News
Course of exercise yields similar results as surgery for knee injury
Overall, exercise therapy and surgery were found to lead to similar outcomes in knee pain, function, and performance for patients with meniscal lesions. Exercise therapy, however, was more effective for improving muscle strength than surgery after a s…
ACL surgery patients similar outcomes as ones treated non-operatively
Five years after treatment, patients in both groups experienced positive outcomes, and the results between the two groups were found to be very similar. In particular, scores from the quadriceps strength and single-legged hop test were high and did no…
Education program explaining pain is beneficial for patient outcomes
Results from the systematic review showed that PNE did, in fact, lead to several benefits for patients with musculoskeletal pain. In particular, it reduced patients' disability and usage of healthcare and improved their pain ratings, knowledge of pain…
Thigh muscle exercises are beneficial for knee condition patients
On the whole, results were supportive of quadriceps-strengthening exercises for PFPS patients, both alone and when combined with other exercises. It was found that when they were performed alone, these exercises were more effective for reducing pain a…
Pitching consecutive days in youth softball leads to pain & weakness
These findings clearly show that windmill pitching on consecutive days leads to declines in shoulder and elbow strength that are not recovered the next day, as well as significant increases in pain and fatigue. These changes can lead to shoulder damag…
6 weeks of PT leads to improvements for athletes dislocated shoulder
Results from the tests performed prior to the physical therapy rehabilitation program revealed that many patients had weakness in a number of their shoulder muscles as a result of pain, swelling and inflammation from the shoulder dislocation. After th…
Mindset can have significant impact on patients with shoulder pain
These findings suggest that when treating shoulder pain, psychological factors must be taken into consideration and addressed in addition to physical symptoms. Physical therapists can help by identifying these negative factors in patients early on in …
Many patients with no shoulder pain have MRI findings that show tear
These findings show that even in middle-aged patients that have no signs of shoulder pain, labral tears are commonly found on MRIs. The unfortunate result of this fact is that a patient with shoulder pain can be told they have a labral tear and then g…
Hands-on therapy found to be effective for shoulder pain
After completing treatment, participants in both groups experienced significant improvements with an increased PPT of several muscles of the upper back; however, the manual therapy group showed greater PPT improvements in these muscles than the shoulde…
Neck exercise more beneficial than physical activity for whiplash
In total, 170 patients (79%) completed the one-year follow-up and 123 (57%) completed the two-year-follow-up. At one year, both neck-specific groups displayed more clinically important improvements in pain, disability, and functioning than the PPA gro…
For Long-term Neck Pain that Just Won’t Go Away, try PT
Medicare costs for physical therapy are lower
These results show that physical therapy has the lowest Medicare costs of the three treatments analyzed for LBP and that these costs are even lower if patients begin treatment within the first 15 days of being diagnosed. In some cases, this can wind u…
Therapy reduces pain and stiffness in patients with knee arthritis
Results showed that manual therapy was found to significantly reduce pain, alleviate stiffness and improve the physical function in patients with knee osteoarthritis. These positive effects of manual therapy occurred with less than four weeks of treat…
Exercise therapy leads to better flexibility for jaw condition
After completing the systematic review and meta-analysis, researchers found that exercise therapy reduced pain and improved the range of motion (flexibility) of patients with TMJs. The improvements in flexibility came primarily from programs that emph…
Older PT patients treated before hip surgery show better outcomes
Results indicated that patients who underwent preoperative physical therapy experienced a number of benefits and better outcomes compared to those who did not. In particular, preoperative physical therapy patients reported significantly greater gains …
PT Referral is Down While Opioid Use is Up?
Based on the surveys analyzed, approximately 170 million patients visited a doctor for complaints related to LBP. From these visits, 17.1 million patients were referred to physical therapy, which equated to a referral rate of 10.1%. From 1997 to 2010…
Patients with a particular type of knee pain are more overweight
The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis showed that the BMI of adults with patellofemoral pain and knee OA was generally higher than the BMI of healthy individuals without knee pain that they were compared to. When it came to adolescen…
Patients who undergo therapy before surgery spend less on care after
These findings support the use of preoperative physical therapy-or prehabilitation-in patients preparing for hip or knee replacement surgery, as it can reduce the need for patient care and its associated costs following the procedure. Individuals who …
Hands- on therapy is beneficial for carpal tunnel and reduces pain
Results showed that both treatments led to improvements, as patients experienced less pain, greater function, and fewer symptoms after completing the interventions. Patients in the manual therapy group, however, reported even greater improvements than…
PT after knee surgery leads to improvements in function & flexibility
Results of the systematic review and meta-analysis were generally supportive of the use of physical therapy after meniscus surgery. This was based on several studies that found a positive effect of various types of physical therapy treatments utilized…
