Previous research has found no significant difference at either 1 or 2 year follow up between Physical Therapy or surgery for rotator cuff tears. One disproven argument you may still hear against the conservative care of these tears is they may worsen over time including larger tear sizes or further movement of the torn ends...
We have previously written about the move away from arthroscopic surgery for degenerative meniscal tears and knee arthritis based on surgery’s limited effectiveness in the medical research. In addition, these surgeries have not been able to show greater outcomes than placebo or sham surgery. Until recently, studies have not utilized a comparable placebo group to...
Some of the highest quality Physical Therapy research details the effectiveness of our profession treating patients with neck pain. Patients can expect an accelerated recovery with less short and long term pain if they see a Physical Therapist for their neck symptoms. In addition, Physical Therapy interventions including manual therapy and exercise are about 1/3...
photo credit: ptonice.com 1. You have taken numerous continuing education courses in your career, how did the completion of the fellowship advance your clinical and teaching goals? The more I practice our craft the more I believe the big variable is selecting the right intervention, far more so than the nuances of that intervention delivery. ...
Photo Credit: regis.edu 1. What motivated you to pursue the CO APTA president position? – It presented as a natural next step from being the Chapter Chief Delegate for two terms and serving on the APTA CO executive. To make an impact where it mattered I needed to step up to help my profession. Through...
Knee osteoarthritis is a common condition leading to pain and disability among many middle and older aged adults. While Physical Therapy remains a hallmark of conservative care, knee arthroscopic surgery continues to be one of the most common orthopedic surgeries. We have previously written about the inability of arthroscopic surgery to be shown more effective...
Knee replacements are a common and effective solution for end state knee osteoarthritis. Post operative Physical Therapy helps accelerate the recovery from this surgery by reducing pain, improving range of motion and leg strength after this surgical procedure. Research questions remain regarding the optimal frequency and intensity of post operative Physical Therapy visits. A recent...
In our prior posts on ACL injuries we have discussed the support in the medical literature for the conservative management of these tears using Physical Therapy alone. The evidence supports the conservative management of segment of the injured population who are able to “cope” with their ACL tear and still function at a high level...
In the last few years, research has been published challenging the commonly held belief that every ACL tear should have surgery. In our prior blog posts we have detailed the research studies showing Physical Therapy can prevent the need for ACL surgery among young, healthy adults. Many of these patients are called “copers” due to...
Marathon running is a challenging event requiring substantial amounts of endurance and strength training for optimal performance and injury prevention. The race distance of 26.2 miles requires high mileage training, often >75-100 miles per week at the elite level, placing the athlete at risk of a running related injury (Saragiotto et al. 2014). In addition...