Relieve joint stress and pain

Our joints face a lot of stress throughout our day, especially when there is an injury. It changes the way the body functions and moves. This can cause secondary pain and problems due to compensations to perform everyday movement and high level activity.

Recently, I attended a course on the treatment of common extremity dysfunction through mobilization. This course was 16 hours long, 75% hands on experience and covered everything from the hand to the foot. The focus was on mobilization of the joint in order to normalize the stress occurring on the various tissues around a joint. These techniques can immediately decrease stress and pain for individuals. It is quick and pain free to do. After the joint tissues have been normalized it is important to then exercise to reinforce what has been done.

Want to learn more about this technique? Here is a link to the course web site. 

This article was written by Hannah Schultz, PTA at OSR Physical Therapy. 

OSR's providers value continuing education

Many of OSR's Physical Therapists, Ryan Koepp, Nate Stier, and Rusty Wallman attended the Current Concepts in Sports Medicine spring conference in Minneapolis.

Physical Therapist, Meredith Butulis, also teamed up with other area providers to present on Dance Medicine.

Have a question or comment on how continuing education helps our patients? Leave us a post!

Ankle sprains

Ankle sprains are a very common injury evaluated and treated by Physical Therapists and Athletic Trainers. If you are an athlete, you know that this injury can leave you side lined for weeks, and even months. One of the keys to getting back on your feet quickly is early diagnosis and treatment.

There are many different kinds of ankle sprains:

• Lateral/Inversion--This is the most common and involves ligaments on the outside of your ankle
• Medial/Eversion--This is less common and involves ligaments on the inside of your ankle
• High--This involves the area that seems to be above the ankle joint

 

There are also different grades, or degrees of severity.


Physical Therapists and Athletic Trainers provide treatment both immediately, and in the following weeks to get you back to your activities and sports. The rehab team will typically progress you from:

1. Education on caring for the new injury, and determining if you need crutches
2. Referring you for MD evaluation if the PT evaluation indicates there may be damage beyond the sprain
3. Knowing when to begin range of motion exercises 
4. Knowing what kinds of strength and balance exercises to progress to, and when to progress them
5. Knowing when to walk and run again, and how to work back into these activities
6. Learning how to brace and tape, and what kind of bracing and taping is appropriate for each phase of your return to function.

Depending on the type of sprain and degree of injury, full rehabilitation of an ankle sprain typically takes 10 days - 6 weeks. There are many individual factors that also influence the time frames.

More information on ankle sprains can be found on the American Physical Therapy Association's web site via this link. 


Have questions? Would you like to share a story? Leave us a post!

Interview with one of OSR's Physical Therapists

Recently, Hannah Schultz, PTA at OSR, interviewed Meredith Butulis, DPT at OSR on what the new letters behind her name mean.


Question: What is a CIMT?
Answer: CIMT stands for Certified Integrated Manual Therapist. It is an advanced certification that Physical Therapists can earn.

Question: Does this mean that you perform manual therapy, like massage, on all of your patients?
Answer: No. I evaluate and treat each patient individually. The certification really helps a therapist develop a very high level of understanding on how to use taping, exercise, and muscle energy techniques all together to achieve a result. Most of my interventions involve the patient being very active. 

Question: How does a Physical Therapist earn this certification?
Answer: A Physical Therapist attends 140 hours of specialized classroom work, and then practices these techniques over a course of at least 3 years. After this, the therapist is eligible to attend a 4 day written, oral, and practical exam. Once all of these exams are passed at 80% or better, one earns the title of CIMT.

Question: How does this affect the way that you treat patients?
Answer: Because of this training, I view each injury in terms of how it affects the entire body more than I did previously. For example, if you have an ankle injury, I may also evaluate and select appropriate interventions for your hip and knee as part of your treatment plan.

Question: What is one of the most interesting things you learned during your training?
Answer: I learned the specifics of how the body is really "all connected." For example, there are times that I need to treat pelvis alignment in order to successfully strength parts of a shoulder. There are very specific tests and signs I look for to understand which situations this applies in.

