Geaux to Physical Therapy

An article[i] in the The Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy (JOSPT) recently discussed a possible new hallmark of carpal tunnel syndrome – a stiff neck.  Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is a condition in which a nerve in the wrist is compressed, causing symptoms of numbness, tingling, and weakness in the hand.  It can cause considerable pain and debility [...]

Tennis elbow is a painful condition in which pain is experienced on the outside of your elbow with lifting and gripping (especially when your elbow is straight) and can lead to weakness in the elbow and hands.  The condition can be attributed to poor technique related to tennis, however, more people suffer from tennis elbow [...]

A colleague of mine sent me this article from MSNBC about back surgery.  There were a few statistics in it that were staggering including that 26% of those who have back surgery return to work compared to 67% of those who elect not to have surgery.  One thing that most people don’t realize about back [...]

Someone stopped into the clinic yesterday with a hamstring strain asking what type of stretches she should be doing.  She also mentioned that someone recommended she put heat on it.  First question is always “When did this occur?”  “Yesterday.”  “Well, in that case, use PRICE.”  For 24-48 hours following an injury I recommend PRICE. Protection:  [...]

Patients ask me what my opinion is on taking the supplements glucosamine and chondroitin for arthritis.  So, for our monthly journal club I decided to read an article published in the September British Medical Journal (BMJ) on this topic.[i]  Researchers analyzed randomized controlled trials that studied the effect of supplements glucosamine and chondroitin on pain [...]

Today I helped a high school athlete return to competing in a cross country meet and not only that, meet a personal best and without knee pain.  In just 2 short sessions.  Ok, so I know I’m  bragging, but I was really proud of this accomplishment, which was 75% the effort of my patient and [...]

I recently coordinated continuing education on treatment of the shoulder for physical and occupational therapists at HealthReach Rehab.  My final contribution to the courses was evidence-based treatment of rotator cuff tears.  The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles at the shoulder, named supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis.  The most commonly torn muscle [...]