Entries by Outreach Physical Therapy

Are Hip Precautions Still Necessary After Total Hip Arthroplasty?

By Andrew Wolfanger, PT, DPT Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) is a highly effective surgical procedure for those suffering from significant pain and disability due to end stage osteoarthritis. The procedure has been shown to consistently reduce pain, restore function, and improve patient reported quality of life. Surgeons utilizing a posterolateral surgical approach have long utilized […]

Brain Fog

By Jan Michael Bacalzo PT, DPT, Outreach Physical Therapist and Melissa Roque, MS CCC-SLP, Outreach Speech-Language Pathologist Rachel is a 40-year-old working mother. One afternoon, as she was going back to her car after grocery shopping, Rachel was suddenly at a loss, and could not remember where she had parked her car. She frantically tried […]

Inspiratory Muscle Training and Low Back Pain

By David Wallace, PT, DPT The diaphragm is a thin pancake-shaped muscle that sits between the thoracic and abdominal cavities. Its main function is its ability to contract, thereby expanding the lungs and enabling us to draw in a breath. However, in more recent years, other secondary roles of the diaphragm have begun to present […]

Urinary Incontinence in Older Adults

By Lacey Salberg, PT, DPT, Outreach Physical Therapist Is urinary incontinence (UI) a health problem that Physical Therapists can address? The answer is yes! While UI may be a common symptom among older people, it is not an inevitable part of aging. According to a 2015 systematic review by Stenzelius et al., the prevalence of […]

Building Therapeutic Relationships with Your Clients: Face-to-Face or Telehealth in the Age of COVID

By Stacey R. Lav, OTR/L As occupational therapists, we provide opportunities over prescriptions. Therapeutic relationships are key in the overall success of our clients and are a big part in motivating the client to participate in their plan of care, and better improve client outcomes. Occupational therapists facilitate finding the meaning in the day-to-day and […]

The Occupational Therapist Chooses the Easel

Home-based occupational therapists (OTs) are in a unique position to address the friction between a client’s physical abilities and their home environment: we treat individuals in the midst of all those factors that challenge them practically and motivate them to convalesce. Read more about occupation-based interventions can help.

Gait Instability in the Geriatric Population

As people get older, its common to develop issues with gait and mobility for many reasons, from certain medical conditions such as arthritis, stroke or parkinsonism, to the use of many medications along with other factors such as arrhythmias, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, depression, diabetes, fear of falling, orthostatic hypotension, sleep disorders, and inner ear problems.

Sensory Variables Affecting Balance

Falls occur when there is a loss of balance with an inability to control one’s posture. Sensory input, the external information received from our surroundings, influences our balance. Three types of sensory input received include visual input (e.g. vision), proprioceptive input (e.g. joint position, related to standing surface) and vestibular input (e.g. head positioning.)

Movement as Medicine for Major Depression

Physical therapists are movement specialists. We have an extensive knowledge of the anatomy of the human body and injuries, diseases and illnesses that affect movement. Patients benefit from skilled physical therapists who perform thorough evaluations and develop treatment programs based on the findings of the examination.

Avoiding These Common Overuse Injuries

After a seemingly endless winter, and a cold start to spring, most of us are no doubt itching to spend some quality time soaking up some vitamin D. Unfortunately, we often get caught up in our zeal to get back into shape for the nice weather and are prone to ending up with overuse injuries.

Keeping Aspiration Pneumonia at Bay

Pneumonia is a risk that increases with age, and it can significantly complicate your overall health, even leading to hospitalization or death. Pneumonia refers to any infection in the lungs where the air sacs fill with pus, and can be caused by a number of different viruses or bacteria. Your pneumonia shot protects you against one specific type of viral pneumonia.