Original Tweet

I absolutely love the basis and intent of the tweet! Female athletes exhibit increased incidence of non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injuries, so we need to work to reduce their risk of injury through specific training, performance, and post-surgical rehabilitation programs. ACL injury, reconstructive surgery, co-morbidities, rehabilitation, return to sport, and prevention all are hot topics currently. Studies have investigated risk factors for ACL injury, sport specific rehabilitation and return to play, accelerated vs. standard rehabilitation timeframes, as well as predictors of osteoarthritis following reconstruction. Some investigations attempt to identify individuals who can cope without an ACL vs. those who require surgical intervention. And unfortunately, as ACL injuries occur in younger and younger athletes physical therapists must consider the proper management of ACL injuries in skeletally immature individuals. I posted about fear of re-injury and return to sport following ACL reconstruction.

The link in the tweet is a Santa Monica Sports Medicine Foundation website page that explains the Prevent Injury and Enhance Performance (PEP) Program. But, I had 2 discussion points:

• The PEP may not be the best program
• Prevention may not be the best wording

Based upon my understanding of the literature on the topic, Sportsmetrics seems a superior choice for both injury risk reduction and performance. Second, I do not think we can truly and absolutely prevent injuries. Injury is an inherent risk of sport. Even non-contact ACL injuries are not totally preventable. Now, injury risk reduction is possible and feasible. I believe that the using the term prevention is the wrong nomenclature. It conveys an inaccurate message. Every attempt is made to reduce the relative risk of injury. But, make no mistake, there is no way to totally abolish injury risk. Maybe I am being too fussy…

In a strike of happy coincidence I read the abstract of a systematic review from the journal Sports Health: A Multi-disciplinary Approach the day before through Google Reader. The title of the article is Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Prevention Training In Female Athletes: A Systematic Review of Injury Reduction and Results of Athletic Performance Tests. The review analyzed the results of other studies in an attempt to ascertain which training programs decreased ACL injury risk and in conjunction what measures of performance were improved. The conclusion:

Sportsmetrics produced significant increases in lower extremity and abdominal strength, vertical jump height, estimated maximal aerobic power, speed, and agility. Prevent Injury and Enhance Performance (PEP) significantly improved isokinetic knee flexion strength but did not improve vertical jump height, speed, or agility. The other 3 programs (Myklebust, the “11,” and Knee Ligament Injury Prevention) did not improve both ACL injury rates and athletic performance tests.

My initial response

And nomenclature thoughts

A little bit of info from the review

Responses

Other tweets

@PacificTigerDPT brought up some excellent points in our exchange. The importance of marketing to patients and clients to maximize accessing the most effective care was something I did not think about. I really enjoyed conversing, discussing, and learning via Twitter.

Now, I am bias, because my practice location utilizes the Sportsmetrics program. I am most comfortable and familiar with administering Sportsmetrics. But, given the data in the above systematic review, I think Sportsmetrics is overall a superior program. Obviously, you want your injury risk reduction program to reduce the risk of injury! That is priority number one. But, improving performance measures such as power, aerobic capacity, strength, and agility is always at the forefront of any training, recovering, or rehabilitating athlete’s mind. In this regard, the data seems to suggest that Sportsmetrics outperforms Prevent Injury and Enhance Performance (PEP) Program. I would argue the Enhance Performance part of the name should be taken out, given the data shows that it only improves isokinetic knee flexion strength, but no measures of athletic performance.

The interactions on this topic I had through twitter as well as this resulting blog post are a real illustration of how to leverage Twitter, tweet replies, RSS feeds, and blog posts to engage in the analysis of literature, discussion of clinical practice, and comparison of research. I think this is the future of professional discussion, and potentially continuing education.

I was able to engage information from a tweet with replies. I read a website post on the PEP and compared it to the abstract I had read through RSS and Google Reader. Then, replied to the tweet with some of my analyses and a link to the systematic review. Lastly, I expanded upon my thoughts and analysis through this blog post. As illustrated, current technological and social media tool are not mutually exclusively. They can be leveraged together to facilitate networking, discussion, and professional growth.

