I'm having a debate with the PTA I work with. We can't agree on the definition of functional. I want to use it to describe activities, as in they are functional. She wants to use it to describe actions as functional, such as in functional ROM or strength. Her position is that a person can perform a functional activity without functional ...

Lately I've had the opportunity to work with a wonderful ST. We bounce ideas off each other. We've even managed to co-treat a few times. In the course of working together, we've observed that improvement in one discipline carries over to improvement in the other. Although we're somewhat of a unique pairing, our combined efforts have had great ...

We all have things that annoy us. I have a new one at work, the assisted ergometer. It can be used for the UEs or LEs and programmed to provide either resistance or assistance to whoever is working the pedals. To me it is a glorified restorator. What annoys me so much isn't the machine but the individuals who put every patient on it every day ...

It's been a while since I've had more than a few geriatric patients on my caseload. Now that my caseload is all geriatric, I've had to readjust. It's a good thing I didn't forget the first rule of geriatric care. Elderly patients are people, too. They should be treated that way. It's been a nice change. They complain. They tell me they can't do ...

There is new evidence in the physical therapy world that creates a paradox. The patients who benefit the most are the patients who receive the least therapy. Everything I read demonstrated that the more impaired patients made the greatest improvement when provided with the most intense therapy. This was true in the acute, subacute and chronic ...

This morning I had a conversation with an OT who has as much experience or more than I do. I mentioned my frustration with employers desiring low pay over experienced therapists. I don't think my tDPT and geriatric specialization have made me more attractive to employers. If anything, they have made me less attractive. Having them makes me more ...

Jason Marketti made an excellent point last week when he responded to my post. He pointed out that in all but one state, reimbursement is the same for treatments provided by a PT or a PTA. On the surface, that makes sense. Our charges are treatment-based. If I perform gait training, I charge a gait. If Jason performs gait training, he also charges ...

Last week, I found myself following in the footsteps of a therapist who truly believed in hands-on therapy. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't replicate his treatments. His patients were walking with only therapist-assist. I could barely get them to stand. Finally a tech let me in on his secret. The man was a weightlifter. He was substituting ...

Because the family wants it isn't a reason to order physical therapy. Because it would make the family feel better isn't something that requires skilled intervention either. Last weekend I ran into a nurse who disagreed with me about this. I performed the evaluation and signed off. I have nothing to offer an unstable C3 quad whose family is ...

There seems to be a common misconception among non-PT people such as nursing. For some reason, they believe the more people you have for a transfer, the safer the transfer will be. I don't know where this idea came from. I suspect its roots lie in a lack of understanding of body mechanics and transfer techniques. The truth is, it's safer to have ...