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A study, published in the European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, concludes that music therapy can improve upper body function in children with severe cerebral palsy, a s. Spanish researchers evaluated music therapy’s impact during a 32-week period on gross motor and upper limb function in children with severe bilateral cerebral palsy. Read the article at Cerebral Palsy News Today. This blog post was created by Planetrehab. The information provided is informational only. Planetrehab combines comprehensive but easy-to-use scheduling, documentation, billing, reporting and collections for single or multi-clinic physical therapy and occupational therapy companies. Our practice management software is integrated with our practice management service that includes access to our team of experienced management consultants that will help identify and correct potential lost revenue and maximize per visit submissions and to our expert management staff that has experience identifying and correcting deficient areas of any practice. To find out more, visit www.planetrehab.com or call 800-982-5447. #cerebralpalsy #music #musictherapy #physicaltherapy

A bandage-like sensor applied to the throat of a recovering stroke victim measures important rehabilitation data. For example, the band aid-like, stretchy sensor measures things like the patient's ability to swallow, speech patterns and aphasia. “Stretchable electronics allow us to see what is going on inside patients’ bodies at a level traditional wearables simply cannot achieve,” says John A. Rogers, engineering professor at Northwestern University. “The key is to make them as integrated as possible with the human body.” Read More Here. This blog post was created by Planetrehab. The information provided is informational only. Planetrehab combines comprehensive but easy-to-use scheduling, documentation, billing, reporting and collections for single or multi-clinic physical therapy and occupational therapy companies. Our practice management software is integrated with our practice management service that includes access to our team of experienced management consultants that will help identify and correct potential lost revenue and maximize per visit submissions and to our expert management staff that has experience identifying and correcting deficient areas of any practice. To find out more, visit www.planetrehab.com or call 800-982-5447. #stroke #speech #speechlanguagepathology #aphasia

In an article by Uzo Igwegbe, PT, MPT that appears in Physical Therapy Products, he explains how ankle foot orthotics (AFOs) and Functional Electric Stimulation (FES) technologies are used to treat foot drop. This blog post was created by Planetrehab. The information provided is informational only. Planetrehab combines comprehensive but easy-to-use scheduling, documentation, billing, reporting and collections for single or multi-clinic physical therapy and occupational therapy companies. Our practice management software is integrated with our practice management service that includes access to our team of experienced management consultants that will help identify and correct potential lost revenue and maximize per visit submissions and to our expert management staff that has experience identifying and correcting deficient areas of any practice. To find out more, visit www.planetrehab.com or call 800-982-5447. #physicaltherapy #footdrop #gait #technology #anklefootorthotics #FunctionalElectricStimulation

Writing for Physical Therapy Products, Mollie Hope, PT, DPT, CBIS, and Abby Albers, SPT provide an overview of how a "team of specialized therapists and researchers use advanced technology in the services they provide across the continuum of care to help each patient achieve his or her highest level of independence." This blog post was created by Planetrehab. The information provided is informational only. Planetrehab combines comprehensive but easy-to-use scheduling, documentation, billing, reporting and collections for single or multi-clinic physical therapy and occupational therapy companies. Our practice management software is integrated with our practice management service that includes access to our team of experienced management consultants that will help identify and correct potential lost revenue and maximize per visit submissions and to our expert management staff that has experience identifying and correcting deficient areas of any practice. To find out more, visit www.planetrehab.com or call 800-982-5447. #physicaltherapy #gait #technology

Some women have turned to pelvic floor physical therapy to treat debilitating pelvic pain. Pelvic pain occurs due to various factors--either due to lifestyle or underlying medical issues. For example, nerve pain from sitting all day. Or from trying to hold in urine for an extended time. And pelvic pain can contribute to painful sex. In an artcile for Health.com, Jessica Migala explains how pelvic floor physical therapy can be used to combat pelvic pain. This blog post was created by Planetrehab. The information provided is informational only. Planetrehab combines comprehensive but easy-to-use scheduling, documentation, billing, reporting and collections for single or multi-clinic physical therapy and occupational therapy companies. Our practice management software is integrated with our practice management service that includes access to our team of experienced management consultants that will help identify and correct potential lost revenue and maximize per visit submissions and to our expert management staff that has experience identifying and correcting deficient areas of any practice. To find out more, visit www.planetrehab.com or call 800-982-5447.