For more detailed information on leveraging technology check out the entire Leveraging Technology Series:

1. RSS and Web2.0
2. Google Reader
3. Selection of Reader Content
4. Blog Reviews
5. Engagement

1. Web 2.0 and RSS
2. Google Reader
3. Selection of Content

But, research journals are not the only way for us to engage information relating to clinical practice and scientific research. Blogs are another great online resource. With the advent of Web2.0 principles physical therapists, students, and researchers from around the world can critique research, discuss science, and debate clinical practice through the blog format (And, the micro-blog format such as Twitter, but more on that in the next post!). Disagree with a bloggers interpretation of the evidence? Comment on the post! If utilized civilly and with proper logic blogs (and social media like Facebook and Twitter) are a great platform for learning, discussing, and reviewing. And, as I have mentioned in previous posts with RSS feeds the information is pushed directly to you. Then you decide what to skip, what to skim, what to read, what to push forward through Twitter or Facebook and what to comment on!

There are many blogs relating to physical therapy, rehabilitation, training, science, exercise science, training, and research. I stumble upon new ones all the time. Some of them are great, some are bad, and some are just ugly. Below I am going to review some of the blogs that I follow.

I love the interactive nature of the blog format. You can participate in high level discussions regarding research and clinical practice from anywhere in the world. This type of crowd sourcing has the potential to elevate our knowledge dissemination, discussion, and growth. In fact, the proliferation of blogging and micro-blogging will (I believe) fundamentally change not only how information is disseminated, but how we learn, discuss, and collaborate on clinical care and research.

For each blog, I have included the title/subtitle hyperlinked to the actual blog as well as the author(s) twitter handle with a hyperlink to their twitter profile. Please comment on your thoughts of these blogs.

What blogs do you follow? Let us know in the comments section! Speaking of, follow @PTThinkTank as well as all the authors, including the creator @EricRobertson and humble contributors @MPascoe and @Dr_Ridge_DPT

I have to start off with some student blogs. As a student this is how I became exposed to and involved with leveraging technology!

AAOMPT sSIG: Blog of the Student Special Interest Group of AAOMPT

The AAOMPT sSIG Blog is where I got my start blogging about such issues as the doctor of physical therapy degree, direct access, physician owned physical therapy services, and grass roots political advocacy. The blog provides information on the happenings of the student special interest group. If you are a student, or know a student, send them to the blog for more information on getting involved in the sSIG. It is a great group of motivated, high energy students. Unfortunately, the AAOMPT sSIG is not on twitter, but you can e-mail the students directly with comments, suggestions, and questions: ssigaaompt@gmail.com

Colorado Student Physical Therapy Advocacy: Act now to protect the future of your profession

Author: @COSPTAdvocacy

I may biased since these students are from my Alma Matter, but these students are truly organized and accomplished. Not only did they WIN the APTA’s Student Advocacy Challenge they are leveraging technology through Blogger, Twitter, and Facebook to create a sustainable and visible student movement.

Below are some of the blogs that I regularly read and definitely have in my RSS Feed. Most of them deal directly with physical therapist practice, and are authored by physical therapists. Others are authored by other professionals, but still very applicable to physical therapy. Enjoy!

Better Movement: Learn to Move with More Skill and Less Pain

Author: @ToddHargrove

Todd is a Seattle based Feldenkrais Method movement instructor who used to be a lawyer. He writes about a neurocentric approach to movement, training, and pain. In Both Sides Now, he discusses research investigating the training, or treating, one side of the body and the effect on the contralateral side.

Body In Mind: Research into the role of the brain in chronic pain

Authors: @bodyinmind @NeilOConnell

This is the blog of Lorimer Mosely and crew out of Australia. They provide research summaries and discussions regarding the mechanisms of pain and the treatment of chronic. Probably one of the most robost blogs on the net regarding pain physiology and current research. Why Things Hurt is an outstanding Tedx video by Lorimer Moseley on the neurophysiology of pain. They even discuss if Chronic Pain is a Disease.

Categories: Pain Science, Chronic Pain, Neuroscience, Physiology, Research

Leaps and Bounds: Perspectives from a physical therapist

Author: @ForwardMotionPT

Corey provides unique insight into physical therapist practice, and is obviously a very deep thinker. He has produced many videos illustrating the use of novel movements of various body regions. Here is a great post about The Movement Diet.