Shoulder Treatment

Recently Ryan Koepp and myself attended the continuing education course, Evidence-Based Assessment and Treatment of Shoulder Disorders and Other Related Shoulder Pathologies.  The presenter was Robert McCabe, MS, PT, OCS who works for the Andrews Institute in Pensacola.

 During the course there were many topics covered.  Most of the topics were review as the day went on.  Many confirmed what we at OSR already practice with our treatment and management of shoulder disorders.  While at this conference I did take away some great new ideas.

• First, the presenter showed many manual therapy techniques for stretching the shoulder capsule and for promoting proper shoulder blade motion.  These I will definitely be incorporating into my practice.  
• Second, we were shown many different rehab exercises.  There were some exercises I would have never thought of.  Most of them were for shoulder/shoulder blade stabilization and activation exercises.  I can already say I have incorporated these new exercises in with some of my patients and they have loved them.    

Check out the Andrews Institute website.  They have some very informational material.  http://www.theandrewsinstitute.com/

This article was written by Andrew Ernst, ATR, CSCS, CES. Andrew is one of the Athletic Trainers at OSR Physical Therapy, Eden Prairie. Ryan Koepp is a Physical Therapist, and clinic director at OSR Physical Therapy, Eden Prairie.  

Who am I working with at OSR?

Coming into any clinic, a good question is "what are your credentials?" Sometimes, you might see an email from your provider and wonder, "what do those letters after his/her name stand for?" Here's some insight into the letters you see behind names at OSR Physical Therapy.



We have three types of providers: Physical Therapy, Athletic Training, and Personal Training/Fitness. Many of our providers have credentials in more than one of these areas. Often providers list only their highest credential for their degree, as well as any advanced certification.

For example, a Physical Therapist that has both a Masters, and a Doctorate in Physical Therapy will only list the Doctorate.

Here are the letters and meanings for our Physical Therapy providers:

• DPT--Doctor of Physical Therapy
• MPT (or MSPT)--Masters of Physical Therapy
• PTA--Physical Therapy Assistant
• CIMT--Certified Integrated Manual Therapist

Our Physical Therapists work primarily in the clinic. We work with many insurance companies, as well as having cash pay options.

Here are the letters and meanings for our Athletic Trainers:

• ATR--Registered Athletic Trainer
• ATC--Certified Athletic Trainer

All of OSR's providers that actively practice in the field of Athletic Training are both Certified and Registered. Our Athletic Trainers work on site at several sports clubs and dance studios, at the sidelines of many games, and in the clinic.

Here are the letters and meanings for our Fitness Providers:

• ACSM HFS--American College of Sports Medicine Health/Fitness Specialist
• NASM CPT--National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer
• CES--Corrective Exercise Specialist (via National Academy of Sports Medicine)
• PES--Performance Enhancement Specialist (via National Academy of Sports Medicine)
• BB Pilates Certified--Comprehensive Studio Pilates Certification from Balanced Body, which is part of the Pilates Method Alliance

All of OSR's fitness providers have a CPT, CES, PES, and are metabolic technicians. This allows them to work with a broad range of individuals from post-rehab, to weight loss and general fitness, to high level athletes. Our fitness services are cash pay, and may be reimbursable through your HSA. You should contact your HSA provider to discuss your specific account and circumstances.

OSR's providers work as a team inside and outside of the clinic to help you achieve the best outcomes possible on the broad spectrum from on field injury, to clinical rehabilitation of injury, to health/wellness, and return to sport performance. Have a question about these degrees and certifications? Want to know more about the education that goes into a specific credential? Just ask by leaving us a reply! We'd be happy to answer your questions.

What do Physical Therapists do to help with shin splints?

In follow up to last week's post on shin splints, let's look at what Physical Therapists do to help resolve shin pain.

• Evaluate the contributing factors such as:
• muscle imbalances
• training patterns
• how your footwear matches your foot type and sport
• Treat the causes, including:
• modalities to decrease inflammation
• hands on techniques to decrease scar tissue
• possible recommendation for change in footwear or orthotics
• exercises to treat muscle imbalances identified
• working with you on how you perform your skill (i.e. running analysis)
• Work with you on appropriate training progressions

If a Physical Therapist thinks the cause may require further evaluation by an MD, your PT will work with you on identifying a provider that would be helpful in your specific situation/sport.