Physical therapists have been added as the latest amendment to HB 446, which would make licensing optional for some professions. The New Hampshire House of Representatives has worked diligently to stop the growth of government and has reversed some of its intrusions into business. This is consistent with New Hampshire values. I believe, however, we can agree there is a place for government in consumer protection. Licensing of health care professionals is one of those places...

The new Biodex Balance System SD at the KORT Springhurst clinic is getting a real workout as physical therapists use it to assess and treat patients with a wide variety of conditions including: vestibular and balance issues, concussions, falls, orthopedic injuries, and rehabilitation following knee and hip replacement surgery...

Two of the largest privately owned physical therapy businesses in the Philadelphia region have merged to form a new company.

Excel Physical Therapy of Philadelphia and Apex Physical Therapy of Blue Bell, Pa., are consolidating operations as E&A Physical Therapy.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed...

I sat across the table from Chuck, marveling at his robust good health. We'd just been to see a play — and instead of looking pale and pinched after it ended, he stood up, clapping wildly through the last curtain call.

Six months ago, he'd been crossing a road in the crosswalk and was hit by a car, tossed up on the hood and dropped to the asphalt crosswalk below. Chuck is 75 years old. Even before the accident he was in pain from lifelong back problems and several resultant surgeries, tossing pills down and placing a special pillow behind his back when he sat down to watch a play...

Cary Edgar, co-founder and key principal of Ancillary Care Solutions (ACS), the nationwide leader in helping health systems and physician groups establish and manage outpatient physical and hand therapy programs, was featured in the July 11 issue of AAOS News, outlining how physical therapy practices can determine if their programs are functioning at an optimal level. AAOS News is published by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the preeminent provider of musculoskeletal education to orthopaedic surgeons.   

“With this information at their fingertips, leaders then can institute strategies to improve areas where performance is below par”...

A new kind of underwater treadmill therapy nets remarkable improvement in mobility in people that have suffered severe spinal-cord trauma.

I can count on one hand how many times I've wanted to hit another individual with as much power as I could muster, and my physical therapist is one of them.

Adam Mendenhall, of Southern Utah Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, does his job so well that you really believe he is helping you though you feel at the same time you're being tortured. He talks to you in steady, even-keeled voice with a matter-of-fact tone and then tells you to accomplish some exercises that you are sure he conjured up while rending his hands and laughing evilly about just how much pain he's going to inflict...

I sat across the table from Chuck, marveling at his robust good health. We'd just been to see a play — and instead of looking pale and pinched after it ended, he stood up, clapping wildly through the last curtain call.

Six months ago, he'd been crossing a road in the crosswalk and was hit by a car, tossed up on the hood and dropped to the asphalt crosswalk below. Chuck is 75 years old. Even before the accident he was in pain from lifelong back problems and several resultant surgeries, tossing pills down and placing a special pillow behind his back when he sat down to watch a play.

He was the last person I expected to recover after being smacked by a car. Yet he did...

Walters State Community College is planning a $20 million dollar renovation to its Greeneville/Greene County campus. The facelift will also include more academic programs in the future. The college presented the plan to members of the Greene County Partnership during the organization's breakfast on Tuesday. Funding for the project is coming from state and private sources. The college was awarded a $9 million dollar grant from the state...

A Rehabilitation Hospital and Geriatric Center in Wheeling is partnering with gardeners to create, what they’re calling a therapeutic garden for patients. What was once a barren piece of land riddled with concrete behind Peterson Rehabilitation Hospital has now been transformed into a botanical paradise. “It’s just a feeling of peace and serenity, and it’s so nice to be out here. Quiet. Good air,” said Larue Bruce, a patient at the facility...

The primary aim of this review study was to gather evidence on the effectiveness in terms of return to work (RTW) of occupational therapy interventions (OTIs) in rehabilitation patients with non-congenital disorders. A secondary aim was to be able to select the most efficient OTI.

Methods: A systematic literature review of peer-reviewed papers was conducted using electronic databases (Cinahl, Cochrane Library, Ebsco, Medline (Pubmed), and PsycInfo).

