PT-Helper's January Blog Posts for Physical Therapists

How to Offer Sustained, Long-Lasting Recovery to Your Physical Therapy Patients

Published on January 2nd, 2018

As a physical therapist or similar therapy provider, you value honest therapy outcomes and getting your patients well, not just for the short-term, while they’re be treated within your office, but for the long-term and outside your clinic walls too. To offer this type of long-term recovery, consider using the PT-Helper CONNECT Platform and Mobile App when prescribing Home Exercise Programs.

A PT Home Exercise Program for a Shoulder Range of Motion from Hunterdon Orthopedic Institute and Mid Jersey Ortho

Published on January 9th, 2018

We’ve curated six exercises, shared by Hunterdon Orthopedic Institute and Mid Jersey Ortho, into a Home Exercise Program (HEP) using the PT-Helper CONNECT tool and prescribed via the PT-Helper mobile app.

4 Ways to Improve Communication With Your Physical Therapy Patient

Published on January 16th, 2018

While physical therapy may be interesting to you, the therapist, it’s not always a joy ride for your patients. As pain and change creep in through therapy, you patient may simply want therapy to be over. This post shows you four key ways to improve communication with your patients, leading to better recovery outcomes.

A PT Exercise Home Exercise Program Following Shoulder Surgery from Aurora BayCare Medical Clinic

Published on January 23rd, 2018

We’ve curated  seven exercises, shared by Aurora BayCare Medical Clinic, into a Home Exercise Program (HEP) using the PT-Helper CONNECT tool and prescribed via the PT-Helper mobile app.

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A PT Home Exercise Program Following Shoulder Surgery from Aurora BayCare Medical Clinic

We’ve curated these seven exercises, shared by Aurora BayCare Medical Clinic, into a Home Exercise Program (HEP) using the PT-Helper CONNECT tool and prescribed via the PT-Helper mobile app.

Reminder: Please consult your physician before engaging in any physical activity and stop if you experience pain or discomfort.

Exercises Included:

1. Pendulums - Clockwise and Counterclockwise
   Lean on a sturdy object with your uninvolved arm. Spread feet apart and bend knees slightly. Let your arm hang. Attempt to let your arm move side to side as if it were a pendulum by shifting your body side to side and in a circular motion. This is a gentle motion.
   
2. Pendulums - Forward and Backward
   Lean on a sturdy object with your uninvolved arm. Position feet with a wide base of support, step forward with one leg as if bowling. Let your arm hang. Attempt to let your arm move forward/backward as if it were a pendulum by shifting weight forward and back. This is a gentle motion.
   
3. Seated Shoulder Passive Flexion
   Sit at edge of chair next to table or desk. Place involved arm on surface with elbow straight. Slide arm forward and slowly bend forward at hips as you slide back into chair.
   
4. Supine Shoulder Flexion
   Lie on back with upper arm supported with pillow at side. Point involved arm’s thumb toward ceiling. Hold involved arm at elbow with non-involved hand. Slowly lift involved arm up with the assistance of the non-involved arm. Slowly return to start position.
   
5. Overhead Arm Raise with Wall Assist
   Stand facing wall. Place involved forearm against wall with towel in hand. Hold involved side elbow with non-involved hand and slowly guide involved arm up wall. Slowly return to starting position.
   
6. Pulley Flexion
   Secure pulley over door. Sit in chair, facing away from door, with pulley in both hands, elbows bent. Gently pull non-involved arm down, elevating involved arm, good arm supplying the power. Avoid shoulder shrugging during activity.
   
7. Shoulder Blade Squeeze (Retraction)
   Stand or sit with efficient posture. Pull your shoulder blades together, and in toward your spine. Hold for 5 seconds. • Keep upper shoulder muscles relaxed. • Shoulders should rotate outward and arms should not pass behind plane of body.
   

Shoulder Exercise Demo, as viewed on the PT-Helper Mobile App:

Start your Free 30-day Trial of the PT-Helper CONNECT tool for physical therapists and other therapy providers, so you too may create and prescribe Home Exercise Programs like the one shown above.

Click here to view all shoulder exercises currently available within the PT-Helper Exercise Library.

4 Ways to Improve Communication With Your Physical Therapy Patient

While physical therapy may be interesting to you, the therapist, it’s not always a joy ride for your patients. As pain and change creep in through therapy, your patient may simply want therapy to be over. This may cause them to hide their pain, deflect your questioning, and not communicate openly with you.

And if they’re keeping things from you, honest, long-lasting recovery simply isn’t possible.

In this blog post, we’ll show you how you, as the therapist, can encourage and improve open, honest communication with your patients.

1. Be open and honest about what to expect. There is no need to sugar coat therapy. Be upfront to your patient about both the challenges and the possible results they can achieve throughout their therapy journey. If your patient is clear on what to expect, there will be fewer surprises and reasons to retreat later on.
   
2. Get to know your patient personally and vice versa.
   Certainly, there are limits to this suggestion. But by and large, if your patient can come to like and trust you as their physical therapist and their friend, they will feel more comfortable sharing important pieces of information with you. They’ll be more open to discussing their pain, their progress, and challenges with therapy.
   
3. Offer open lines of communication as much as possible.
   Let your patient know how much their input and feedback about their therapy journey means to you. Remember, therapy is scary and sometimes painful for your patients, which can make them feel uncomfortable with sharing big and small things about their pain. But if they know you’re ready and willing to listen to them and that their input could help their overall therapy success, they’ll be more willing to discuss with you.
   