HealthSkills: Skills for health living for health professionals working in chronic pain management

Author: @adiemusfree

Healthskills is a blog for health providers who want to read about research related to self managing chronic pain. Topics include chronic behavior therapy, measuring outcomes, patient education, and many other topics. The author was originally trained as an occupational therapist. In this post, she discusses what to do when a patient is “inconsistent” with their pain behavior or presentation.

Categories: Pain, Chronic Pain, Cognitive Behavior, Clinical Treatment of Pain

The Manual Therapist: Promoting the highest level of physical therapy practice

Author: @The_OMPT

Dr. E posts very regular providing links to other blogs (including this one, thank you!), videos on techniques he uses, clinical cases, and clinical reasoning. He has a very expansive background being both a fellow of AAOMPT and MDT diplomat. See the post What is the Mechanism Behind Rapid Change? for a discussion we had regarding mechanisms of manual therapy. (Here is the comments section)

Mike Reinold: Rehab | Sports Medicine | Performance

Author: @mikereinoldblog

The most up to date information related to evaluation and treatment of athletes, specifically overhead athletes. Good citation of clinical research for evaluation and exercise treatment. Lots of links to different courses/products. Mike is the head of athletic training for the Boston Red Sox, and is well published on issues regarding the shoulder and injuries in throwers. In the post Rotator Cuff Fatigue Increases Superior Humeral Head Migration, Mike discusses the importance of not training the cuff to fatigue.

Categories: Athletes, Shoulder, Knee, Sports, Orthopaedics

Move It: The New Professional’s Collaboration Blog

A group of young physical therapists (<5 years experience) discuss clinical practice, clinical development, and issues regarding being a new professional. It has been a while between posts, but they have some excellent content. Check out A Generation with Challenges, Vision, and Debt.

Categories: Young Professionals, Professional Development, Legislative Advocacy, Professional Issues

My Physical Therapy Space: Evidence in Motion Blog

Authors: @EIMTeam

• @childsjd
• @PhysicalTherapy
• @TimothyWFlynn
• @SnippetPhysTher
• @PMintkenDPT

The blog of the Evidence of Motion crew. Great information regarding private practice, legislative issues, and research pertaining to orthopaedics. Discussions regarding the overuse of imaging and surgery, as well as the how physical therapists can provide value to society and healthcare. In a Blast from the Past, John Childs illustrates how some clinicians and researchers cling to old models of pain and treatment despite evidence to the contrary. Tim Flynn discusses how access to early, cheap care (physical therapists!) for low back pain is Not Rocket Science, and could have HUGE implications for our society. Larry Benz deconstructs poor logic about Physician Owned Physical Therapy Services (POPTS) that appeared in Advance Magazine.

Categories: Professional Issues, Private Practice, Orthopaedics, Research, Professional Development

The Sports Physiotherapist: Resource for physiotherapists (or physical therapists) with a passion for assessing, diagnosing, and rehabilitating the sports injuries of the world’s athletes

Author: @TheSportsPT

Extremely well cited articles discussing the evaluation, assessment, and treatment of athletes including surgical approaches and their implications on rehabilitation. Their blog and website is maybe the most comprehensive sports physical therapy resource on the net. In this post, they review the diagnostic accuracy of tests used to identify Acetabular Labral Tears of the Hip.

Categories: Sports, Athletes, Research, Examination

Physical Therapy Diagnosis: Make Decisions Like Doctors

Author: @timrichpt

Private practice owner in Florida discusses clinical decision making as well as leveraging decision support tools/software. Lots of discussion of Medicare flaws, clinical decision making, and issues in private practice. Tim recently authored a book detailing bullet proof decision making processes to improve documentation and efficiency in outpatient practices. Tim presents The Art and Science of Physical Therapy by analyzing the Oxford Debate from the American Physical Therapy Association’s Annual Conference in 2011

Categories: Private Practice, Legislative Issues, Clinical Decision Making, Outpatient

Save Yourself: Science powered advice about your stubborn aches, pains, and injuries

Author: @painfultweets

A massage therapist by training who turned to science focused blogging regarding painful problems. Skeptical analysis of pain, pain syndromes, and treatment techniques. Great information for patients and practitioners alike. Although I very much respect Paul’s work and critiques, there is a very apparent bias towards trigger points as a significant pain complaint and treatment target. Paul talks about MRI Overuse and how MRI is too sensitive of a diagnostic tool. He also does a nice job of summarizing some of the Science Surrounding Stretching.