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh are developing a machine learning algorithm that enables an exoskeleton to learn how to customize its movement for each individual. In the article on Inverse, Kirby Witte, a mechanical engineer and a Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon, explained “they can be really awesome like having someone jump real high or kick down a door, or really significant like helping someone walk after a stroke.” Witte goes on to say that she expects her research would prove useful to people in physical therapy. #physical #therapy #physicaltherapy #exercise #rehabilitation #treatment

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) recently published a media release that strongly recommends "the use of pre-surgical treatments to ease pain and improve mobility, including corticosteroid injections, physical therapy and non-narcotic medication (specifically acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or tramadol) for pain and Both anterior and posterior approaches for total hip replacement (THR) surgery." The release also the the new criteria highlight when "hip replacement may be appropriate even when patients have modifiable risk factors, such as obesity, mental health disorders, smoking and diabetes," said Robert H. Quinn, MD, AAOS AUC section leader on the Committee on Evidence-Based Quality and Value. Read the entire Media Release here. This blog post was created by Planetrehab. The information provided is informational only. Planetrehab combines comprehensive but easy-to-use scheduling, documentation, billing, reporting and collections for single or multi-clinic physical therapy and occupational therapy companies. Our practice management software is integrated with our practice management service that includes access to our team of experienced management consultants that will help identify and correct potential lost revenue and maximize per visit submissions and to our expert management staff that has experience identifying and correcting deficient areas of any practice. To find out more, visit www.planetrehab.com or call 800-982-5447. #physicaltherapy #hip #AAOS #AUC #therapy

The results of a study published in JAMA indicates that patients with non-obstructive meniscal tears may be able to avoid surgery by following a physical therapy protocol which consists of 16 sessions of exercise therapy for 8 weeks focused on coordination and closed, kinetic chain strength exercises. The study, conducted by Victor A. van de Graaf, MD, and colleagues randomly assigned 321 patients with nonobstructive meniscal tears to undergo either arthroscopic partial meniscectomy or the physical therapy protocol. The results indicated that knee function that was measured by a self-administered questionnaire improved by 20.4 points in the physical therapy group vs 26.2 points in the early surgery group over a follow-up period of 24 months. The difference between the 2 treatment groups did not exceed the noninferiority margin of 8 points. This blog post was created by Planetrehab and is strictly informational and should not be used as a replacement for advice from a doctor or professional caregiver. Planetrehab combines comprehensive but easy-to-use scheduling, documentation, billing, reporting and collections for single or multi-clinic physical therapy and occupational therapy companies. Our practice management software is integrated with our practice management service that includes access to our team of experienced management consultants that will help identify and correct potential lost revenue and maximize per visit submissions and to our expert management staff that has experience identifying and correcting deficient areas of any practice. To find out more, visit www.planetrehab.com or call 800-982-5447. #MeniscalTears #physicaltherapy #surgery #meniscectomy

Planetrehab 2.393 Release Note We have added two new valuable reports. You will find the new reports in File>Reports & Queries>Operations. The first report is called Patients Not Paid Between Dates. This report gives you all the patients who have not paid anything between two dates. You can use this report to find out how many patients failed to pay anything in 2017. The second report is called Patients with Balance Between Dates. This report will give you all patients that have a patient owed balance between two dates. This report can be used to find out if any of the patients you have scheduled for appointments for a specific date (e.g. tomorrow) have a patient owed balance. Planetrehab combines comprehensive but easy-to-use scheduling, documentation, billing, reporting and collections for single or multi-clinic physical and occupational therapy companies. Our practice management software is integrated with our practice management service that includes access to our team of experienced management consultants that will help identify and correct potential lost revenue and maximize per visit submissions and to our expert management staff that has experience identifying and correcting deficient areas of any practice. To find out more, visit www.planetrehab.com or call 800-982-5447. #update #software #physicaltherapy #occupationaltherapy #Planetrehab

Playing two Wii Fit video games-Step and Hula-can provide adequate exercise to improve health and physical fitness, reports a study in the March issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, official research journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. These Wii Fit games "can be used as an effective mode of physical activity to improve health in adult women," according to the study by honors students Jennifer R. Worley and Sharon N. Rogers, and their advisor, Robert R. Kraemer, Ed.D., FACSM, of Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond. However, the researchers emphasize that players "should strive to participate at higher (intermediate) game levels" to gain exercise benefits. Click to read the rest of the article about how the Wii Fit can improve health and physical fitness. #physical #therapy #wii #exercise