The search focussed on randomised controlled trials and cohort studies published in English from 1980 until September 2010. Scientific validity of the studies was assessed...

AZ - The Prescott Unified School District board unanimously approved a contract for occupational therapy, and a new principal for Lincoln School, among other items.

Board member Joan Fleming moved that the board approve a contract agreement between the district and the Yavapai County Education Service for 180 days of occupational therapy services for the 2011-12 school year at a projected cost of $86,400...

How can Occupational Therapist Intervention help ADHD Children?

The psychology of children with ADHD must first be understood in order to deal with them. Getting them to mingle with other children is induced through group therapy. This way social interaction develops, a child is motivated to do an activity. For example if an introvert child is in a group with a hyperactive and or extrovert child, then the introvert child imitates the other...

When more than 30 motorcycles zoomed into a hospital parking lot last week as part of the Ride for Miracles, 8-year-old Isaac Paz was waiting to thank them.

The ride raised money as a prelude to the 11th Annual Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare Foundation’s Children’s Miracle Network Hospital’s Radiothon, which is taking place Thursday and Friday this week...

Emma Dislers was about 2 when her occupational therapist started encouraging her to crawl, placing her on hands and knees for as long as Emma would tolerate it.

"Her endurance was really low," says Emma's mom, April. "Just to get her to last through an entire session was hard on her. It was hard on all of us."

April wondered whether her daughter, who has global developmental delays and hypertonia, would ever have the strength to move on her own. About that time, Emma's therapist suggested teaming up with a music therapist.

The change was immediate...

No one knows better than Paula Tarver that children don’t come with instruction manuals.

“At birth, a newborn is placed in a mother’s arms, and she’s expected to know instinctively what to do,” said the Valrico woman.

But instincts aren't always enough.

As an children’s occupational therapist for 16 years, Tarver, 49, has worked with hundreds of children with a variety of disabilities who could have been helped earlier if their parents had the right information.

To help educate parents recognize problems, she and fellow occupational therapist Jeanne Martin have come up with a guide called “Advance My Baby: The Ultimate Secrets of Healthy Development for Your Baby – Birth to 3 Years.”...

English writer Anthony Burgess probably said it best: “Laugh and the world laughs with you; snore and you sleep alone.”

Very few — at one time or another — have not had their sleep disturbed by the torturous sound of sawing logs. Last year, the Associated Press reported that a Chinese college student confessed to stabbing his roommate to death due to his relentless snoring...

Almost every nerdy character ever produced by Hollywood has come equipped with an inhaler.

To individuals who suffer from asthma, however, the condition is no laughing matter.

According to the World Health Organisation, asthma affects more than 230 million people worldwide, and results in hundreds of thousands of deaths every year.

“Six out of 10 people with asthma do not have control of their disease,” said Melissa Shaw, a respiratory therapist. “Their poorly controlled asthma may lead to a severe, life-threatening asthma attack and permanent lung damage.”...

Multiple births account for 15 percent of preterm labor births, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Poor prenatal care and pre-term delivery are more likely with a pregnant teen than older women, as they tend to receive late or no prenatal care, advises NIH...

Healthcare delivered in the outpatient setting continues to increase in volume and complexity at a dizzying rate. Because of innovations in both diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, respiratory therapy services are being provided in outpatient settings that historically were only provided in the hospital. These settings cover a broad spectrum and can include the physician's office, the pediatric clinic or the pulmonology department in a medical specialties clinic. Outpatient respiratory therapy ranges from spirometry and nebulization treatments, to home sleep studies and intensive pulmonary rehabilitation...

Sherry Stanbach, Respiratory Therapist, is Cape Regional Medical Center’s Service Excellence honoree for June, 2011. Sherry was nominated by 18 of her colleagues.

The nomination states, “Sherry Stanbach demonstrated extraordinary customer care for an inpatient in the ICU. The patient had been transferred from a nursing home and had left a piece of equipment there that was needed. Sherry comforted the patient, assuring the patient that she would get it for her. After working a 13 hour nightshift, Sherry went to the nursing home to retrieve the equipment for the patient. While she was there, not only did she secure the necessary equipment for the patient, she also provided education to the nursing home staff. This is just one example of the many ways that Sherry routinely exhibits excellent care to all her patients.”...