Categories: Pain, Chronic Pain, Manual Therapy, Science

SomaSimple: The so simple body. A place for physical & manual therapy.

@SomaSimple Contributors: @jasonsilvernail @dfjpt @BarrettDorko @wrtrohio @JohnWarePT @ForwardMotionPT among others

You will not find a more thorough or logical analysis of manual therapy, physical therapy, and their relation to people with painful problems anywhere. The folks over there are true skeptics in their thought process, and challenge all. Be ready to be challenged, even if all you do is read the forums! This site is such a density of information and discussion you could read for months. Whether you troll or join in on the discussion it will deepen your analysis and understanding of pain, pain physiology, and clinical practice. Enough is Enough is a well written piece by Jason Silvernail talking about how we need to stop looking for the magical technique or tissue and focus on deeper models of understanding pain. In Crossing the Chasm, he absolutely shines in his ability to tie current clinical research to a deeper, neurophysiologic understanding of pain as he describes his process of evaluation and treatment utilizing sub-grouping in low back pain.

Categories: Pain, Neuroscience, Discussion Board, Manual Therapy

The blogs above are more specific to physical therapy principles. But, it also useful to engage information from other disciplines or sources. For example, decision making, principles of science, behavior, and psychology are all integral parts of physical therapy practice. These topics relate to how we treat patients, but maybe more importantly how we make decisions and analyze/integrate literature.

Science Based Medicine: Exploring issues and controversies in the relationship between science and medicine

I believe this is a must read blog for all health care professionals. It discusses the application of scientific principles to improve evidence based practice. These principles include prior plausibility, physiologic plausibility, and an increased focus on the integration of basic science into the understanding and practice of medicine. Although, much of it is not related directly to physical therapy, the lessons and principles discussed are applicable to research interpretation and clinical practice of all health care professions. In fact, physical therapists receive a mention in the post Subluxation Theory: A Belief System that Continues to Define the Practice of Chiropractic.

Check out these posts:

1. About Science Based Medicine
2. Announcing Science Based Medicine Blog
3. Does Evidence Based Medicine Undervalue Basic Science and Overvalue Randomized Control Trials?
4. Is it a Good Idea to test Highly Implausible Health Claims?

Eric Cressey: Performance and health on a whole new level

A personal trainer with a masters degrees in kinesiology with a highly successful persontal training facility targeted towards baseball players. Collaborates with Mike Reinold. Although targeted for personal trainers and fitness specialists, he provides amazing information on training athletes that is very applicable to physical therapists.

Very detailed information about the training of high level athletes especially baseball players. Eric exhibits in depth understanding of kinesiology, training, and anatomy specifically as it relates to baseball players and overhead athletes. Although, he does seem to have a poor understanding to mechanisms and effects of manual therapy and at times “plays doctor” in regards to client’s pain complaints. In How Much Rotator Cuff Work is Too Much? Eric discusses the implications of training the rotator cuff in throwing athletes both in season and during the off season. He highlights the fact that many throwers overuse their cuff musculature.

Categories: Sports Training, Baseball, Shoulder

1. Do you read any of the blogs above? If so, what is your critique?
2. Did we miss a good resource? Please comment and enlighten us!
3. Do you have a blog? Comment with a link and a brief summary!

Unfortunately, there seems to be a lack of physical therapist focused blogs relating to in-patient acute care, neurologic physical therapy, and in-patient rehabilitation (hint, hint, any takers??). Most focus on outpatient, orthopaedics, sports, and private practice.

I hope you have enjoyed the leveraging technology series thus far! We have covered a ton of information as these posts are are very dense. The next post will discuss the use of social media tools including Twitter, Facebook, and Blog comments to move beyond RSS into active sharing, discussion, and engagement of information! Remember, we always value your feedback and comments.

@Dr_Ridge_DPT

This session was presented by four brilliant researchers interested in brainstem modulation of the motor system. The patient population discussed was spinal cord injury, a condition in which the connection between the brainstem and the motor neurons are disrupted. Each researcher discussed the implications for force generation, spasticity, and locomotion. I’ll summarize their reports below.

