Physical Therapy Month

October is Physical Therapy month. Have you ever wondered what kind of educational background Physical Therapists have? Check out this article on the basics of Physical Therapists.

Have a question about becoming a Physical Therapist, or about the background or specialties of your specific Physical Therapist? Leave us a post!

Introducing Minnetonka Athletic Trainer Kristin Kutch

I’m new to the Twin Cities and am very glad to have found a home with OSR Physical Therapy. I moved to Twin Cities in July from Kansas City due to a work move for my husband. 

Back in Kansas City I worked two years as the Head Athletic Trainer for a high school in Independence, Missouri. I was solely responsible for care of all athletes involved with the school’s 13 different sports. In addition to working at the high school I also worked as an Athletic Trainer with a youth hockey league, summer soccer league, and was part of the medical staff for the 2013 NAIA Division I Basketball Tournament. I was also fortunate enough to work as part of the stretcher crew for several professional soccer games at Sporting Kansas City Stadium.

I look forward to learning a lot in my new position at OSR as well as offering my knowledge and experience of sport performance enhancement. It is very rewarding as a clinician to see your patients return to their sport or activity at their full capacity, something I look forward to working towards every day at OSR. 

Kristin is located at our Minnetonka office and works as a team with Physical Therapist, Matt Gannott.

Introducing Eden Prairie Physical Therapist Meaghan Cox

Meet one of OSR's new providers: Meaghan Cox!




"I am very excited to be a new member of OSR working at the Eden Prairie clinic. I am originally from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada where I grew up very involved in sports such as swimming, track and field, figure skating, Ukrainian dancing and watching a lot of hockey. However, artistic gymnastics was always my passion and I was grateful to be able to travel all over the country to compete at the Elite and National level. When I was 18, I moved to Illinois to attend college on a full gymnastics scholarship at Illinois State University. I also spent 1 year involved in my school’s acrobatic circus. After graduating with my Bachelor’s degree, I moved to Kentucky where I graduated with my Doctorate in Physical Therapy from The University of Kentucky.

While spending many hours in the gym, I sustained multiple injuries and spent my fair share of time in physical therapy. It was through this personal experience that I fell in love with the profession of physical therapy and knew that I wanted to spend my career helping athletes and active individuals get back to their respected sports and activities just as someone had done for me for so many years.

I plan to be active in the gymnastics population as well as high school and community events as I become settled into the Eden Prairie clinic. I also have a great interest in all sport and orthopedic injuries and look forward to working with all people to help them achieve their PT goals."

Focus on Women's Health: ACL and knee injury prevention exercises

Interested in understanding why females are more susceptible to knee injury? Would you like some exercises to include in your workouts that can help as part of your injury prevention plan?

See this National Academy of Sports Medicine article, written by Meredith Butulis, DPT. Meredith works out of our Eden Prairie office. Here is one of the sets of exercises you will find in the article:

Physical Therapy for Prehab before ACL reconstruction?

“Should I really go to physical therapy for ‘prehab’ before I have my ACL reconstruction?” 

 

This is a very common question asked by athletes who have recently suffered an ACL tear, and the answer is YES.  The single largest mistake people make is neglecting the importance of regaining functional knee range of motion, maximizing strength/coordination, and reducing swelling as much as possible BEFORE going in for surgery.  The pain and swelling caused by inflammation after an ACL tear can produce reflex weakening of the muscles surrounding the injured area. Neuromuscular control needs to be restored prior to surgery in order to facilitate normal muscle recovery post-operatively. The stronger the muscles are going in, the faster they will recover afterwards.  Doing nothing for even the couple weeks leading up to surgery can make your post-operative recovery much more difficult.  

In addition to the physical benefits of pre-operative therapy, establishing a relationship with your Physical Therapist beforehand will provide a huge mental boost and allow you to become prepared for surgery and what is to be expected afterwards.  An ACL tear is a HUGE deal to an athlete and is a very difficult injury to come back from mentally.  Going into surgery with a strong sense of mental preparedness enables the athlete to be both confident and realistic about the rehab process and goal setting.  Athletes are often nervous about surgery and will likely forget to ask the surgeon the right questions.  Working with your physical therapist before allows the procedure to be explained thoroughly and gives the athlete/therapist opportunity to discuss their rehabilitation program in detail, so that they fully understand what is expected of them.  

At OSR Physical Therapy, we specialize in the treatment of athletic injuries and have had the opportunity to return many local athletes to their sport in PRIME CONDITION following ACL Reconstruction.  We are proud to be the choice provider for many of our local high school athletes and are confident in our staff and state-of-the art equipment.  Please do not hesitate to contact us to answer any questions you may have about ACL Reconstruction and rehabilitation.  

Here are some related links of interest:

http://www.osrpt.com/physical-therapy/acl-prevention/

http://www.osrpt.com/fitness-services/alter-g/

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001074.htm

This article was created by Josh Rolfes, DPT. Josh works out of our Eden Prairie office. 

Swimmer's shoulder

The start of fall sports season has begun filling OSR with high school sports injuries. This post will cover a common injury in swimmers : Swimmer’s shoulder.

Historically swimmer’s shoulder has been any pain in, or around the shoulder of a competitive swimmer. Specifically it is a type of impingement of the tendons of the rotator cuff muscles as they pass over the ball of the shoulder joint. Unlike “standard” impingement, swimmer shoulder is much more commonly associated with too much mobility in the shoulder joint as well as the shoulder blade.

Due to the propulsion required by the upper body with all swim strokes, swimmers often demonstrate a stereotypically rounded, or forward shoulder posture. This posture is a result of weakness of the muscles that stabilize the shoulder blade (trapezius and rhomboids) as well as the rotator cuff, along with the strength of the muscles across the front of the shoulder (pectoralis and latissimus) that are required to move the swimmer through the water.

The resulting imbalance leads to a shoulder that does not have enough space on the top of the ball and socket joint to allow the tendons of the rotator cuff to pass without “pinching”, also known as shoulder impingement.

A swimmer with shoulder impingement must balance the need for an extremely mobile shoulder with enough strength in the scapular stabilizers and rotator cuff to prevent impingement. The best exercise to stabilize the shoulder blade is horizontal abduction, and the best to keep the rotator cuff group strong is sidelying external rotation. The following are pictures and brief descriptions of each.

Horizontal Abduction: Lie on your stomach with the arm hanging down off the edge of the bed or table. Start the motion by squeezing your shoulder blade in toward your spine and then raise your arm out to the side as if to make the letter “T”. Slowly return to the starting position.
Sidelying External Rotation: Lie on your side with the arm you want to exercise facing up. Place a small towel roll between your elbow and ribs. With the elbow bent to 90 degrees, slowly raise the forearm toward the ceiling then slowly return.



 Both exercises should be performed with low weights (0-3 lbs) for high repetitions (30-50) every other day. These exercises should NOT be painful, but fatigue and muscle “burn” can be expected. Relative rest from your daily yardage while the pain persists is also recommended.

If your shoulder pain continues with the combination of these exercises and relative rest, contact your physician or call any of our offices with questions or to sign up for a free injury consultation with one of our certified athletic trainers.

This article was created by Ryan Koepp, DPT with collaboration of Andrew Ernst, ATR. This team works out of our Eden Prairie office. 

Minnetonka clinic is now open!

You will find this clinic on the corner of HWY 101 and 7, across from Minnetonka High School. Visit our web page for address and phone number: www.osrpt.com
You can schedule with Physical Therapists, Rusty Wallman and Matt Gannott, at this location. We continue to operate our Chanhassen and Eden Prairie clinics as well.