PHYSICAL THERAPY FOR RUNNING-RELATED INJURIES

WHAT DOES A PHYSCIAL THERAPIST DO?

Physical therapists are qualified to assess the body’s mechanics and determine the underlying issue. Once the issue is deteremined, we can help the patient return to full health by using an assortment of hands on treatment techniques., exercise and the latest in restorative technology.

Common runnin-related injuries include:

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patella tendonitis: tendonitis of the knee, knee pain: often caused by lateral tracking of the patella, perennial tendonitis and achilles tendonitis: tendonitis in the ankle, hip bursitis and muscle spasm

INJURY ANALYSIS

By visually analyzing a peron’s biomechanics and learning the history of the injury, we can gain a great deal of understanding of the issue. One tool we use is a slow motion movement anaylsis, which looks at the biomechanics. When you slow down this movement you can determine movement dysfunction.

Determining the actual source of the problem sets physical therapist apart. Pain in the ankle or foot might stem from an issue in the hip girdle or lower ack. An in-depth evaluation would be required to determine this and that’s exactly what physical therapists do.

Additional ways we analyze a problem include testing the muscles and assessing soft tissue restriction. When we look at the body, we’re looking at both the muscles and connective tissues between the muscles. We’re then able to see how that restriction might affect the client’s mechanics. We also perform a series of orthopedic test to look at tendons movement in the joint.

TREATMENT

After completeing the analysis, the terapist can move into treating the problem. Combinations of problems often contribute to the deficiency. With the deficits identified, we set up a treatment plan which often includes an array of different therapies to aid in injury recovery.

Some of the methods we may use to aid therapy include:

joint mobilization: adjusting the joint or how two bones interface, myo-facial release: manual release muscles, connective tissue, and/or tendons, soft tissue work, massage therapy, specific exercises for the particular deficit, the use of advanced technology: such as laser therapy (for tendonitis), ultrasound therapy, electro-therapy, and the AlterG.

ABOUT THE AlterG

The AlterG is an Anti-Gravity Treadmill which allows patients to exercise and run without pain even while still recovering from an injury or surgery. The AlterG works by unweighting the patient and lifting them up onto an air cavity. Precise unweighting allows the patient to walk on 20-100 percent of his or her body weight, which lowers the impact on the joints and muscles during recvoery.

The physical therapist can then gradually increase the amount of weight a person puts on their legs as they recover. The patients can do lateral and horizontal movements. We like to say that “Motion is Lotion” and that movement in the AlterG helps speed ip the recovery process. The key to physical therapy is to find a comfortable exercise that clients can perform while in recovery. The AlterG makes this easy to accomplish.

LENGTH OF THERAPY

The timetable for getting back to full activity varies by injury. Simple injuries cna get better in one to three visits. More complex injuries may take six weeks, and there are some injuries that will take longer.

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