Allison Hyngstrom, PT, PhD

First up, Dr. Hyngstrom highlighted a few key researchers that have influenced treatment of patients:

• Sherrington – contributed the concept of the spinal motor neuron as the final common pathway – contributed to the understanding of locomotion by examining “air stepping” elicited by stretching hip muscles of spinalized
• Eccles – introduced the idea that inhibition could sculpt the output of motor neurons, particularly the reciprocal inhibition pathway
• Brown/Grillner/Lundberg – descending input, as well as specific neurotransmitters, could activate spinal networks without sensory inputs

The Dr. Hyngstrom progressed to ‘Motor Neurons 101′, including these key points:

• MNs possess huge denritic trees to receive inputs from several sources (higher brain, local interneurons, afferent)
• Two categories of receptors are expressed on the MN membrane – ionotropic and metabotropic
• The activation of metabotropic receptors by monoamines create persistent inward currents (PICs)
• PICs can amplify the output of the MN
• In acute spinal cord injury there is a loss of seratonin in the spinal cord that decreases the excitability of spinal MNs

Moving to the spinal cord injured cat, researchers have found that by adding monoamines to the spinal cord the cat could walk again [link to article in PubMed]

Next Dr. Hyngstrom described some of her own work on MNs. In her dissertation she was interested in the factors that regulate PICs. One way she did this was by altering the amount of reciprocal inhibition.

In summary

• Monoamines (like seratonin) increase the gain of the MN > which implies PTs could reduce effort for a given movement
• Monoamines facilitate automatic movements
• Dysregulation of monoamines likely contributes to alterations in cellular excitability in chronic spinal cord injury
• Altered cellular excitability not necessarily a bad thing > consider other ideas
• Targeted medications could be used to harness spinal network excitability

Chris Thompson, PT, DPT

Next up Dr. Thompson presented his talk, titled – “Activation of spinal networks in patients with spinal cord injury to improve volitional movements”.

He began with a bold statement – “indiviuals with motor incomplete SCI do not fatigue”. How could this be? It seems that in a repeated stimulation protocol, patients with acute SCI  do not exhibit a reduction in force generating capacity, whereas patients with chronic SCI and healthy controls do exhibit a reduction in the same protocol.

I also seems that people with incomplete SCI have a reserve of volitional force generation – 115% of maximal force can be achieved across the first 4-5 maximal contractions.

In acute spinal cord injury there is a period of spinal shock and spinal reflex responses are suppressed. But after time (chronic) the responses become super sensitive to seratonin.

Dr. Thompson want to know why and he looks to the motor neuron persistent inward current as a mechanism for the following three reasons:

1. There is an increased EMG amplitude across contractions, through increased recruitment and rate modulation of motor units
2. Prolonged torque in response to electricla stimulation using top hat stim protocol, which was abolished when a nerve block was in place
3. There are alterations in motor unit activity due to pharmacological agents (SSRI), which block the reuptake of seratonin

Dr. Thompson concluded by review attempts at translation of the findings in animal models to humans patients. The idea best examined by his lab group basically involves applying a ‘top-hat’stimulation protocol made popular in cat experiments to human patients. Something very interesting happens when comparing humans and cats. The amount of force and the strength of the persistent inward current are larger when muscles are at shorter lengths IN HUMANS. However, the amount of force and the strength of the PIC are larger when muscles are at longer lengths IN CATS. Explaining this difference is the next task on Dr. Thompson’s plate.

Arun Jayaraman, PT, PhD

Alright, that was a lot of motor neuron physiology and I appreciate you hanging in there so far. So, how can the above information be put into clinical practice? This is what Arun enthusiastically addressed – developing the rehabilitation protocol.

His main question was how can we harness the reserve in force generating capacity seen in patients with incomplete spinal cord injury?

This was tested in 10 patients with chronic motor incomplete SCI in a cross-over design with a two month washout period between the testing conditions. The phenomenon examined was that the harder you work, the more force enhancement you observe in the SCI population. As the time between maximal contractions gets longer, the enhancement in force production becomes lower (15 s is best). This phenomenon is present both concentric and isokinetic contraction modes.

