Physical Therapy Students Learn While Giving Back to the Community

When students in the Doctorate of Physical Therapy program approached the faculty at Widener University to open a community physical therapy clinic, the idea was welcomed with open arms. The Chester Community Physical Therapy Clinic opened on the campus of Widener University in September 2009. Kerstin Palombaro, PT, PhD, Community Engagement Coordinator at the Institute for Physical Therapy Education at the Widener University shares her experiences with PT Talker on the ways a community clinic can benefit physical therapy students and the surrounding community.

 

Located near Philadelphia in Chester, Pennsylvania, the clinic serves underinsured and uninsured clients who have been prescribed physical therapy treatment by a physician. The clinic is staffed by volunteers. Undergraduate volunteers work the receptionist desk. Physical therapy graduate students and a supervising licensed physical therapist see and evaluate the patients.   

 

Widener University provides funding for the clinic utilities and space. The rest of the clinic is funded by donations and a $5 co-pay collected from patients. Much of the equipment used in the clinic was donated by local hospitals and clinics or purchased at a deep discount from a local physical therapy equipment supplier, M.A. Rallis.  Find out more about this unique pro bono physical therapy clinic by listening now.

 
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Physical Therapist Uses Ultrasound Imaging to Monitor Muscle Activation

Ever wonder if your patients are working the right muscles when completing lower back exercises?  Ultrasound imaging can provide the information you’re looking for.  Ultrasound imaging works as a form of biofeedback to show both physical therapists and their patients how an exercise is working.

In today’s podcast, physical therapist and owner of Cedar Hill Physical Therapy , Paul Weiss, PT, MDT, shares the ways ultrasound imaging is utilized in his practice.  After teaching an exercise designed to reeducate the muscles around the spine, Weiss uses ultrasound imaging to observe the muscles as the exercise is performed and confirm the exercise is working the targeted muscles.  Find out more about the ways ultrasound imaging can help you and your patients monitor muscle activation by listening now.   

 
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Will New Concurrent Therapy Medicare Regulation Impact Your Practice?

If you ever provide physical therapy to more than two patients at a time, there are new Medicare regulations on concurrent therapy you should be aware of. Luis Montes, DPT, MBA, Director of Business Development at Accelerated Care Plus shares his insight in today’s podcast on ways the new regulations may impact your practice.

Currently, Medicare Part A covers concurrent physical therapy for patients and leaves it up to physical therapist’s to determine the number of patients they can effectively see at the same time. The new Medicare Part A slated for release in October 2010 will only cover concurrent physical therapy for up to two patients at a time. Medicare Part B currently outlaws concurrent therapy and is not directly impacted by this change in regulation.

Listen now to find out how you can prepare for these new changes in Medicare regulation.

 
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Study Reveals “Tyler Twist” Exercise Eases Tennis Elbow

flexbar2-21Today’s podcast features Tim Tyler, PT, ATC, of the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York City.  Tyler shares details about an effective and affordable treatment for tennis elbow revealed in a study presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine meeting in Keystone, Colorado. 

The study began as a quest for a practical way to overload the wrist extensors enough to provide tennis elbow sufferers with the same benefits as isolated eccentric training done with expensive devices or heavy weights. The solution was found in an affordable and easy-to-use flexible rubber bar. 

Participants in the study were split into two groups.  The control group received physical therapy for tennis elbow and the other group received the same physical therapy treatment and combined it with the “Tyler Twist” isolated eccentric wrist-extensor strengthening exercise designed to overload the muscles.  The study revealed improvements for participants in the “Tyler Twist” group in as little as three weeks. Listen now to learn more about ways this new exercise can benefit your patients.

See the “Tyler Twist” exercise in action on YouTube.

Isolated Eccentrics with Thera-Band® FlexBar

 “Reverse Tyler Twist” for Medial Epicondylitis “Golfers Elbow”

 
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