Give ’em a break.
We have seen a big uptick in over-use injuries in children in recent years. And, we know why. Children are focusing on one sport, spending hours practicing – all before their bone structure is even established. It’s hard to resist. If your daughter is an excellent soccer player, coaches might insist she needs more field time. But more time on the field may result in days and weeks on the sidelines.
To avoid common over-use injuries for your kiddos, they should:
Spend fewer hours per week
playing sports than their age – for example, no more than 11 hours per week of practice for a 12 year old.
Have at least half as much time for unorganized play as for
organized sports per week. (So if
Your Body is a Template – NOT
by Erin Dunham, DPT
“It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.” Hippocrates.
ALTA is in the midst of some changes. As some of you might have seen, we switched to Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in June. We are both excited and apprehensive about this change. As with any change at ALTA, we are optimistic that it will improve the quality of patient care.
We have struggled to find an EMR program that meets our specific needs. As we’ve experimented with different programs, we’ve been reminded again and again that ALTA is different. We, as physical therapists, are different – the way we treat, the way our minds work, the way we tackle a problem – it’s all different. And, at the risk of sounding boastful, we believe we are better.
Let me give you an example: While looking at one company’s evaluation template for the knee, we saw the following options:
Knee range of motion
Strength of muscles around the knee joint
Mobility of the patella (kneecap)
10 hours practice, then 5 hours play).
Play a variety of sports until late adolescence.
Play competitive sports
seasonally, rather than year
round.
Take at least one day off per
week from sports training.
Creating balance in all aspects of life is important. Help your child
experience balance between activity and rest. It can make a huge
difference in his or her health. *more info
Jonathan Oldham
is Making Headlines!
Jonathan presented a workshop at the Ron Fletcher Pilates Conference in AZ in May. His talk, STRONG, FLEXIBLE, ARTICULATE SPINE, focused on
helping Pilates teachers assess clients with spine problems to make better choices about exercises, and modifications to their Pilates
programs. If you need to modify your Pilates program because of a back or neck problem, you have a nationally recognized expert here at ALTA to help you.
Jonathan was also a guest writer for a national Physical Therapy magazine. He wrote about the benefits of Pilates for figure skating. Congratulations Jonathan!
Swelling around the knee
Hmmm… what about the foot? Does the foot work properly to control the knee? What about the hips? Are they strong enough to maintain knee alignment? What about the back? Is the knee pain coming from a pinched nerve in the spine that is referring to the knee? Maybe the internal organs are not moving well, maybe there are adhesions in the shoulder that affect the knee, or maybe a blood vessel is constricted in the pelvis which is impeding blood flow to the knee. Sorting all that out is where big and lasting changes happen. See, we are different!
We treat the whole person, head to toe. We don’t fit well into templates and we have struggled with EMR because nothing is quite customizable enough. Each patient is different and each injury is different. At ALTA, we don’t work well with templates because following a template often neglects the most important factor in the equation – you.
So, as you see us walking around with our laptops and possibly a furrowed brow, bear with us. We are working on ways to make your experience at our clinic the very best it can be.
Well, we sure got some people fired up about biking with our last newsletter. We love getting responses
from our readers and this one really made us laugh:
“First day mountain biking. Very sore. I fell three times, once directly into a mud puddle. Walked several hills. Almost cried 5 times. Need a mountain bike.”
Support Stockings: Not Just for Grandma
What image does the term “support stockings” conjure in your mind? Grandma’s ankles spilling over her clunky, black, lace-up shoes? A highwaisted German tourist in
Do You Recognize This Therapist?
sandals? Sausage toes peeking through an oatmeal colored hole accessorizing the ever-so-fashionable hospital gown ensemble? Think again.
Click on the stockings to find out why
you need them:
Russ on a three day mountain bike ride on the Kokopelli Trail. After 150 miles he had a few scrapes, but no major injuries! Way to go!
