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How to Manage Knee Pain

Click. Click. Click. You know you’re getting older when your body starts making sounds in areas that you’ve never heard before.   If you hear a clicking sound when you go up or down the stairs, it’s probably your knees. … Continue reading →

What are the Most Important Questions to Ask During an Initial Interview with a Patient?

The initial interview is probably one of the most important moments of a patient’s episode of care. This is an opportunity for clinicians to learn how to receive prudent information that will help guide them during clinical decision making. The … Continue reading →

4 New Exercises for the New Year

Happy New Year! It is a new year and possibly new you. If you are one of the many people who made their new year’s goal to start exercising again, it is time to get motivated! Sometimes it can be … Continue reading →

How to Individualize Pinch Grip Strength Evaluations? The Baseline BIMS Pinch Dynamometer.

Pinch grip strength is an important objective measurement that is generally taken during regular physical examinations of patients presenting with various impairments and functional limitations. Pinch grip strength is important to assess as it allows us to perform everyday tasks … Continue reading →

How You Can Prepare for a Healthy New Year

With the holiday season ending and the new year fast approaching, it is important to set your goals on what you want to accomplish for next year. Since the pandemic, having and maintaining a healthier lifestyle has never been more … Continue reading →

How To Individualize Hand Flexion Strengthening? Try the CanDo® Digi-Flex Multi®.

Hand strengthening is important to help address grip strength deficient, muscular imbalances, and improve overall function.  Hand flexion strengthening is important for certain tasks including activities of daily living.  Hand flexion strengthening is also important as it makes up many … Continue reading →

Best Exercises to do with a Cold

Want to work out before or during the holiday season but have a slight cold? If you are feeling under the weather but still feel up to exercising, by all means go for it. Just know that your body is … Continue reading →

Can You Objectively Measure Pain?

Pain is a common symptom associated with a patient’s clinical presentation.  Understanding pain is extremely important to help guide clinical decision making as well as the entire episode of care.  Pains allows us to truly understand what the patient is … Continue reading →

Can You Exercise with a Cold?

Aaachoo! The weather is getting colder, and you know what that means…a lot of people are getting sick. Sometimes it can be unavoidable because both your coworkers and the people you live with at home have a cold. But can … Continue reading →

Trouble Measuring with Goniometers? Give These a Try!

Goniometry is important to objectively measure the range of motion of a given patient. This information will help guide clinical decision making and help the clinician develop the most effective plan of care.   However, sometimes it can be difficult to … Continue reading →

Holiday Shopping List 2022

Tis the season to start shopping for loved ones, coworkers, and friends! Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is time to start thinking about what gifts you are getting for the holidays. Not sure what you should get? No worries! … Continue reading →

The CanDo® Wrist/Forearm Exerciser

Clinicians will prescribe certain exercises to help address individual impairments and functional limitations of a given patient. Typically exercises may include very general exercises including wrist curls and stretches. A lot of these exercises are very generic and can be … Continue reading →

How to Begin Exercising

Exercising is one of the best things you can do to keep your body healthy. If you are a beginner, it can be a daunting task to try to figure out where to even begin. You go to the gym, … Continue reading →

7 Ways to Measure Posture.

Measuring posture is important when we are evaluating our patients.  Understanding the clinical presentation of our patients allows the clinician to further understand how this may influence their respective impairments and functional limitations. However, sometimes we do not possess the … Continue reading →

Preparing for the Thanksgiving Feast

This Thursday is turkey day! Thanksgiving is a great holiday to spend with family. It is also a bit of an excuse to gorge yourself with all the delicious food in front of you. Only to regret it later that … Continue reading →

Treating the Wrist and Hand? Don’t Forget About Proximal Stability!

When we are treating a specific region of the body, we also need to understand how other regions contribute to what the patient is experiencing. This can be true when treating a patient for hand or wrist pathologies.  Sometimes we … Continue reading →

How to Stay Safe During Flu Season

Have you noticed people starting to cough and sneeze in your office yet? You may think they just have a cold, but it might be the flu. Yes, flu season is here, so it is important to be well informed … Continue reading →

What Tools Do I Need for Long-Term Self-Management?

