Bad Medicine!.......... for low back pain

Maybe Bon Jovi was right with Bad Medicine!  Does your clinician follow the established guidelines to treat low back pain (LBP) or are you receiving "bad medicine"?  A recent study from the Journal of American Medial Association - Internal Medicine, stated that " Despite numerous published clinical guidelines, management of back pain has relied increasingly on guideline discordant care."  The results of this 2013 showed:

No change in physical therapy referrals

Increase in narcotic usage

Decrease in NSAIDS and tylenol usage

Increase in diagnostic imaging (such as CT scans and MRI)

Increase in physician referrals

Physical therapy and the usage of NSAIDS were considered as GOOD coordination with the LBP guidelines and evidenced based.  Physician referrals, diagnostic imaging, and narcotic usage were considered BAD coordination with the guidelines.  This looks like the health care system is doing everything along the BAD track doesn't it?   So,is your clinician following the guidelines, that have been set by proven and established research, and may lead to better outcome for our patients with LBP or are they following Bad Medicine!   Here is another link to physician guidelines in the clinic regarding the treatment of LBP from the American College of Physician.  At Pursuit Physical Therapy, you never have to question your quality of care.  Your treatment is always what is best for you!  If you have LBP, call Pursuit Physical Therapy at 407-494-8835 or visit our website at www.PursuitTherapy.com for more information about how we can help your LBP.  

Small business owners and employee health insurance. Whats the future?

Even though the Affordable Care Act (ACA) employer mandate has been delayed a year, heathcare costs remain the number one economic concern for U.S. small businesses.  Most small business owners foresee their insurance costs to increase with the ACA.  In the future, many small businesses may be less likely to provide health insurance for their workers and many small business owner’s may even opt out of providing health care to their employees. 

Pursuit Physical Therapy may have the answer for many of these small business owners that will allow them to save money, maximize cost effectiveness, and ensure that their employees are receiving high quality patient care!  Call Pursuit Physical Therapy today at 407-494-8835 or visit us at www.PursuitTherapy.com for more information about how to save your small business money!

 

Running Injury and Heel Pain Program!

Do you ever wake up with pain in the heel of your foot first thing in the morning? Do you ever get heel pain when running or just pain when running? If so, you may have plantar fasciitis, the most common type of heel pain.  Many running injuries and heel pain can easily be prevented with the proper treatment and education.  We have designed a proven and evidenced-based running injury and heel pain program that allows patient to get pain free in fewer visits!  What does this program entail?  

1.  Evaluation with accurate diagnosis and with prognosis

2.  4 Step Recovery Treatment Plan

3.  1 hour treatment sessions with One-on-One Patient Care with Board Certified Specialist

4.  Individualized Home Recovery Program

5.  Free pair of shoes at Track Shack or Fleet Feet!

6.  Final visit to running shoe store with Dr. Ron Miller!

7.  2 month consultation period after completion of program

8.  No surgery! No Injections

This is the most complete evidenced based program yet! For more information visit us at www.PursuitTherapy.com or call us at 407-494-8835.  Don't be in pain any longer and get back to doing the activities you love!

Simple Tips to Preventing Golf Injuries

Here are some simple changes and adjustments that you can make to help prevent golf injuries:

1)  Proper Club Fitting

Proper fit clubs can decrease stress to your body during the golf swing, help avoid poor swing biomechanics and avoid altered postures.

2)  Play Golf Consistently

I don't think most golfers will have a problem with this one.  Playing golf consistently will avoid long times of breaks and golf related activities

3)  Push your Golf Cart

Pushing your cart instead of pulling will cause less stress and torque to your body and help prevent injury

4)  Use a Longer Putter

This may decrease stress and strain while putting and avoid increased flexion when playing around of golf

5)  Use a Dual Backpack Strap

Carrying a golf bag with a single strap may be hazardous to the low back, shoulder, and ankles.  Using a double back strap will allows for proper distribution of weight across both shoulders

6)  Warm up prior to playing golf

A 10 minute warm up prior to playing golf has shown a >50% decrease risk of injury.

Making some simple adjustments can help prevent injuries when playing golf and help you enjoy pain free golf.  For more information contact Pursuit Physical Therapy at 407-494-8835 or visit us at www.PursuitTherapy.com, and check out our Golf Treatment Program that analyzes golf swing analysis, movement screen, injury prevention, and rehabilitation to address any golf related injuries and injury prevention.  Get back to a pain free golf swing today!

