Health Blog Category: Health
What To Do If You’re Considering Surgery
In physical therapy, we treat a significant amount of patients after surgery. We find that some patients really respond well and bounce back quickly, while others may wish they never had surgery. We wanted to provide you with a check-list of some common things we recommend our patient’s look at prior to surgery in order to best maximize their outcomes.
- Educate Yourself: It is your body, make sure you have educated conversations with your health-care team and family prior to undergoing surgery about the benefits and risks of your procedure.
Attending Physical Therapy Sessions: Why Consistent Attendance is Crucial to Your Recovery
Let’s begin with the most important questions: why is physical therapy important?
As we’ve covered in previous blogs, the answer is pretty endless and has countless research journals supporting its validity, but just few benefits of PT may include:
1. Maximizing Movement: pain-free movement is crucial to high quality of life, regardless of your age, gender, activity level or job, we all need to move pain-free.
2.
Read full blogWhat to Expect on Your First PT Visit…The Initial Evaluation
Beginning physical therapy can be very overwhelming and stressful, especially considering you’re already in pain and having difficulties with your daily activities. Here is a helpful primer on what to expect on your first therapy session—the Initial Evaluation.
- Paper Work:
Most clinics will ask you to show up a few minutes early to fill out paper work prior to meeting the physical therapist. While this can be tedious, it provides valuable information on your past-medical history, medications, and current symptoms which will guide the therapist through the interview and help the therapist ask the most appropriate questions concerning your health.
You Are More Than Your MRI
If I could tell every patient one thing before they step foot in our clinic it would be this: you are more than your MRI.
We see countless patients who undergo MRIs for low back or neck pain before beginning physical therapy, and the vast majority feel that as long as they’ve got their disc bulge they’ll always have their neck or back pain. Unfortunately, this is one of the most outdated and dangerous medical myths out there.
Read full blogHow to Begin Physical Therapy
Starting physical therapy can be a scary and stressful process. When your physician recommends beginning PT, many people are unsure what to do next. Hopefully this will help answer some common questions about how to set-up therapy and what to expect from PT. Today we’ll cover the initial phone call—Patient Activation.
- Physician’s Referral:
Most insurances (medicare, motor vehicle, workers compensation, to name a few) require a signed prescription from a licensed physician (MD, DO) within the past 30 days to begin PT, which you will need to bring to the initial evaluation.
Read full blogAquatic Physical Therapy in Media, PA.
Aquatic therapy is a widely used technique using both the thermal and mechanical characteristics of water. This low impact technique is effective in minimizing joint compression, in maintaining cardiovascular fitness and in strengthening muscles. This therapy is commonly applied to patients with disabilities.
The popularity of aquatic therapy is due to its multiple benefits. It promotes cardiovascular fitness although the heart does not have to work as hard. This is due to water pressure and aids in blood circulation. Aerobic exercise done in water up to the chest is likely to elevate the heart rate lower than it would in land.
Read full blogTop 5 Physical Therapy Myths
Physical Therapy, everyone has either had it, knows someone who has had it or at least has heard of it. But knowing isn’t always understanding it fully or getting the whole picture.
PT is one of the fastest growing and most popular professions in the healthcare world. However there are still are a number of myths about PT and here are our top 5.
Myth # 5: You need insurance to get Physical Therapy
Your physician and insurance carrier might tell you this but the truth is there are many out of network providers that will give you 5 star quality care and give you the best patient experience while dealing with all the insurance complications for you.
Read full blogA Primer on Strengthening
Whether you’re the next Arnold Schwarzenegger or the next Betty White, it’s likely that strength training will be part of your physical therapy program. Now, not all strengthening activities are created equal. Based upon your goals and presenting condition, a skilled therapist will implement varying degrees and types of strength training to help you achieve your goals. Here are a few common methods used by PTs to improve strength and stability.
Concentric/Eccentric Training:
Despite the fancy names, these are the most commonly used and more generic methods of strength training.
Read full blogImprove Health with Just Breathing
We as Americans clearly struggle with a nationwide epidemic of poor health. This epidemic is followed swiftly by an unwavering movement towards creating health amongst every person, everywhere. What impacts our health? Poor nutrition, sedentary lifestyles, stress, lack of sleep, and heredity issues are just a few in a long list. I support and will never dispute the need for proper nutrition, exercise, and routine check-ups from a physician. Why not start with a basic and fundamental approach to changing our lives in a healthy direction?
Read full blogPhysical Therapy for Osteoporosis
“You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream…”- C.S. Lewis
Two of the things we strive to address in our Physical Therapy clinic are education and prevention. These two pillars can help empower our patients to live their life actively and independently, constantly setting and achieving new goals.
Unfortunately, obstacles can arise, especially as we age. With advanced age, not only does our risk for osteoporosis increase, but our fall risk can increase as well.
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