Once patients are discharged from an episode of care, they usually will review a self-management program to be performed at home. Self-management programs are crucial for patients to continue to progress and reach their respective goals. For patients to be … Continue reading →

Fight Diabetes with Exercise

For people who have diabetes, the benefits of exercise can’t be said enough. This is because exercise helps lower your blood sugar levels and boosts your body’s sensitivity to insulin, thus countering your body’s insulin resistance. Here are some exercises … Continue reading →

How to Make Pinch Strength Testing Individualized? The Baseline BIMS 5-Position Pinch Dynamometer.

Pinch strength testing is an essential objective measurement that should be performed with every physical examination. This information is important as it can tell us a lot in regard to a patient’s function and their overall quality of life. However, … Continue reading →

National Diabetes Month

November is the month where you start thinking about eating turkey and buying presents. It is also a month about raising awareness about diabetes. Every year during the month of November, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has an event to … Continue reading →

How Should We Evaluate In-Hand Manipulation?

So, what is in-hand manipulation (IHM)? In-hand manipulation, or IHM, is defined as the “adjustment of an object within the hand for optimal orientation after grasp.”1 IHM can be classified as the skill into shift, rotation, and translation. It plays a major … Continue reading →

Hand Exercisers for Gamer’s Wrist

Gamer’s wrist is an injury that everyone who uses a keyboard or game controller wants to avoid. It can happen with age, certain medical conditions such as arthritis or the overuse of your wrists and thumbs. It can be incredibly … Continue reading →

Pain Scores. Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

We often will subjectively measure a patient’s pain level to capture what they are currently experiencing.  This can be achieved with obtaining different values including numerical, visual, or even with faces.  Gathering this information is important as it can help … Continue reading →

What is Gamer’s Wrist?

Do you enjoy playing video games during your free time? Well, you are a part of the majority then because according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) roughly two-thirds of Americans play video games regularly. That is more than 215 … Continue reading →

If You Have a Balance Pad, You Need a Mat to Go with It!

Does your cell phone have a case on it? Of course, it does!  Anyone with a smart device typically will want to protect it using a case. Users want to keep their investment safe and secure.  The same goes for … Continue reading →

The Most Popular Chiropractic Tools

The number one most popular chiropractic tool is the chiropractor’s own hands, but sometimes their hands need some additional help to provide the best care possible. If you ever looked around a chiropractor’s office, there are all sorts of tools … Continue reading →

How To Improve Shoulder Range of Motion?

Individuals who experience shoulder pain may have difficulty with performing shoulder range of motion to participate in daily activities.  Daily activities may include dressing, bathing, grooming, reaching, among many other tasks to help us throughout the day.  Those who are … Continue reading →

National Chiropractic Health Month 2022

Wow it is October already! It is that time of the year for all ghosts and ghouls to come out. Alongside this spooky month comes the appreciation for chiropractic health. That is right, this October the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) … Continue reading →

How Do I Manage Tight Muscles?

Individuals may experience tight muscles or muscle spasms on occasion whether it was the result of an injury or insidious onset.   Those individuals may seek the guidance of a medical professional to help decrease pain and improve overall function.  However, … Continue reading →

Fall into Physical Fitness with these Fun Tips

This week marks the first full week of Fall! With the end of summer comes changing leaves and dropping temperatures. But that does not mean you can’t still enjoy some outdoor physical activity. You might just have to adjust your … Continue reading →

Want to Feel Your Core Working? Try Pressure Biofeedback Gauges

Core stabilization exercises are excellent to improve strength, flexibility, range of motion, and better balance. However, performing these exercises can feel challenging. Sometimes we aren’t sure if we are activating the ‘right’ muscles when performing the exercises. Perhaps we need … Continue reading →

Postnatal Exercises You Can Do After Pregnancy

Postnatal exercises can help you recover, make you stronger and even improve your mood. If you’re eager to get moving, you might be wondering when it would be safe to return to exercise. While every pregnancy is different, if you … Continue reading →

How Should We Strengthen the Shoulder? Rhythmic Stabilization.

Shoulder pain is a common condition experienced by many people. Individuals may need to strengthen specific muscles to help reduce symptoms. Traditional shoulder exercises typically will focus on one plane of movement.  However, the human body moves and functions in … Continue reading →

Is it Safe to Exercise While Pregnant?