Springhill Medical Center is ranked No. 3 in the state in overall pulmonary services, according to HealthGrades, a Colorado-based company specializing in health research.

The ranking puts the hospital behind Willis-Knighton Medical Center in Shreveport and Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans, which are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. HealthGrades emphasizes specialized care and survival rates...

Healthcare delivered in the outpatient setting continues to increase in volume and complexity at a dizzying rate. Because of innovations in both diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, respiratory therapy services are being provided in outpatient settings that historically were only provided in the hospital. These settings cover a broad spectrum and can include the physician's office, the pediatric clinic or the pulmonology department in a medical specialties clinic. Outpatient respiratory therapy ranges from spirometry and nebulization treatments, to home sleep studies and intensive pulmonary rehabilitation...

At a session with his Northampton speech pathologist, Alex Young once admitted to adjusting his order at a coffee shop so he didn’t have to use the word "small."

Those s’s - they can be so hard for someone who stutters. So Young would ask for a medium. "She was appalled," Young, a 22-year-old carpenter, said of his therapist. "You have to say what you want," she told him...

When Pat Wheeler had her stroke about a year ago, it affected her right side and she lost control of her speech. The only word she could utter was "why."

Now Mercy Health Center speech and language pathologist Kimberly Biller has worked with Wheeler enough that she can speak in full sentences. Augmenting the work Wheeler and Biller have done are an iPad and Lingraphica system, which help Wheeler speak in short phrases. The Lingraphica system is synched to an iPod Touch...

Radio-TV-Film senior Alex Murphy has a knack for storytelling through short stories, poetry and screenwriting. One of his undergraduate classes was a professional communication course, which requires students to deliver oral presentations in class.

On the day of his first presentation, Murphy felt well prepared and ready to tackle the assignment. But his four-minute presentation dragged into 15 minutes as he struggled with his stutter to get the words out...

Speech etiquette is dictated by cultural norms, and a Texas State assistant professor is attempting to streamline the information.

Rahual Chakraborty, communication disorders assistant professor, is having his graduate level multicultural backgrounds students develop a website that would combine information on cultural backgrounds with corresponding speech language pathology...

Pacific University’s College of Education has established a School of Communication Sciences and Disorders to meet the growing need for speech-language pathologists.

Education Dean Mark Ankeny has announced the appointment of Martin A. (Marty) Fischer, Ph.D., to build and direct the program.

Dr. Fischer has been involved in the development of speech-language pathology (SLP) programs throughout the country and spent the past five years as academic director of the Communication Sciences and Disorders program at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa...

The July 19 article “ ‘Late talkers’ will catch up” cited a single recent study that suggested that the majority of “late talkers” catch up on their own by the time they enter school. The article promoted a “wait-and-see” approach.

The problem is, how do you know if your child will be one of the majority who will catch up on their own? How long should you wait?

As a speech-language pathologist and a member of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, I would advocate for parents to gather more information before choosing to “wait and see.” ASHA has a user-friendly website that provides more information regarding speech and language development and specific recommendations regarding “late-talkers” based on a large body of research...

 

On any given day in Gabrielle Giffords' hometown, scores of people - from war veterans to stroke victims - face the same uphill battle she does.

The congresswoman's fight to reclaim her language skills after being shot in the head has cast a spotlight on aphasia, the perplexing condition that often occurs after injury to the brain.

For some, losing the ability to speak is as devastating as going blind, experts say. Recovery can be so arduous that many need antidepressants to cope...

Over the years, Dayton Kinzer has learned how to hold his tongue when he speaks. He is very aware of every lift, thrust, curl and tuck that it can do as he articulates himself.

"It's hard to control all the muscles in your mouth," the 12-year-old said.

But it was even harder just three months ago.

Kinzer has been in speech therapy almost as long as he's been talking, according to his mother, but after making what she says is "miraculous progress" in 20 intense recent sessions, he is taking a break...