Lower Extremity Review
Children with cerebral palsy (CP) typically encounter a host of gait- and balance-related issues associated with spasticity, dyskinesia, and weakness. How severe these are depends on CP type and the individual case. As a result, experts have long debated how early to intervene with bracing strategies that include ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs), and how long to maintain those interventions.
By Cary Groner
Encouraging exercise and appropriate footwear selection may be key in helping patients maintain healthy activity levels. Exercise is recommended for the majority of patients regardless of age, gender, or physical disability. The 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans1 recommended that all adults perform 150 minutes…
By Audris Tien, DPM, Brad Franklin, DNP, RN, FNP-C, FAANP, and Jarrod Shapiro, DPM, FACFAOM, FACFAS
This overlooked, often-left-undiagnosed ankle pathology causes long-term pain and instability. Appropriate treatment protocols, applied in a timely manner, can get patients back on their feet. The ankle presents an interesting dichotomy of strength and frailty: Whereas the ankle supports body weight, makes sharp twists and turns, and keeps the body from falling…
By Scott Pensivy, PT, LAT, ATC
Formed during development, this efficient attachment system cannot be recreated during healing. Many common injuries, such as Achilles tendon and rotator cuff tears, require surgical procedures that reattach the affected tendon to the bone. Stavros Thomopoulos, PhD, director of Carroll Laboratories for Orthopedic Surgery at Columbia University in New York, compares it to trying to attach a rope to a piece of cement.
By Nicole Wetsman
Consider recommending installation of shorter crank arms on a bike when a cyclist complains of knee or hip pain. After years of bike-fitting, here’s why we’ve concluded that this modification is invaluable. One of the biggest problems in bicycling, I’ve found, is that pain is considered normal. I (RS) am a master bike fitter and an elite cycling coach.
By Rick Schultz, MBA, DBA, and Amy Schultz, PT, DPT, CSCS
Despite Black Box warning for risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture, clinicians continue to prescribe fluoroquinolones. Half of the musculoskeletal injuries in the United States each year involve tendons and ligaments, and of the tendon injuries that can occur, those that strike the Achilles tendon are the most common. Higher rates of participation in…
By Nicole Wetsman
I’ve never been one to gaze admiringly at my toes while lounging at the beach – or heaven forbid, take pictures of them with a tropical sea background to post on Instagram. I was cursed with ugly feet – wide and stubby (thanks Dad!) – and because of that, I’ve never bothered to try and adorn them with pedicures and polish.
By Karen Bakar
What does an athlete look like? There was a time when the answer to this question was largely homogenous, but today’s athletes have broken every mold and stereotype. They can be tall, short, lean, thick, strong, nimble, brawny, brainy, quick, or deliberate.
By Sarah Kogod
Many readers may not have heard of it yet, but by the time LER turns 20, I predict it will be a common prescription…at least I hope it will be. I’m talking about bike fitting, of course. The number of individuals choosing cycling as transportation, hobby, sport, or community activity—whether it’s competitive or recreational—is increasing annually—up from around 43 million in 2014 to 47.5 million in 2017.
By Happy Freedman
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