Subjects trained with 65-80% of their one repetition maximum until they plateaued in function. Arun found that just isometric trained alone enhanced berg balance scores and walking distances in the 6-min and timed up and go tasks. Noxious stimulation at an intensity of 50 mA on the stomach skin was not so effective.

A follow up direction Arun is investigating is the use of intermittent hypoxia. It has been shown in rats that electromyography and force measurement improved in a ladder climbing task following a hypoxic state. How will patients with chronic SCI respond to hypoxic conditions during locomotor training? Arun is hopeful that benefits are realized in his patients.

In summary

• Volitional drive can be enhance by working very hard
• Does improve walking and balance
• Can be done at home
• What are long term effects?
• Can this be complimented with intermittent hypoxia?

George Hornby, PT, PhD

The topic addressed by Dr. Hornby at the end of the session was the combination of physical therapy and pharmacological interventions.

It seems that providing glutamate can generate locomotion patterns and we also know that monoamines can excite central pattern generators (CPGs).

There is an increased Babinski Sign in SCI due to effects of monamines.

Seratonin (5HT) is effective in initiating locomotion in rats with SCI.

It seems that humans respond better to 5HT than norepinephrine (NE) when administered.

Lastly, Dr. Hornby has seen that strength, not spasticity, is related to locomotion function.

Photo taken from APTA website

This lecture honors one of physical therapy’s best and brightest – Pauline ‘Polly’Cerasoli (Feb 25, 1939 – Sept 11, 2010).

Dr. Gordon then wrapped up with his two take-home points:

• A strong academic foundation is essential for achieving excellence in physical therapy
• A strong academic foundation is dependent on three pillars (Education, Research, Clinical Practice), and you need them all

Photo taken from APTA website

Findings indicated that these physicians found ED physical therapy services to be of value to themselves, to their patients, and to the department as a whole and described specific manners in which such consultations improved emergency care. Implementation and maintenance of the program, however, presented various challenges.

Emergency Department Physical Therapist Service: Removing Barriers and Building Bridges

• Michael T. Lebec PT, PhD
• Lisa TenBarge PT, DPT
• Carleen Jogodka, PT, DPT, OCS
• Michael Brickens, PT

To start, a brief introduction of who comes into the emergency department. Fewer and fewer are coming via ambulance, even fewer by life flight. People are using the ED in new and different ways. For example, many have non-urgent and non-life threatening conditions.

The average wait is upwards of 1 hour, with the average length of stay in the ED upwards of 4 hours. The ED physician spends an average of 11 minutes on direct care. That time includes research, orders, and making referrals.

Patient satisfaction with ED care is generally low. Management of common musculoskeletal, pain, and soft tissue injury complaints is varied and poor. Individuals are routinely given cervical soft collars for neck pain, immobilization including CASTS and or instructions for non-weight bearing for ankle sprains, and MULTIPLE days of bed rest for low back pain.

What do the PATIENTS want? Answers, instructions, and to feel better!

What do the patients receive? Imaging. Medications. Prescriptions. No follow up.

The fact of the matter is this that more and more individuals are utilizing the ER as their primary stop for health conditions. By the time they seek care these conditions are more chronic and less well controlled. Thus, more and more people seen in the ED are not necessarily in an emergent state. And, I believe, more and more would benefit from the skills of a physical therapist.

Now, I also believe physical therapist’s can play a vital role in deciding when imaging of musculoskeletal conditions is and is not necessary. Further, the treatment they provide may (again my belief) decrease imaging, medication prescription/usage, and decrease re-visit rates for the same complaint. And maybe, just maybe, if we plug these people into physical therapy sooner their conditions (pain, chronic medical diagnoses, etc) will be better managed and controlled. And, I think, that all links back to the Physical Therapist’s Role in Health, Wellness, and Prevention as per Healthy People 2020.

The data that does exists suggest that having PT’s in the ED results in decreased wait time and increased patient satisfaction. [Unfortunately, much of the data on PT's in the ED has been obtained outside the United States.] At the large, academic hospital I practice high priority is placed on “patient satisfaction.” [However, flawed that concept may be. Refer to Patient Satisfaction is Useless Part I and Part II on the Evidence In Motion Blog]. Further, wait time in the ED is directly related to the costs for that department. Therefore, decreasing wait time is a very real way to decrease costs. Not surprisingly, wait time is inversely related to patient satisfaction. So, already those are two powerful take home points regarding the positive effects PT’s ARE ALREADY having in the ED already. But, what does the future hold?