Pregnancy might seem like the perfect time to quit exercising or even allow you to put it off until after childbirth. This is likely due to feeling more tired than usual, and possible back aches associated with carrying extra weight. … Continue reading →

Should Grip Strength Testing Positions be Standardized?

Grip strength testing is an objective measure that is highly utilized among clinicians.  Grip strength testing can tell us a lot about an individual.  However, when we proceed to test these individuals, the question becomes, how should we test them? … Continue reading →

How to Clean Your Yoga Mat

Have you thought about cleaning your yoga mat? The truth is, with frequent usage, your yoga mat can quickly accumulate all your sweat, skin oils, dirt and grime. Between yoga classes and core workouts, your yoga mat might be harboring … Continue reading →

Grip Strength: A Prognostic Factor of Dexterity

Clinicians may choose from several objective measures when evaluating an individual for dexterity dysfunction including manual muscle testing, range of motion, special tests, and dexterity tests. All of these will provide valuable information to help guide clinical decision making throughout … Continue reading →

What Can I Take for Back Pain?

Back pain is no joke. Sometimes the pain can be so bad that you end up in urgent care. Which is why it is important to listen to your physical on what exercises you can do to help manage back … Continue reading →

Don’t Forget About Hand Extension Exercises!

Commonly clinicians will prescribe wrist and hand exercises that primarily focus on hand flexion.  While this is important for performing activities of daily living, we cannot forget about hand extension. Strengthening hand extensors is important to prevent imbalance of antagonist … Continue reading →

How Physical Therapy Can Help with Back Pain

Backaches are no fun, especially when they happen suddenly and for no real reason. One minute you are fine and the next minute, you bend down wrong to pick something up and now you are in pain. While becoming a … Continue reading →

Boring Pronation/Supination Exercises? Give this one a try

Are you still prescribing boring pronation and supination exercises to your patients? Looking for something new and different? I would recommend looking at the CanDo Pronation/Supination Wrist Exercise Wheel.  What is the CanDo Pronation/Supination Wrist Exercise Wheel? The CanDo Pronation/Supination … Continue reading →

Exercise You Can Use to Practice Pilates

Pilates is a very popular exercise method that can be done by just about anyone. This is because Pilates uses your core and your whole body to gain balance, strength, mobility, and flexibility. This can help you with your everyday … Continue reading →

Let’s Cut to the Chase: You Need CanDo® Perf 100 Exercise Bands

Let’s start with these questions: How many of you still use scissors to cut exercise bands for your patients? How many of you waste time trying to cut exercise bands with lousy scissors? How many of you struggle doing this, … Continue reading →

The Benefits of Pilates

No matter what you exercise you do, any kind of exercise is good for you. Whether that be lifting weights or going for a run. Pilates is an exercise method that can be done by just about anyone regardless of … Continue reading →

What Can I Do with the CanDo® Wrist/Forearm Exerciser?

There are many great products out there that are great to address wrist and forearm dysfunction.  CanDo® Wrist/Forearm Exercisers are great options to help individuals achieve their respective goals and improve their overall daily function.  These products can be utilized … Continue reading →

How Ball Chairs Can Get You Moving More

How Ball Chairs Can Get You Moving More It’s time to swap out your office chair for a stability ball chair! In keeping with last week’s blog about finding time in the day to exercise, we have one more tip, … Continue reading →

What Can I Do with CanDo® Inflatable Balance Discs?

There are many great products out there that are helpful in addressing balance and strengthening deficits. CanDo® Inflatable Balance Discs are great options to help individuals achieve their respective goals and improve their overall daily function. These products can be … Continue reading →

Ways to Get Moving More During Everyday Life

When it comes to getting into exercise, “I just don’t have time” is one of the top excuses for not having daily exercise routine. For some, just the thought about having to get up and do regular exercise after a … Continue reading →

CanDo® Twist-n-Bend Exercisers: More Than Just Strengthening

Building strength for the upper extremity, including the wrist and hand, is important to be able to carry out everyday activities. CanDo® Twist-n-Bend Exercisers are a great option to help address specific impairments and functional limitations, as well as achieving … Continue reading →

Aquatic Therapy with CanDo®

Aquatic therapy is an amazing alternative form of physical therapy. It uses the physical properties of the water to provide benefits as you do various exercises in it. These benefits include avoiding joint strain, reducing swelling and increasing muscle strength. … Continue reading →

How Do I know If an Intervention is Beneficial?