4. Explain the plan, the progress, and the details clearly.
   Whether you’ve noticed this or not, you and your fellow physical therapists speak an entirely different PT-specific “language” than people who have not been educated in physical therapy. Remember this when you’re explaining the plan of care to your patient. Be clear about how the patient is progressing or not progressing. And finally, explain each exercise - both inside your clinic and at-home exercises - clearly and repetitively so there’s no confusion.
   
   The PT-Helper Mobile App helps you clearly explain your patient’s home exercise program (HEP) with clean illustrations and details like sets, reps, and hold times about each and every exercise within their HEP. View the DEMO of what your patient will see using the PT-Helper Mobile App here.

A PT Home Exercise Program for a Shoulder Range of Motion from Hunterdon Orthopedic Institute and Mid Jersey Ortho

We’ve curated these six exercises, shared by Hunterdon Orthopedic Institute and Mid Jersey Ortho, into a Home Exercise Program (HEP) using the PT-Helper CONNECT tool and prescribed via the PT-Helper mobile app.

Reminder: Please consult your physician before engaging in any physical activity and stop if you experience pain or discomfort.

Exercises Included:

1. Pendulum Exercise - Clockwise and Counterclockwise Lean over a table and let the involved arm hang down. Swing the arm in circles clockwise, then counter-clockwise, then in a pendulum motion forward and back.
   
   
   Each movement should be done slowly, holding the position for five seconds, and repeated 10-15 times.
   
2. Active Assisted Supine Flexion Lie on your back, hold the stick with both hands with arms straight, raise both arms overhead as far as possible.
   
3. Standing Internal Rotation Place the involved arm behind your buttocks and grasp one end of the stick. With the opposite hand reach behind the back and pull the stick upward, thereby causing the involved arm to internally rotate.
   
4. Supine (or Standing) Cross Body Adduction Lie down or stand, grasp the elbow of your involved arm with your opposite hand and pull the involved arm across the front of your chest.
   
5. Rope and Pulley Flexion Place pulley system in doorway, and use the good arm to help elevate the involved arm as high as possible. Start by facing the door, and, as your motion improves, face away from the door.
   
6. Wall Climb Stand facing the wall, lay your palm on the wall, slowly walk toward the wall and use your fingers to help slide the hand upwards on the wall. Continue until the shoulder has maximum tolerable stretch, and hold for 30 seconds. Repeat once.
   

Shoulder Exercise Demo, as viewed on the PT-Helper Mobile App:

Start your Free 30-day Trial of the PT-Helper CONNECT toolfor physical therapists and other therapy providers, so you too may create and prescribe Home Exercise Programs like the one shown above.

   

       

Click here to view all shoulder exercises currently available within the PT-Helper Exercise Library.

How to Offer Sustained, Long-Lasting Recovery to Your Physical Therapy Patients

As a physical therapist or similar therapy provider, you value honest therapy
outcomes and getting your patients well, not just for the short-term, while
they’re being treated within your office, but for the long-term and outside your
clinic walls too.

And you know the power of adhering to a Home Exercise Program (HEP)
when aiming for sustained, long-lasting recovery. Of course you do - you
prescribe them!

But you’ve also heard every excuse in the book of why a patient does not
complete their Home Exercise Program, right?

They’re busy. They forgot. They lost the paper. They didn’t understand one
of the exercises. They weren’t sure how many of each exercise they were
supposed to do. They didn’t know if they were doing it right.

The list goes on and on.

And in the end, when all of these excuses pile up about

not completing a Home Exercise Program, long-term
wellness and sustained recovery simply isn’t attained.

You did what you could do, treating them under their Plan of Care. But once
they were left to their own devices, without adhering to their simple HEP,
they stunted their own progress. They got well, but didn’t stay well. They
either were re-injured or never quite returned to 110%.

Now, let’s be honest. You could simply chalk this recurring cycle up to patient
limitations and think, “That’s just the way it is.”

Or you could try a better solution to prescribing a Home Exercise Program.

A solution that presents a HEP to the patient right on their smartphone.

A solution that doesn’t involve low-quality printer copies or lost papers.

Of course, we’re talking about PT-Helper’s CONNECT platform and mobile app.

As a quick overview, this is how the PT-Helper solution works:

You, as the therapist, log into the CONNECT platform on your laptop or desktop
and create your patient’s HEP. You then prescribe the program to your patient
using a unique HEP Code. Your patient downloads the PT-Helper mobile app
on their Apple or Android device, enters the HEP Code you’ve provided them,
and now can access their HEP on their smartphone.

The mobile app has been expertly designed and all exercise illustrations are
clean, modern, and easy to understand. Gone are the days of recording your
own exercise library - the PT-Helper exercise library is stocked with over 500
of the industry’s most commonly prescribed movements.

But of course, should you want to prescribe an exercise not within the PT-Helper
Exercise Library, you can easily create a new exercise and upload your own
picture(s) demonstrating the movement.

There are several other features within the PT-Helper platform that will allow your
patient to gain long-term wellness and sustained recovery. You may explore them
all during your Free 30-Day Trial, available here.

Don’t worry - no credit card is required. You can begin your 30-Day Trial today,
absolutely free, and if at the end of your trial period you don’t feel it’s the right
solution for you, you can walk away - no questions asked.

There’s nothing to lose.

Once you begin your Free 30-Day Trial, use our Quick Start Guide
instructing you on how to set up your PT-Helper Account and begin using the
PT-Helper CONNECT Platform in its entirety.

Should you have any questions at any time, feel free to reach out to us directly at
info@PT-Helper.com.

Here’s to sustained, long-lasting recovery!

Fred & Joan