Researchers at the University of Sydney studied 60 randomized participants, aged 55 years or older, who suffer from lower back pain. The participants were instructed to use the Wii Fit U exercises or to continue their usual activities for 8 weeks. The participants used the home-based Wii Fit U flexibility, strengthening, and aerobic exercises, for 60 minutes, 3 times per week and were monitored via telephone calls from a physical therapist. The study measured pain self-efficacy and care seeking (primary outcomes), and physical activity, pain, function, disability, fear of movement/re-injury, falls-efficacy, recruitment and response rates, adherence, experience with the intervention, and adverse events (secondary outcomes). The results of the study, published in Physical Therapy, found that the study participants who completed the Wii Fit U exercises had significantly higher pain self-efficacy at 6 months, but not immediately post-intervention or at 3 months; there were no between-group differences in care-seeking. Compared with the control group, participants completing Wii Fit U exercises demonstrated significantly greater improvements in pain and function at 8 weeks and were more likely to engage in flexibility exercises at 6 months. The study is available at Oxford Academic Physical Therapy. This blog post was created by Planetrehab and is strictly informational and should not be used as a replacement for advice from a doctor or professional caregiver. Planetrehab combines comprehensive but easy-to-use scheduling, documentation, billing, reporting and collections for single or multi-clinic physical therapy and occupational therapy companies. Our practice management software is integrated with our practice management service that includes access to our team of experienced management consultants that will help identify and correct potential lost revenue and maximize per visit submissions and to our expert management staff that has experience identifying and correcting deficient areas of any practice. To find out more, visit www.planetrehab.com or call 800-982-5447. #physicaltherapy #backpain #WII #exercise

In their study, Northeastern professors measured the degree to which participants had irregular knee alignments. Osteoarthritis (OA), caused by the breakdown of joint cartilage, leaves more than 20 million people in the United States suffering from recurring pain and frustrated over their limitations in movement. But physical therapy and mechanical and industrial engineering researchers at Northeastern University have broken new ground with an interdisciplinary study of factors that cause and exacerbate OA. To explore these factors—including body weight and knee-joint abnormalities such as frontal knee alignment—the study required subject-specific knee-joint analyses. Researchers found that these individualized assessments from 3-D imaging, along with earlier diagnosis based on a patient’s knee alignment, are critical factors in dramatically improving treatment and prevention. Their research, which was recently featured on the cover of the Journal of Orthopedic Research, advances Northeastern’s research mission to solve global challenges, with a focus on health, security, and sustainability. A recent Northeastern graduate, Nicholas Yang, spearheaded this research as the basis for his PhD thesis in mechanical engineering. Yang was the paper’s lead author, joined by three coauthors: professor Hamid Nayeb-Hashemi and assistant professor Ashkan Vaziri—both in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering—and Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Paul Canavan. “It’s groundbreaking because we’re integrating the biomechanics, physical therapy, gait analysis and the engineering,” Canavan said.“Not only can we see if someone is more at-risk, but we can apply this subject-specific model for interventions in the future,” Nayeb-Hashemi said.Researchers said sharing their expertise in human anatomy and calculating force distribution was integral to the collaboration. “The project was very interesting and challenging, because I had to learn how the human body works so I could apply engineering principles to answer biomechanical research questions,” Yang said. The knee is one area where osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, can develop. The research indicated that people with irregular knee alignment — either varus (bow-legged) alignment or valgus (knock-kneed) alignment — are more susceptible to developing this condition. Northeastern students volunteered for the study, which required them to walk on a platform that measured applied force to the knee while high-speed motion analysis cameras captured their movements. This data was fed into software to build 3-D models of each student’s knee joints, allowing researchers to measure individualized stress levels on the knee cartilage. Given that the geometry of knee joints varies from person to person, researchers said their methodology more accurately gauges strain and stress distribution to the knee joint when compared to past studies that have used generalized assessments. As a result, preventative measures such as customized shoe inserts, strengthening of specific leg muscles or weight loss, can be tailored to each person. “This (subject-specific method) is something that makes our research unique,” Vaziri said. Link to original article. #arthritis #physical #therapy #prevention