There are plenty of interventions we utilize when we implement them into a plan of care for our patients. Each intervention can help address impairments and functional limitations for each individual clinical presentation. In our minds, we think whenever we … Continue reading →

Benefits of Doing Aquatic Therapy

Do you go to physical therapy and enjoy swimming? By combining the natural properties of water with the movement of your body, you’ve got a very effective physical therapy solution. Aquatic therapy is an extremely beneficial form of physical therapy … Continue reading →

Should I Use Heat or Cold Therapy?

The use of modalities is helpful to reduce pain, improve the body’s ability to heal, and enhance overall function. Heat and cold therapies are two modalities that are traditionally used to address impairments and functional limitations of patients. There are … Continue reading →

Pinch Grip Testing: An Essential Clinical Utility

Pinch grip is important for individuals to perform activities of daily living and various everyday tasks. Testing for pinch grip strength is important to be able to understand impairments and functional limitations a patient is experiencing. What are we evaluating … Continue reading →

Introducing the New CanDo® Slide Board

Looking for a low impact exerciser that doesn’t put a whole lot of pressure on your knees and joints? Then you might want to try our new CanDo® Slide Board! The CanDo® Slide Board allows users to challenge themselves, develop … Continue reading →

4 Ways to Perform Thoracic Extension Exercises

Thoracic extension exercises are a great way to focus on individual impairments and functional limitations. Thoracic extension exercises can help improve range of motion, flexibility, and overall posture. There are numerous ways to perform this exercise. Here are some great … Continue reading →

Workouts You Can Do This Summer

Today marks the first day of Summer! That’s right, and with Summer comes warmer weather for you to enjoy. Beach volleyball, tennis, paddle boarding…the number of outdoor activities to do are endless. It is just a matter of picking the … Continue reading →

How Can I Improve my Grip Strength?

Assessing grip strength is important as it can tell you a lot about your patient.  Not only grip strength, but other variables including all-cause mortality, frailty, and many other pieces of information.  Therefore, we should focus on finding way to … Continue reading →

What are CanDo® Intensity® Loops?

Go beyond traditional exercise bands and crank up the intensity with the CanDo® Intensity® Loops! One of the most durable bands we offer, the CanDo® Intensity® Loop is designed to give a greater resistance than our standard CanDo® bands. Ideal … Continue reading →

Introducing the CanDo® Impact Massager!

Do you have tight, sore or inflamed muscles? A good percussion massage will have your muscles feeling a lot better. Percussive massage therapy is a new way to give a massage, and honestly it is a game changer. No longer … Continue reading →

Best Exercises for Scoliosis

Our spines have a natural curve to it to distribute weight evenly throughout the body. Scoliosis is a spinal deformity that causes an irregular curvature in the spine. This curvature can sometimes be painful depending on the severity. Thankfully there … Continue reading →

What is Therapeutic Alliance?

Therapeutic alliance is “a general construct that usually includes theoretical definition the collaborative nature, the affective bond, and the goal and task agreement between patients and clinicians”.1 Developing the therapeutic relationship between the patient and clinician is so important to … Continue reading →

National Scoliosis Awareness Month 2022

Tomorrow is the start of June! With June comes the start of summer and the realization that we are already halfway through the year. It is also a month where we celebrate National Scoliosis Awareness Month. Scoliosis is a spinal … Continue reading →

How to Perform Long Axis Hip Distraction at Home

Performing hip traction is a manual therapy technique utilized to help decrease pain, improve range of motion, and enhance overall functional mobility. Manual therapy, including traction muscle stretching, has shown to be beneficial to decrease pain, function, ad well-being for … Continue reading →

Introducing the CanDo® UBE!

Ever wonder what it would be like to have an upper and lower body exerciser all in one device? Well wonder no more because your answer is here! Introducing the CanDo® Bi-Directional Upper Body Ergometer (CanDo® UBE for short). This … Continue reading →

How to Measure Lumbar Range of Motion? A Bubble Inclinometer.

