Doing the basics better
I started this venture back in March in response to COVID-19. I saw many Physical Therapists and other rehab professionals shutting their doors because it wasn’t safe to keep them open. I saw an opportunity to improve our profession by addressing a deficit in practice: the lack of cardiopulmonary skill implementation. It wasn’t even thatContinue reading “COVID-19: Where the Heck Are We?”
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“Patients exchanging habits of activity for complete rest are likely to become rapidly worse.” This quote fuels my everyday. These words have informed nonsurgical and surgical rehabilitation and its evolution from handing out bed rest like Oprah hands out cars to getting people moving early and keeping them moving often. Here’s the crazy thing: ThisContinue reading “Sternal Precautions”
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We’ve all seen that dreaded picture in our textbooks… All the human figures laying in so many different positions with pillows and tables tilted all over… and I very clearly remember thinking, “How on earth am I supposed to remember all of those?” Well, good news. You really don’t have to. It’s great if youContinue reading “Postural Drainage”
What is a huff? Huffing is one of the more difficulty techniques to learn for airway clearance. I find that most of my patients have trouble mustering the strength to perform a good solid huff. It’s not just that it is unfamiliar, but also that it takes diaphragm strength that they just don’t have. ButContinue reading “I’ll Huff and I’ll Puff… But the Huff Will Be More Effective”
Have you ever had patient exercising during your treatment session and taken their blood pressure only to find that is has shot up pretty high? They didn’t have symptoms of high blood pressure so you rested them and it came right back down. But, then you find that it keeps happening… What does this mean?Continue reading “Exercise-Induced Hypertension”
I’m always learning something new. I called the cardiologist after an evaluation to report some severe orthostatic hypotension and the nurse and I got to talking. She was going back through the patient’s history and looking for why this may be happening. I had just finished assessing the patient in their home and they wereContinue reading “Open Heart, Open Mind… Learning About Amio-Loading”
Are you taking the blood pressure and heart rate of EVERY patient you see for a new evaluation? How about for every visit? A recent survey of over 1800 Outpatient PTs showed that although 51% of PTs reported that over half their caseload had risk factors for hypertension and cardiovascular disease, only 14% of themContinue reading “Blood Pressure Basics”
So, now that you’ve read all the basics about ABGs in the first post, here is a little more about interpreting lab values and how to determine compensated conditions. This is where it gets fun! First off, let’s take a look at what NORMAL lab values probably look like: pH: 7.35-7.45 Partial pressure of oxygenContinue reading “ABGs (Part II)”
Research is piling in regarding the neurological effects of COVID-19 and the depth of the research is giving us some really concrete information to help guide treatment, screening, and monitoring strategies. The anecdotal evidence is continuing to build quickly so I’ve significantly updated this post to reflect some of the more recent changes and findings.Continue reading “COVID Brain”
If you couldn’t tell, I’ve been hinting at this for a while. In several posts over the past few months, there has been discussion amongst the medical community that has created controversy regarding the mode of transmission of COVID-19. Many providers of all disciplines have been very concerned about their contraction rates and that ofContinue reading “According to the Scientific Community, It’s Time for Change”
Doctor B (the PT)