Orthopaedics and Gene Therapy
It is easy to think the effects of gene therapy don’t have much of an impact of the physical therapy profession. After all, we move bodies, stretch them, manipulate them, strengthen them, and teach them. Those are certainly not molecular events! How could molecular events effect my job? Right?
Wrong. Everything is a molecular event!
Check out the abstract for this article in Spine about genetically-induced spinal fusion. I know, its only a rat, and it seems like researchers are not really good at this yet, but I can imagine patients with specific functional deficits receiving gene therapy to help remedy the problem. Muscular Dystrophy, fracture healing, ligament and cartilage healing. Physical therapists equipped to understand the finer points of gene therapy could work closely with physicians to maximize the benefit of the gene expression and optimize outcomes. Throw stem cells in the mix while we’re talking about this as well!
Oh yeah, which physical therapy programs include genetics and gene therapy as part of the curriculum? What’s that you say, another course on goal writing? Alright then.
Just thinking.
Gratitude
I’m sitting out on my deck this morning enjoying my day off from work, as probably many others are this Memorial Day. But, we all know that Memorial Day is not about days at the lake and cookouts, but using days at the lake and cookouts to celebrate and remember those noble Americans who have perished in service to our country.
I thought it appropriate to mention our physical therapist brethren in the context of the military. The short time I spent working as a contractor in a military setting was enough to leave me extremely impressed with the quality of care and high level of training these physical therapists receive. In fact, the profession of physical therapy owes its existence and quite a bit of the current knowledge base to military physical therapy, as this historical piece points out.
A recent news article highlights the role physical therapists play today, often embedded with the troops in Iraq. I enjoyed the comparison of soldiers to professional athletes, as well as the mention of the high incidence of back pain among soldiers by Capt. Christine Iverson.
I’m not specifically aware of any physical therapists who have lost their lives in service, but I would be surprised if there wasn’t any. If you happen to know, it might be nice to leave a comment telling us so!
Enjoy your lake and burgers, but spend a moment thinking of those who came before us, and those in harms way today.
ERIC
PT to the Tennis Stars
I found this article on ESPN.com about Kerrie Brooks, who has used her Physical Therapist skills to help out the Williams sisters. Of course, the Williams sisters have been kind of famous for their plethora of injuries.
My gut tells me there are physical therapists connected with a lot of individual sports stars, and obviously connected with team sports as well. These sports professionals have bought in to the "PT for Life" concept, often developing strong loyalties to a particular therapist.
Tiger Woods is well known for this strong ties to a physical therapist. This tongue-in-cheek piece has a funny bit about Tiger and his physical therapist on Day 26.
Google has Health for All
Google finally unveiled Google Health. It promises to be a whirl as the health care world decides what to do, and how to use Google Health. I was looking through the site and experimented by adding some procedures and medications. Certain providers like Walgreens allow for easy import of your prescription record. I thought the menus were sort of easy, but I had trouble finding the fracture repair I was looking for.
The biggest influence of online medical records might just be the shift of control from physicians who have traditionally maintained records, to the patients who will use Google Health. Will an army of newly informed patients be the driving force behind real and substantial change in health care? I think it could be, but only time will tell.
Manipulating Video
8 Tenths of a Second
An unexpected ruling came down for Oscar Pistorius and he has been cleared to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics…if he can run fast enough.
"Pistorius must meet the qualifying standard of 45.55 seconds in the 400
meters to gain an automatic berth in Beijing (or 45.95 seconds for a
provisional spot); his current personal best is 46.33, according to his
coach, Ampie Louw. With 64 days left, he is in a race to race."
I’m sure he’s pleased to have this race be under his own control, and not in the hands of some "governing" body. Sometimes they actually get things right!
ERIC
Physical Therapist Overcomes Her Own Barriers
Physical Therapists are renowned for helping those with injuries or disabilities overcome obstacles in the name of higher function. Amputees, patients with spinal cord injuries, and even those with broken bone rely on the physical prowess of their therapist to help them regain movement and maximize function.
Lost in this picture, however, are the physical attributes required to be a physical therapist. Once in college, my advisor tried to encourage me to "find a new career" because I needed an excuse note from phys. ed class as I recovered from multiple knee surgeries. She told me that I wouldn’t be able to handle the demands of the job of physical therapist if I couldn’t even handle gym class.
I was astounded and thought surely this must be a "bad apple" and ignored her comments. I thought to myself, "How could a profession based on helping people overcome functional limitations require those who actually do the work to have no room for their own limitations?"
Well, after practicing for a number of years I discovered two things.
- My advisor was wrong and I was correct to ignore her comments. Perhaps she had a bad day.
- My advisor was correct, and being a physical therapist required a certain degree of physical skills: strength, flexibility, well-stabilized spine, good body mechanics, and so on.
This was a long story to get to my point. I came across this article about newly minted, Dr. Jennifer Berg, DPT. Jennifer has a bit of a short arm which ends just above her elbow.
She likewise ignored her professor’s concerns about the profession’s physical requirements and is graduating today as a new physical therapist. I admire her courage, because I know how I felt when my physical ability was questions…and I only had a sore knee! She must be made of some real moral fiber and I’m happy to welcome her to the profession!
ERIC
A Timely Article, But Still a Pain in The…
So I’m in class today instructing the MCG DPT students of the class of 2010 in the care and treatment of patients with low back pain. This morning we reviewed how low back pain is often without a specific diagnosis and of the shortcomings of the medical model (pathology-based) in the care of low back pain for this "non-specific" group. It was almost fitting therefore, when I opened up my Reader during lunch and found this New York Times article about the failings of current treatments for low back pain.
"Great!" I said to myself, "I can bring this up in class." But, as I read the article, I was disappointed in lack of mention of physical therapy as an intervention. I guess if the article was about treatment failures, we should be glad to be off the list, but there were some suggestions of more helpful therapies, and we should be on that list.
The article concludes with the nebulous recommendation to "reactivate yourself" from the editor of the journal Spine. Yes, no mention of physical therapy treatment and the classification of that non-specific group, just a researcher concluding reactivation must be the best thing.
We have a long way to go to get this right! I recommend letters to the editor of the NYTimes for now.
ERIC
$45,000 for a Squeaky Ride!?
A squeaky hip replacement, that is! [Link, New York Times]
“It can interrupt sex when my wife starts laughing,” said one man, who
discussed the matter on the condition that he not be named.
Ceramic materials have some cool properties and have been heralded as the best option for joint replacement. As a physical therapist, I argue that the best option for a hip replacement is avoiding one in the first place! Hip manipulation and mobilization can help keep that hip moving nicely, and hip strengthening is a critical part of exercise as one ages.
All that said, it is interesting to see this problem getting some big press. You would be hard pressed to speak to a PT who has ever cared for hip replacement patients who hasn’t heard the squeaking. They squeak. Squeak = Friction. Hmmm.
Click here for a very excellent YouTube video of a squeaking hip.
ERIC
Disabled Athletes
AOL Fanhouse has a cool bit on disabled athletes in competition. It is worth a quick visit. They were inspired by a female lower extremity amputee who qualified for the Olympics in swimming.
Our favorite amputee runner, Oscar Pistorius, recently appealed his case the the CAS, the highest court for sport in the land. He should hear his answer in the next couple of weeks, but in the meanwhile, has been named to TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list. [Link to List]
Pictured is Amy Palmerio-Winters, who likes to shatter her own records running marathons, and is arguably the best female amputee marathoner in the world.
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