Range of motion is assessed by a qualified healthcare professional to identify impairments and functional limitations.  Range of motion is an objective measurement that can be used to measure progress of a given individual during their episode of care.  When … Continue reading →

How Physical Therapy Can Help with Blood Clots

Blood has the crazy task of moving throughout the body continuously, but then quickly stops when you experience a cut or injury. This healthy and sometimes lifesaving stoppage of blood is called a blood clot. Most of the time when … Continue reading →

Don’t have Dumbbells Available? Use Cuff Weights Instead!

We commonly will prescribe exercises using dumbbells to perform specific therapeutic exercises.  However, sometimes patients are not able to use these products due to potential issues including pain with gripping, skin integrity, and other problems. What are some alternatives we … Continue reading →

Get Moving for National Physical Fitness and Sports Month

Every year during the month of May, National Physical Fitness and Sports Month provides an excellent opportunity to celebrate and promote exercise. Physical activity is very important in maintaining your overall health and well-being. That is why below we have … Continue reading →

Mentor, Mentee, or Both?

Clinical education is a part of a student’s academic program to learn how to apply the skills learned in the classroom and transition those techniques to a clinical setting. Students are typically paired up with a clinical instructor to help … Continue reading →

National Physical Fitness and Sports Month 2022

Physical activity is very important in maintaining your overall health and well-being. As an annual observance, during the month of May, National Physical Fitness and Sports Month celebrates and promotes physical activity and the benefits of exercise. This month promotes … Continue reading →

Should We Attend Other Conferences Besides Our Own?

As Occupational Therapy Month comes to end, I have had time to reflect on my experience attending the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Inspire 2022 conference earlier this month. I had the honor and privilege to attend the AOTA Inspire … Continue reading →

Exercises you Can Do with an AIREX® Balance Pad

AIREX® balance pads and other fitness products are amazing when it comes to balance, stretching, physical therapy, mobility, rehabilitation, and core strength training. Their balance pads are designed to give you the best performance by adjusting to your body. Having … Continue reading →

3 Questions You Should Ask Your Patients

During the initial interview with a patient, we want to ask questions to help better facilitate he conversation.  More importantly, we want to be able to understand what the patient is experiencing, so we can better help them during their … Continue reading →

Why Choose AIREX®?

Have you ever bought a balance pad and wanted more from it? There are tons of companies that will sell you a balance pad, but you need to find the one with the best quality and performance. From balance pads … Continue reading →

Core Strengthening: Is There More to the Core?

Patients may be prescribed core stabilization exercises to strengthen their abdominal muscles to address their respective impairments and functional limitations.  Core stabilization is a great way to improve strength, functional range of motion, and overall stability.  However, maybe the “core” … Continue reading →

Occupational Therapy Activities You Can Do at Home

Occupational Therapy (OT) is a specialized type of rehabilitation that focuses on helping patients get the most out of life through practicing everyday activities. The goal of OT is to allow the patient to have maximum independence. When you first … Continue reading →

Home Exercise Program (HEP) or Self-Management Program?

Patients are usually prescribed a HEP by their healthcare professional, to work on exercises at home to address their own impairments and functional limitations. These exercises are provided on a sheet indicating the number of sets and repetitions for each … Continue reading →

Occupational Therapy Month 2022

Have you ever been to Occupational Therapy? Occupational therapists play a vital role in helping people recover by treating injured and disabled patients through the therapeutic use of everyday activities. Every year during the month of April, the American Occupational … Continue reading →

Alphabet Soup: Does My Therapist’s Credentials Matter?

Alphabet Soup: Does My Therapist’s Credentials Matter? Short answer, it depends. When patients are seeking care for their own injuries or functional limitations, they want to seek out the best clinician that will help guide them throughout their rehabilitation process.  … Continue reading →

Exercises for Those with Diabetes

If you are someone who has type 2 diabetes, regular exercise might be a good option to help manage your blood sugar levels and weight. Exercise is great for just about everyone. Along with managing your diabetes, exercising can also … Continue reading →

What Do Patients Want in a Therapist? Answer…Compassion.