In expanding PT services in the ED, we can look to other sources of evidence and data to support PT treatment of individuals in the emergency department:

• PT Management and Evidence for Specific Musculoskeletal Conditions
• Outcomes when PT is involved earlier in care of painful episodes
• Outcomes when PT is delayed
• Future healthcare costs with advanced, and over, imaging
• PT’s Knowledge and Decision Making In Medical Screening and Diagnosis

Specifically, there is evidence supporting specific PT approaches to common orthopaedic conditions such as low back pain, neck pain, knee pain, ankle sprains, etc. Also, there are innovative practice models where physical therapists are involved earlier in care providing FRONT end intervention for painful episodes. Virginia Mason (out of my hometown of Seattle) received a lot of publicity even a Wall Street Journal Article for their model of sending patients with work related musculoskeletal complaints to a PT FIRST. They decreased costs by over 50% (!!!) and decreased time away from work.

Future Research and Data Tracking

• Readmissions
• Time between ER visits
• Medication Prescription and Usage
• Imaging Utilization and Costs
• Falls and Injury from Falls

The talk was very interesting, and I think this practice area will continue to grow. It actually reminds me of the growth of early mobility and rehabilitation of individuals in intensive care units. I also think there is really good research and data from other areas of practice supporting not only the treatment PT’s can provide, but also our training, decision making, and skills in medical screening and aiding in diagnosis. Not to mention, I did not even mention fall risk screening and intervention, splinting, wound care, assistive device recommendations, and aiding in discharge planning.

Where will physical therapy go next?

Resources

1. Physical Therapists in the Emergency Department: Development of a Novel Practice Venue. Physical Therapy. March 2010.
2. The Physical Therapist as a Musculoskeletal Specialist in the Emergency Department. Physical Therapy. March 2009
3. Emergency Department Physical Therapist Service: A Pilot Study Examining Physician Perceptions Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. 2010.

Hebert Karpatkin began his talk by stating his main goal – to “change the way you treat MS”.

Why are these patients difficult to treat? Here are Karpatkin’s thoughts:

• Unique neurologic diagnosis - can have effects at multiple regions of the CNS, therefore many neuro symptoms possible
• Unique presentation – no two patients look alike
• Therapeutic Nihilism – why even bother, what can I do? (extreme pessimism)
• Disease of unknowns – progression, severity, and recovery are all so variable!

Dr. Karpatkin then went on to suggest four main areas to consider for successful management of your patients with MS.

1. Fatigue

This is the most commonly reported symptom of patients with MS (74-89% of patients). The origin of fatigue is separated into two categories:

• Primary fatigue – due to disease itself – either as motor fatigue specific OR lassitude genreal
• Secondary fatigue – body’s response to the disease – arises from disuse, sedentary lifestyle, pain, movement compensation, infection, depression, sleep disorder

PT can help by intervening with four of the  secondary fatigue sources – disuse, sedentary lifestyle, pain, movement compensation = GET THEM MOVING!!!

2. Thermoregulation

Another commonly reported symptom is thermosensitivity. Simply meaning that symptoms become more severe with higher temperatures. This is a fundamental problem as it limits the amount of exercise patients can perform.

How can therapists can intervene?

• Cooling garments applied before therapy
• Simply turning on the A/C in your clinic.

3. Intermittent Training

A patient with MS once said:

“Trying to get better makes me worse”

This quote really hit home because it highlights the main problem: the exercise itself is making me fatigued, how do I get better!?!?!

You need your patients to reach a critical dosage of exercise to improve, but how? Intermittent training:

• Develop a “feel” for when to take breaks
• Provide rest at first signs of movement difficulty
• Vital signs (blood pressure / heart rate) are not very telling

Dr. Karpatkin the provided preliminary data that demonstrated that in four patients their 6 minute walk time performance was better with an intermittent protocol (1158) as opposed to a continual exercise protocol (966).

It was also suggested that PTs could apply this protocol to gait, strength, balance, functional activities as well.

4. Secondary Deficits

Posture and stretching

Posture can be poor in patients with MS. One of Dr. K’s patients was given PT 1-2 x/week +home exercise program and this significantly improved his posture and gait. Why was this not addressed with previous therapists? It was suggested that maybe those other PTs neglected posture because of a bias towards his condition.

