Torticollis and Plagiocephaly in Infants

What is torticollis?
Torticollis is the shortening of muscles in the neck causing a rotation or bending of the cervical spine.  Congenital torticollis (present at birth) may be caused by malpositioning of the head in the uterus, or by prenatal injury of the muscles or blood supply in the neck.  Torticollis can also be caused due [...]

Find Your Voice: Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT®)

Nearly every person (89%) with Parkinson disease will have problems with speech that start early in the disease process and progressively diminish quality of life:
·        Soft Voice
·        Mumbled speech
·        Monotone speech
·        Hoarse voice
·        Decreased vocal stamina
Medicine and surgery may dramatically improve the other symptoms of Parkinson disease, but they don’t help speech disorders. The only [...]

What’s Your Scope: What Massage Therapists Offer

Respect What We Offer:
-Massage therapists are and will be increasingly necessary in the health care field:
-We manually manipulate soft tissue in trained ways to increase circulation
-We stimulate metabolism and the production of endorphins in response to “good pain”
-We can help prepare athletes for competition
-We move and direct Lymph
-We can manipulate deeper level connective tissue
-We [...]

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month

Anything that impairs your ability to communicate limits your life. Yet 14 million Americans have a speech or language problem, and many do not know that they can be helped.
If you stutter, have problems pronouncing certain sounds, or don’t always understand what people say to you, you could have a speech or language problem.
People of [...]

PLANTAR FASCIITIS

Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common medical diagnoses associated with heel pain and makes up 25% of all foot injuries most noted in runners & athletes. Typically plantar fasciitis is brought on as result of over-training or over-stressing the tissues of your lower extremity. History most likely will indicate a change in level [...]

Hamstrings & Injury Prevention

If you are an athlete, you are at a higher risk of injuring a knee when the hamstring muscles are much weaker than the quadriceps.  This is why strength and flexibility are great for preventing injury to the hamstrings and/or the knees.
 
Athletes are also at risk for hamstring and knee injuries when the gluteal muscles [...]

What’s Your Scope 5: Refer to Other Professionals

Refer immediately to the local PT, OT, or ATC any signals from your patient that are caution flags.   If operating independently, be confident with and know the health care provider you will refer this patient to.  Sometimes because we get such positive feedback from those with whom we’ve worked, we can have an “exaggerated idea [...]

Arthritis- Performing Tasks Easier without the Pain

May is National Arthritis Month.  Therefore, it is a great time to focus on fixing your arthritis pain.  Do you hurt after preparing a meal?  Do you have difficulty doing everyday things or leisure activities?  If so, it may be worth while taking time to find a simpler or easier way to do them. 
Identify [...]

What’s Your Scope?:Don’t Interfere w/ or Contradict a Physician’s Recommendations or Prescriptions, and Don’t Support a Client (Patient) Who Wishes to Do So

I have had patients try to get me to badmouth doctors, or other physical therapists.  NOT GOOD.  Good medicine and effective therapy  is self evident.  So even if I might have inclinations towards different folks, or prescriptions, not only is it my job to point to them, but it is good practice to be silent [...]