physical therapy

A great deal of snow has fallen in many parts of the world this year and with it has come the usual flood of shoveling-related injuries. The Omaha World-Herald has a timely story outlining many points that should be considered when venturing out to clear your walks and driveways. Some of the important ones include:

• know your limits
• set limits for yourself
• don’t lift if you can push instead
• avoid twisting
• wear footwear with good traction

Most of the tips are simply common sense but a quick reminder can often prevent unnecessary injuries. For more on these and other snow shoveling tips, see the original article here:

Omaha.com – The Omaha World-Herald: Living – The scoop on proper shoveling.

Knee Arthroplasty - side view

The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery has a new review article titled ‘What’s New in Adult Reconstructive Knee Surgery.’ The review primarily discusses articles that appeared in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American Volume), The Journal of Arthroplasty, and select articles from Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research in 2008.

Topics covered in the discussion include:

• Economic Factors and Performance Measures
• Unicompartmental Arthritis
• Surgical Approaches
• Computer Navigation in Total Knee Arthroplasty
• Perioperative Management
• Prophylaxis Against Venous Thromboembolism
• Outcomes After Total Knee Arthroplasty
• Complications
• Evidence-Based Orthopaedics
• Evidence-Based Articles Related

Read the full article here.

The New York Times has an interesting essay called ‘Physical Therapy and the Camaraderie of Healing.’ The essay discusses the relationships formed between patients and their physical therapists as well as between between fellow physical therapy participants. As author Caitlin Kelly points out, “Everyone ends up in PT.”

“Because we see them so frequently for months, we get to know our physical therapists, and they us, in ways we’ll never know our doctors.”

You can find it here: Cases – Physical Therapy and the Camaraderie of Healing – NYTimes.com.

The Wii has been been a top seller in the game console market for years and continues to become more prevalent in homes around the world. Unlike gaming systems such as the Xbox and the PS3, playing games on the Wii often involves more gross motor skills than fine motor skills. Used correctly this makes the Wii potentially effective in improving coordination, balance, range of motion as well as general strength.

Physical therapists are increasingly bringing the Wii into the rehabilitation setting. Patients see it as a great alternative to often boring and repetitive exercises programs. The incorporation of gross limb and body movements into a game setting seems to keep patients much more engaged.

Popular therapy games include tennis and bowling as well as games like ‘Wii Fit’ which directly focused on actual balance and strength training. Not only can these games can be played individually but they can also be played by multiple players at the same time, which can increase engagement even more.

The Wii is being used in many different rehabilitation settings such as basic health maintenance in the elderly, youth physical therapy, stroke rehabilitation, post-surgical rehabilitation and brain injury rehabilitation. Clinicians feel that the benefits are even more broad and may aid in stress reduction as well as offering benefits to the treatment of diabetes, asthma and even heart disease. An early case study in PT Journal found that the rehabilitation program of a of a cerebral palsy when augmented with the Wii resulted in “positive outcomes at the impariment and functional levels”.

The price point on the gaming systems is very appealing as well. In an industry where equipment is usually very expensive, the appeal of the small $250 cost of a console, a cost that includes several games and a controller, is hard to deny. Most equipment in a rehab setting is very specialized for the small rehabilitation market; small in relation the the mass appeal of a commercial product like the Wii.

As the Nintendo Wii becomes more prevalent in the treatment programs for many conditions there is one condition that we may see begin to proliferate; the dreaded ‘Nintendonitis.’