414#:~:text=CMC%20joint%20arthroplasty%20is%20a,treatments%20fail%20to%20relieve%20symptoms

https://www.paragonorthopedic.com/client_files/File/ThumbCMCPostOp-jan2019.pdf

https://www.ofc-clinic.com/sites/ofc-clinic.com/files/mcnamara_protocols/McNamara-CMC-arthroplasty-Protocol-McNamara.pdf