Exercise: More Than You Bargain For

On Thursday in lab we discussed and practiced therapeutic exercises. We discussed the importance of form and making sure that the patient does not use compensatory or poor movement patterns that could lead to potential injuries in the future.



Coincidentally on that same day National Public Radio (NPR) broadcast a couple of very interesting pieces on exercise. You can hear them here. One of the pieces shared how a 10 minute exercise break helped students who were on task less than 50% of the time be on task more than 70% of the time. Pretty impressive, eh? The other story spoke about exercise breaks in the work force. One company found that by giving employees three 5 minute breaks during the day, the employees productivity actually increased with a 30 minute increase of productivity. So the company actually got back more than the time they gave away. Not bad!

Take home message? Exercise not only provides enhancement of movement by improving strength, endurance, and motor control but can also improve attentiveness and productivity.....Share the good news...and get moving or as the American Physical Therapy Association says, Move Forward.

New York Times Article about Physical Therapy

There was a nice article in the New York Times about Physical Therapy. Check it out here. It describes the author's experiences with physical therapy and was very complimentary. We, physical therapists, have a great job. We get to spend time with people which is very different than going to see a physician where the norm seems to be 5 minutes or so. We have the time to explain procedures, explain what we are doing, put patients' minds at ease, develop healthy relationships, and help people reach their potential. Needless to say, I am proud of what we do and proud to be associated with the caliber of people that most physical therapists are. While none of us is perfect, I think the majority try each day to be really good at what they should be doing and our patients have the opportunity to reap real rewards because of it.

CSM Recap

I have returned from the Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association in Las Vegas. It was great. I was privileged to give two presentations. The first was on using the Wii and other technologies in Physical Therapy. It was very popular as there were 200 in the room and I was told at least 200 were turned away (quite unhappily). I have been very amused at the therapists who belittle the use of Wii in therapy claiming that it is not 'evidence based.' These people have such a limited view on the world and do not get it. No one is claiming that we should have our patients only use the Wii and do nothing else for physical therapy. It is a piece of therapy just like joint manipulation is a piece of a thorough treatment plan. If we can use the Wii to promote doing exercise or to increase participation or to take notice or to increase balance or to improve movement patterns or to have fun while doing good things for our movement then the Wii is a good thing and should be used as an aspect of our treatment.

The other presentation I gave was about some research that Justin Tepen, DPT (a former student) and I did on vocabulary use. I was very happy at the amount of times I heard different presenters talk about the need for standardized vocabularies regardless of their topic. Physical Therapists need to understand how important vocabulary is especially in light of the $20 billion information technology monies from the newly passed stimulus package. If we are do not get our act together we will not see much of that money headed our way nor will we be very successful with Electronic Health Records that are starting to emerge.

It was a busy weekend for me. I attended a continuing education course on the Lumbar Spine. As physical therapists we are required to attend a certain number of continuing education courses to help us keep current with our knowledge. The course was presented by the International Academy of Orthopedic Medicine (IAOM). I always enjoy the courses by this group because they are very thorough and they do not claim to be the "one and only" best way to practice physical therapy. Every time I hear someone pitch that this technique is the only or the absolute best way to do something, I get very skeptical and with good reason. There are many ways to practice physical therapy and get good results and each patient is different from the next that requires thoughtful and varied techniques.



I am looking forward to next week because I am going to Las Vegas to the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting. This is an annual event where PTs from around the country gather to discuss and share research and help forge the future of physical therapy. I will be presenting about using gaming devices in physical therapy like the Nintendo Wii and the Playstation EyeToy. I am also presenting some research on the use of vocabulary in physical therapy documentation. I really look forward to it. Many of my students are making the trip. It is fun to spend time with them in a different setting and to get to know them on another level. I hope to see you in Las Vegas.