Foot drop is a common presentation in gait with MS. Dr. K suggested plantarflexor stretching. This ca

n be done during sleep using a night splint.

• Work towards health focused practices
• Health as an outcome
• Physical Therapy is about movement and function
• Address societal needs of movement, function, living with disability, and health/wellness
• Ethics > Meet the health needs of people locally, nationally, and globally
• Link to our work to individual patient’s, societal needs, overall healthcare
• How to obtain reimbursement for preventive care?

The speakers gave broad information about health promotion and physical therapists. Each gave some interesting case examples. Each advocated for physical therapy in serving the societal needs of not only health, but living with disability. I absolutely agree! But…

Especially in private practice how do we not only incorporate health promotion, but make it fiscally sustainable and or profitable? Sometimes it is difficult enough to obtain reimbursement and or private pay for a current condition let alone chronic health conditions such as hypertension control, obesity, healthy exercise habits, and smoking cessation. But, on the other hand, the personal fitness and health industry (i.e. weekend trained personal trainers at 24 hour fitness) is booming. How can PT’s obtain a slice (or a big chunk) of this market?

I think they speakers brought a good point that we need a critical mass of not just PT’s, but legislators, public policy makers, patients, and other healthcare professionals committed to societal health in various practice settings. And a recognition of rehabilitation and physical therapy as essential parts of not only health care, but health promotion.

Why aren’t we moving in that direction? Do we all need to broaden our view of our professional role? What is the SWOT [Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats] Analysis of the PT profession, and each us as individual practitioners, in regards to health?  I think there are a lot of opportunities, but many, many barriers.

Do we have what it takes to step up to the plate? Or, at least get a place at the table?

• How do we measure health and outcomes related to health?
• How do we market and spread the word to: patients, physicians, legislators, payors (ha!), the media, educators, public health professionals, and thus society?
• What role does technology play in our promotion of health and wellness?
• Can we leverage technology to achieve and spread the above goals and ideas?

I think the first talk brought up many, many questions, problems, and ideas…

After reviewing the site and doing some searching for physical therapists, I have to concur with Millenson. The site is a bust. It should be re-named, “Pointless Partial List of Participating Providers.” I know they are planning to add more content over the next few years, but why start out with such nothing to begin with? It lacks patient-centric factors or any potential interactivity like maps or web-sites. It certainly doesn’t compare anything.

Sites like Healthgrades.com do a much better job of providing some form of information that’s useful, but where are physical therapists on these sites? Consumers are presently lacking a good site to compare providers of physical therapy. As a profession, we can’t leave it up to big Physician sites or the federal government. We need to actively reach out to consumers and show them who we are. Thoughts?

By Bronwyn Spira, PT, and Tejal Ramaiya, DPT, CSCS

The iPad is quickly transforming the way business is conducted in the media, entertainment and education sectors. But what about health care? What are the specific benefits of the iPad for physical therapists and what should you be cautious about? As a clinic that has actively been using the iPad for about 6 months now, we have found a number of tangible benefits. Documentation is much faster and happens in real time with each visit. We can track and log the time of each modality, which is especially useful for insurance billing. The small, flat screen is less obtrusive than a laptop – We always felt the screen created a physical and potentially emotional barrier between my patients and myself. We also like that the ipad can be easily handed to the patient for demonstration of a video exercise or other visual aids.

A couple of notes of caution – the iPad doesn’t have a USB port or printer connection so document management is challenging. Current battery life is shorter than the 12-hour workday and common flash-based applications don’t work.

The other issues we face when evaluating the iPad as a medical tool are fragility (it will break if dropped) and hygiene since it cannot be sterilized. The latter is probably less of an issue for physical therapists than other medical professionals, but certainly bears mentioning.

The true future of iPad use within physical therapy clinics will depend on the availability of medical apps for clinicians. It seems inevitable that as our world becomes more and more technology focused we will have to start thinking about how to maneuver our own clinical landscape.

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Bronwyn Spira, PT, and Tejal Ramaiya, DPT, CSCS authored this guest post. They can be found at Force Therapeutics or Twitter.com/ForceTherEx.