Fit Body Boot Camp Orlando and Injury Prevention

Are you a member of Fit Body Boot Camp Orlando?  Fit Body Boot Camp is a new fitness and weight loss training method that is sweeping the nation.  I had the opportunity to attend a training session at the Orlando location, and I love the training style!  This is the perfect workout: high intensity, total body involvement, functional movements, cardiovascular, and overall a short duration (30-45 minutes).  This is the perfect workout to help you lose weight, decrease body fat, and maintain muscle, and you don't have to plan anything!  Just show up and the trainers will take care of the workout.  I thoroughly enjoyed the workout even though my legs were sore for days!  Great job to Kerry and Andrea for opening a great gym, for their community involvement, and for spreading health and fitness throughout Orlando.

Proper biomechanics and flexibility is going to be essential to help prevent injuries from occurring with this type of training.  Just for example when squatting or even with a deep squat, you must have the proper flexibility and strength to complete the task with proper form.  When form and biomechanics become poor, this may increase the risk for injury.






Below is an example of a functional deep squat that you should be able to perform without any compensation.  How many of you can perform this?

This training may also predispose people to getting many overuse injuries such as knee pain, foot pain, and other tendinitis injuries.  Proper stretching, warm-up, and again flexibility will all be essential to help also decrease injury rates.

So what can you do to help prevent injury when training hard to reach your personal goals?  Here are 5 strategies you can do to decrease your chance of injury:

1)  Warm-up prior to high intensity workouts.  A simple 5-10 minute light warm-up should be fine.

2)  Stretch involved muscles.  Such as calves, hamstring, and quad muscle.  Stretching should be done for a 30-90 second hold!  If you do not like to stretch foam rolling is also a great way to reduce trigger points in muscle, increase flexibility, and decrease pain.

3)  Avoid Over Training.  Especially, if you have just started working out.  Slowly progress yourself to 3x a week and continue until you can perform training 4-5x a week.  Weight loss from decreased body fat does not occur over 1-2 sessions.  If it does, it is probably just water weight.  It takes a long time(> weeks) and your are changing your lifestyle so there is no rush to over train.

4)  Be aware of joint pain vs muscle pain.  Muscle pain is OK and this is just something that comes with exercise and training.  FUN FACT:  The muscle soreness the day after the workout is not lactic acid build up.  Lactic acid is removed within hours after your exercise.  The soreness the day after is called DOMS (delayed muscle soreness) and it is caused from muscle damage from exercise with is necessary for your to get stronger.  If you experience joint pain consult your local medical professional, example Pursuit Physical Therapy!, sooner rather than later.  The sooner the better and the more chronic the pain is the longer it takes to get back pain free!

5)  Follow a healthy diet with plenty of sleep.  It is amazing to see how the body feels and heals as you continue to train hard, when you eat healthy vs bad.  Has anyone ever done the same workout multiple times but when you happen to drink alcohol and eat bad after, how much worse and sore you feel the next day?  There is a difference.  Eat as a function of attaining your goals!

I hope these can help you decrease your injury risk and allows you to keep training at Orlando Fit Body Boot Camp!  For more information about Fit Body Boot Camp Orlando visit their website at http://www.fitbodybootcamp.com/fl/orlando-fitness-boot-camp/ and check out their client appreciation night on August 2nd here.  Pursuit Physical Therapy and Dr. Ron Miller will be there to answer any questions regarding proper training techniques, current pain and symptoms, and to perform free functional assessments.

Do you have pain when Running? Do you have a plan to treat your injury?

Do you experience pain from running?  Does your pain persist after you stop running?  The answer is to address the problem that caused your injury and get it treated!  Don't cover up your pain with medications and other "tricks" and run through you pain.  Definitely do not run while taking NSAID medications, as there can be many side effects and health concerns associated with this.

“There is no magical drug, machine, shoe, tape, or tip that will fix your injury”
-Bruce Wilk, The Runner’s High and author of The Running Injury Recovery Program 

At Pursuit Physical Therapy, we have created a Running Injury Program that is designed to specifically for runner's and to get them back to pain free running as soon as possible.  We have a 4 step process that will give you a guideline to return to running.  Feel free to visit our website for more information at www.PursuitTherapy.com and even sign up for our 5 Steps to Resolve your Heel Pain handout!   We want to get you back to pain free running and solve your problem now!

