Falls Or Close Calls: They May Be The Same!
As a Physical or Occupational Therapist working with folks in their homes, we talk about falls on a daily basis. We talk about the causes, the risk factors, the consequences, and how to prevent them. This is a good approach; however, we are often talking to people who have had a fall (or two…) and understand what it feels like! What would be great is if we had a global understanding of what falls are and how to identify risk factors and causes prior to them happening! Falls are in fact when someone hits the ground! This is the general definition out there. But… That is NOT all! When I talk about falls, I ask two questions: Have you fallen recently? AND Have you had any close calls? A fall is not only when someone hits the ground, but also an unexpected movement when you end up somewhere you didn’t…
Therapy and Parkinson’s: Using BIG Movements to Stay Mobile
LSVT Big (BIG) is a treatment technique used by Physical and Occupational Therapists to improve a person’s, ability to produce larger more normal movements with walking and activities of daily living. It is more commonly known as a treatment strategy to help those folks who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a type of neurological movement disorder. It can affect a person’s ability to perform common everyday activities. People with PD can experience a wide range of symptoms, including those that impact movement (motor symptoms) and those that do not (non-motor symptoms). The most common motor symptoms of PD are tremors, stiffness, or rigidity of the muscles and a slowness in movement (bradykinesia). Because PD impacts a person’s movement center, a person with PD typically experiences a decrease in their ability to regulate their posture, balance, coordination, and walking. Overtime, a person may be unable to…
Therapy Automation: Putting the $ Before the Patient
For years, healthcare has been looking for the “silver bullet”, or the perfect way to make the most money possible with the least services possible. We could debate about this for days, but let’s call it what it is, healthcare is a business just like any other business. The issue with this is that the subjects that are at risk are people, including our friends, family, and, at one time or another, providers themselves. We could take this in so many directions with different aspects of healthcare, but recently there has been a push for automation of therapy services, including Physical and Occupational Therapy. These automation services include web or app based programs that have been presented and advertised as a way to minimize the need for therapy. At first glance this software is interesting to many people and organizations, especially with the dynamic nature of healthcare payments. The software…
Vertigo and Concussion Treatment Now at Drexel Hill
Did you know that dizziness can be treated by Physical Therapists? As a matter of fact, Physical Therapists are some of the highest trained medical professionals skilled in treating certain diagnoses causing this! Dizziness is a symptom that can be caused by a large number of diagnoses, including both Vertigo and Concussions. Recently, Dr. Megan Mills (formerly Patro) earned her certification in treating vestibular disorders. Vestibular Rehab is non-invasive, cost-effective, and, in some cases, very short term! This type of rehab is beneficial for people of all ages and has been shown to be helpful with migraines, diabetes, concussions, BPPV (Vertigo), Meniere’s Disease, and Vestibular Neuritis. Prior to treatment, an extensive initial consultation is used to determine what course of action is best suited to improve your situation. Following an initial consultation, a plan of care utilizing restorative positioning, visual training, compensatory measures and balance training is put together to…
Social Media: Attack of the “Experts”
Its been around a while now! Social media has quickly become a primary source of information, good bad, or trivial! It is up to us to be able to navigate through the plethora of info and determine whether it is true or not. The inherent issue here is that once you’ve seen or heard the message, you cannot undo it. Recently, I have noticed a significant amount of experts emerging in the social media world. They are taking the time to bring information mainstream that will engage their followers. This is exactly what we are supposed to do, right? But what happens when posts include sarcasm that belittles others (intentionally or unintentionally), instruction or advice that has no proven foundation, or promote services that may be more sham than productive? Simply put, social media works to put us in touch with others, including friends, family, fans, acquaintances, and more. Inherently…
Taking our mission to heart!
Full Range Co-Owner, Bryan Crnkovic, and friend, Joe McGinty decided late to take part in the 2017 Philadelphia Love Run! Competing in local races is n ot uncommon for the two longtime runners and triathletes! The two ran the race for training, both pushing each other along, much like they do every weekend, but this time something special happened. About 100 yards from the finish line, a young female runner was having difficulty. In Bryan’s kind hearted manner, he didn’t hesitate to give her a hand along with another unknown runner. After helping her continue on her feet, the runner’s legs began to give way. At this point, Joe McGinty saw the struggles and scooped her off of her feet carrying her to within feet of the finish line, only to have her cross under her own power before heading to the medical tent. It is interesting timing. Just a…
Don’t let your environment define you!
A question that is thrown around often and difficult to answer, is “can you define (insert therapy service here)?” Then, even we, as therapists who live and breathe our professions every day, stumble to answer this. Then we wonder why other professionals are referred to before us, or used more often than us. This is a huge problem for our professions, but what is even more of a problem is that we are contributing to this misunderstanding on a daily basis. In the world of health and wellness there are so many environments, settings, and populations. Much like choosing a profession, we are told to decide on a population or environment upon graduation. Shortly after this decision is made, healthcare professionals are immediately asked to use a subset of their skills to treat their patients. This makes sense, but what doesn’t make sense is why the other skills are forgotten…
Making a Positive Impact
The thing to remember, as Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapists, we are medical professionals and, as such, we will see things. Some more than others, and depending on what environment you choose, and some more devastating than others. But we will see falls, 911 calls, strokes, serious injuries, serious complications, sometimes neglect, sometimes abuse, and sometimes unspeakable things that you don’t want to discuss. The thing is that is just sometimes. But ALL OF THE TIME, we will see PEOPLE! People with feelings, emotions, perspectives, mental challenges that we may not be aware of! ALL OF THE TIME our patients are people! Educated or uneducated, motivated or not, kids or adults, 27 or 97…. they are people! And as such, they deserve the utmost respect and empathy and compassion. Therapists face a difficult reality in today’s healthcare field! In some cases we are disrespected, misunderstood, overlooked, and underutilized. In most…
To Change The Environment
Why are you doing this (referring starting Full Range Physical Therapy and Rehab Services)? A question that is often asked of Physical Therapist and owner, Michael McDevitt! Simply put…its needed! Healthcare today is all too often driven by green. We say it all of the time, do right by the patient first and foremost! Everything else will fall into place! So why? To change the environment! Make ripples in a healthcare system that has been less than efficient with questionable motives! To provide first class care and customer service! To show people what the rehab services are capable of if performed properly! We are creating a team of passionate clinicians that take pride in providing the best care possible centered around what is best for the patient, while maximizing our skills within our scope of practice (PT, OT, and SLP)! Now over 2.5 years old, we look forward to continuing…