Patients will seek advice and care from a healthcare professional to address their current complaints and symptoms.  Healthcare professionals are extremely knowledgeable in their own respective fields.  However, being knowledgeable may not be enough to help guide patients during their … Continue reading →

American Diabetes Association Alert Day

Did you know that diabetic patients are increasing over time? More than 10.5% of the American population are diabetic, with more than 34.2 million Americans being at risk of getting it. To raise awareness and combat this disease, the American … Continue reading →

Getting Advice from Dr. Google? You Might Need a Second Opinion.

Have you ever tried to self-diagnose yourself by simply searching for answers on the internet? Sure, we probably have all tried to figure out the reasoning behind experiencing various signs and symptoms.  Sometimes we need certainty to help us feel … Continue reading →

Patient Safety Awareness Week 2022

If something ever goes wrong with your health, the first thought in your mind without a doubt is to go to the hospital. It is the best place to receive treatment for any health condition. However, with that must come … Continue reading →

Should We Discharge Patients from Care?

Perhaps we need to change the structure a bit.  Instead, we should refer to each time the patient sees the healthcare professional as an “episode of care”.  This episode of care is just one point in the patient’s continuum of … Continue reading →

National Sleep Awareness Week 2022

Sleeping is a very important part of everyone’s lives. In fact, about one-third of our entire lifetime is devoted to sleeping. However, not everyone is able to get the recommended average of 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night. … Continue reading →

Should We Use Pain Scores? Let’s Change the Narrative.

Typically, a numerical pain rating scale (NPRS) is a tool to help us evaluate and assess a patient’s given symptoms. The NPRS is also helpful to gauge a patient’s response to certain interventions throughout the course of the episode of … Continue reading →

How 10 Minutes of Daily Exercising Can Boost Overall Health

According to the CDC, people have about 5 hours of free time per day on average. However, those hours can quickly diminish by whatever you have to do in life. This leaves you not a lot of time to exercise … Continue reading →

What is the best treatment we can do for our patients? Listen.

We always strive to provide the best care to our patients. We do this through many avenues, including locating the best available evidence, utilize our clinical expertise, and understand the individual’s personal expectations and values.  This is true evidence-informed practice, … Continue reading →

Ankle Exercises You Can Do for Physical Rehabilitation

If you have ankle pain due to an injury or surgery, you may want to seek help from a physical therapist. By undergoing physical therapy, you will speed up the recovery process by following what your physical therapist recommends. They … Continue reading →

What Does the Evidence Say About Foam Rolling?

Foam rolling is a helpful way to improve range of motion, flexibility, and functional mobility.  Foam rollers are widely accessible in therapy gym, fitness centers, and for personal use.  Using a foam roller has many benefits to help individuals’ reach … Continue reading →

How Physical Therapy Helps You After Ankle Surgery

Ankle surgery is sometimes necessary if you have chronic ankle pain due to an injury or disability. Surgery can help alleviate the pain, but you are not out of the woods yet. Following an operation, you are most likely going … Continue reading →

Manual Muscle Testing (MMT). Subjective or Objective?

What is MMT? MMT is something that is studied during our educational experiences during school.  MMT are included within the objective measures section of the physical examination. MMT is performed to assess the strength and function of various muscles.  Strength … Continue reading →

Heart Health Exercises

Physical activity is one of the most effective tools to strengthen your heart. It also helps keep your weight under control to prevent high cholesterol, high blood sugar and high blood pressure. There are three different types of exercises you … Continue reading →

Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs): Do the Scores Matter?

Patients generally will fill out outcome measurement tools to help score their respective pain, disability, and functional limitations.  These forms are important tools to help clinicians understand what patients are currently experiencing.  However, we must not look at these scores … Continue reading →

American Heart Month

Every year more than 600,000 Americans die from heart disease. It is the number one cause of deaths for most groups, affecting every age, gender, and ethnicity. To bring light on this disease, the U.S observes the month of February … Continue reading →

Can We Do More with TheraPutty? Puttycise Tools May Be the Answer

TheraPutty is a commonly used product to help address a patient’s impairments and functional limitations. TheraPutty is helpful to improve strength, flexibility, range of motion, dexterity, and much more! There are other products that might compliment TheraPutty to enhance overall … Continue reading →

Sitting Exercises with the TOGU® Inflatable Ball

Are you sitting down too much and need a little movement? Whether you are at home or in the office, TOGU® inflatable exercise balls are a great way to get you exercising even while sitting. Your body must constantly make … Continue reading →