Do you have a tennis injury? What is the best way to treat it? Call Pursuit Physical Therapy!

Not many people know that Andy Murray played through sciatica with his recent win at Wimbledon, but many tennis players play through injuries and pain.  Pain such as low back pain, sciatica, tennis elbow, knee pain and shoulder pain are some of the more common injuries tennis players experience.  Many of these injuries are due to over-training, structural problems, or poor technique and can easily be solved.  There is no need to play through pain and Pursuit Physical Therapy can help get you back to the tennis court pain free!  We will design a specific biomechanical analysis to identify the impairment, treat the problem, and teach you exactly what to do at home.  Contact us now at 407-494-8835 to schedule your appointment know or visit our website at www.PursuitTherapy.com for more information.

A Runner's Clinic at Fleet Feet Orlando with Ron Miller of Pursuit Physical Therapy

Come join Ron Miller of Pursuit Physical Therapy on August 8th at Fleet Feet Orlando for a Runner's Clinic about the BIG 3 running injuries!  RSVP at the Fleet Feet website.  Get back to pain free running now!

Why Don't We Compare Healthcare Providers Like We Do Everything Else? Is This the Best Treatment For Me?

My wife and I have recently experienced the complexity of buying out first home and what bank we should go through to help finance our house.  As we compared what each bank had to offer and interest rates, it got me thinking: why do we not do this in healthcare and with health care services?  When you are buying a house, you go to multiple banks and see who would give you the best offer.  When you buy a computer, you can go to multiple locations and see who can give you the best deal.  When you purchase auto insurance, you can get multiple quotes from different companies and then choose the best deal.  Even restaurants are graded now to a high standard with a letter grade outside their front door to pass an inspection.  Why don't we do this with health care providers and see who can offer the best service and the best outcomes?

For some reason we just blindly fall into the healthcare process expecting a high standard and the best outcome is given.  We don't ask questions or even question is this the best and most cost effective treatment for me.   Can someone else offer a better services and get me pain free faster?  With healthcare, we just expect an accurate and correct diagnosis, proper treatment, and then a quick and positive outcomes, right.  This is not always the case.  With some cases, a specific diagnosis is hard to confirm, there are multiple ways to treat the same diagnosis, lacking of evidenced based treatments, causing different outcomes some good and some bad.  This variability among treatments causes a problem.  Sometimes, especially physical therapy, you can have the same diagnosis and go to 3 different clinics and receive 3 different treatments!

 As healthcare begins to change and patients are going to be more financially responsible for their care (increased deductibles, increased co-pays, etc), there will be a benefit to the patient to be aware of patient outcomes.  The faster you get better, the less expensive your treatment will be!  For example, instead of having physical therapy for the standard 3x a week for 4 weeks for 12 sessions, what if you can be seen and treated 2x a week for 2-3 weeks!  This is why Pursuit Physical Therapy was started.  Focusing on better outcomes in fewer visits, and better yet, you will only see the board certified specialist with only one-on-one patient care.  This way of treatment can allow you to get out of pain quicker with less visits, thus saving you time and money.

So what should you look for when seeking a health care provider.  I put some questions that you can ask to make sure you are receiving the best care.  What are the right questions to ask?

1.  How much will each visit cost? This way, you will know exactly how much each visit will cost you before you sign up for treatment.

2.  Will I see the specialist?  If not who will be treating me?  With the changes that are coming with healthcare, more and more patients will be seen by assistants and less qualified clinicians.  If you have pain and are seeking treatment, (and better yet, paying out of pocket more money for the service!) don't you want to be seen by the specialist?

3.  Will I be double booked with another patient?  Many clinicians will be forced to see more and more patients per day causing some patients to be double booked with another patient.  No one wants this and this just leads to a decreased quality of care, increased number of visits, and a poor outcome.

4.  Look at the clinicians credentials.  You may not need to know what the credentials mean, but if a clinician has pursued special certifications and is board certified, they have probably specialized in a certain field, received extra training, and has kept up to date with the latest evidenced based treatments.  This may lead to a better outcomes.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your pain and the quality of care you are receiving, contact Pursuit Physical Therapy today at 407-494-8835 and see if physical therapy is appropriate for you.  You can also find more information at our website at www.PursuitTherapy.com.