FYI ...

Female Athletes More Susceptible to Injury

If you watched the amazing female athletes perform at the Olympics, it may not surprise you to note that female athletes are actually more susceptible to non-contact ACL injuries. In an article found in the August issue of “Advance for Directors of Rehabilitation.” Drs. Stearne and Covassin noted that “It is estimated that more than 50,000 serious knee injuries occur to female athletes in varsity intercollegiate and high school athletics each year. The ACL is the most commonly injured know ligament with an incidence 6 to 6 times HIGHER in females than males involved in the same sports. NCAA estimates that approximately 2,200 collegiate female athletes rupture and ACL each year.”

What gives?

“Between 72% and 95% of sports related ACL injuries are due to non-contact mechanisms and typically occur at foot strike when an athlete is decelerating, pivoting, landing or responding to an unanticipated perturbation. The factors that are being researched for this phenomenon are focused on biomechanical factors.

Neuroplasticity and PT

Current research strongly suggests that the brain has the ability to reorganize by forming new neural connections. This is neuroplasticity. Since more than 1.4 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury annually, 50,000 die, 235,000 are hospitalized and 1.1 million are treated and released. In 2000, the direct medical cost and indirect costs associated with traumatic brain injury was estimated to be $50 billion in the U.S. alone.

This research on neuroplasticity has suggested many changes in the physical and mental rehabilitation of patients with brain injuries and stroke. One innovative regimen is to use computer video gaming as a way to “re-wire” a brain injury patient’s neurons to re-build eye-to-hand coordination.

What Causes Back Pain?

Most people decide to see a physical therapist because their back pain gets to be too much to bear. So, what are the primary medical reasons for back pain?

• Intervertebral disc
• The Facet (zygapophysial) joint
• The Sacroiliac joint
• The Dorsal Root ganglion

Common conditions that cause pain include spinal stenosis, nerve-related disorders and post-laminectomy syndrome.

Is Your Office HIPAA Compliant…Yet?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (now you know why everyone just refers to it as HIPAA) has been a challenge for the medical profession to meet. Even now, some of the more obscure aspects of this patient privacy law are not being following.

Here’s a pop quiz on HIPAA. What does the law suggest for computer security?

Most practitioners SHOULD know, but DON’T.

Computer systems should be backed up regularly and those backups should be taken off site. This ensures that the patient files are not lost in fire or stolen.

Know What Drugs and Supplements Your Patient is Taking

The number of drugs that we are all taking has dramatically increased over the past decade. This is particularly true in patients who are older than 50. So, why is this important to a PT who is focused on an exercise regime?

Lauran Fritsky in an article in the April 2008 issue of “ADVANCE for Physical Therapists and PT Assistants” noted:
• Antipsychotic drugs can impair thermoregulation during exercise or under heat stress and can inhibit sweating, increase the set point of temperature regulation center, reduce heat elimination and cause heat stroke.
• Diuretics can cause heat-related illnesses through volume depletion and possible hyperthermia.
• Certain herbal product can cause heat-related illnesses through impaired thermoregulation or an increase in metabolic heat production
• Statins can produce muscle aching, weakness and cramps in some patients.
• Sulfonylureas can cause hypoglycemia with an acute exercise bout and increase plasma insulin concentration, thus lowering hepatic glucose production.

So, it’s always wise to check the meds AND check the herbal supplements before prescribing rigorous physical therapy.