Post-Surgical Rehab

Proper movement and physical therapy training has been to be one of the most effective things someone can do after surgeries. Right Path Physical Therapy has developed fluid protocols that evolve with our patients--and working directly with your surgeon--to maximize recovery and healing safely. 

The benefits of physical therapy after surgery?

• Promotion of healing
• Regain mobility
• Faster recovery
• Involvement in rehabilitation
• Address postoperative pain
• Reduce scar tissue formation

Common surgeries with which we work post-operatively include: 

• Kee surgeries including ACL, PCL, meniscus, collateral ligmanets (LCL/MCL), and qudricepts tendon
• Rotator Cuff Repairs
• Lumbar fusions
• Disc Herniations
• Achilles tendon repairs
• and many mote.

Balance and Fall Prevention Program

At Right Path, we have developed a unique approach to balance training that can rewire the brain and restore your equilibrium. 

Defintion of Balance: Balance, defined as the ability to keep the body's center of mass (COM) within the limits of the base of support (BOS), is required for many functional activities of daily life such as mobility and fall avoidance.

Are balance problems common? Balance impairment occurs in up to 75% of people aged 70 years and older and is common in people with neurological and musculoskeletal disorders such as stroke and arthritis.Given the high prevalence of balance impairments and their potential impact on function, interventions to improve balance are major foci of physical therapist practice. 

What can physical therapists do? We assess all the components that contribute to balance. Assessment of balance abilities is important for accurate diagnosis of potential impairments, identifying fall risk, treatment planning, and evaluating change over time, but is complicated by the complex, multifactorial nature of balance.

Return to Sport Programs

From weekend warriors to elite athletes, we have seen them all. No matter who you are, if you play hard, you will get injured. The therapists at Right Path are here to get you back to what you love. 

Common Sports injuries include repetitive stress conditions, torn tendons and ligaments, strained back, and fractures. 

The most common return to sport programs we implement are for throwing athletes after a shoulder or elbow injury and ACL rehab to return patients to running, jumping, and cutting.

We follow well-validated research and proven protocols to efficiently maximize your recovery. Everything is tailored to you and your goals. Then, we empower you to move and train properly to prevent re-injury. As Dr. Bird always says, "A good therapists puts himself out of a job!"

Arthiritis

Arthritis is a general term for conditions that affect the joints and surrounding tissues. Joints are places in the body where bones come together, such as the knees, wrists, fingers, toes, and hips. Two common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

• Osteoarthritis (OA) is a painful, degenerative joint disease that often involves the hips, knees, neck, lower back, or small joints of the hands. OA usually develops in joints that are injured by repeated overuse from performing a particular task or playing a favorite sport or from carrying around excess body weight. Eventually this injury or repeated impact thins or wears away the cartilage that cushions the ends of the bones in the joint. As a result, the bones rub together, causing a grating sensation. Joint flexibility is reduced, bony spurs develop, and the joint swells. Usually, the first symptom of OA is pain that worsens following exercise or immobility. Treatment usually includes analgesics, topical creams, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, appropriate exercises or physical therapy; joint splinting; or joint replacement surgery for seriously damaged larger joints, such as the knee or hip.
• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease that usually involves various joints in the fingers, thumbs, wrists, elbows, shoulders, knees, feet, and ankles. An autoimmune disease is one in which the body releases enzymes that attack its own healthy tissues. In RA, these enzymes destroy the linings of joints. This causes pain, swelling, stiffness, malformation, and reduced movement and function. People with RA also may have systemic symptoms, such as fatigue, fever, weight loss, eye inflammation, anemia, subcutaneous nodules (bumps under the skin), or pleurisy (a lung inflammation).

Although osteoporosis and osteoarthritis are two very different medical conditions with little in common, the similarity of their names causes great confusion. These conditions develop differently, have different symptoms, are diagnosed differently, and are treated differently.

Osteoporosis and arthritis do share many coping strategies. With either or both of these conditions, many people benefit from exercise programs that may include physical therapy and rehabilitation. In general, exercises that emphasize stretching, strengthening, posture, and range of motion are appropriate. Examples include low-impact aerobics, swimming, tai chi, and low-stress yoga. However, people with osteoporosis must take care to avoid activities that include bending forward from the waist, twisting the spine, or lifting heavy weights. People with arthritis must compensate for limited movement in affected joints. Always check with your doctor to determine whether a certain exercise or exercise program is safe for your specific medical situation.

Most people with arthritis will use pain management strategies at some time. This is not always true for people with osteoporosis. Usually, people with osteoporosis need pain relief when they are recovering from a fracture. In cases of severe osteoporosis with multiple spine fractures, pain control also may become part of daily life. Regardless of the cause, pain management strategies are similar for people with osteoporosis, OA, and RA.

Neurorehabilitaion

The physical therapists of Right Path Physical Therapy have a new toolbox of options for neurorehabilitation of disabling brain disorders such as stroke and traumatic brain injury. An emerging intellectual paradigm for neurologic recovery that includes neural regeneration, repair, and dynamic reorganization of functional neural systems, as well as increasing awareness of behavioral principles that may support best return to function and freedom, brought forward treatments based on experience-dependent learning, neurophysiologic stimulation, and a combination of these concepts

Headaches

Picture this: You're sitting at your desk, working on a difficult task, when it suddenly feels as if a belt or vice is being tightened around the top of your head. Or you have periodic headaches that occur with nausea and increased sensitivity to light or sound. Maybe you are involved in a routine, non-stressful task when you're struck by head or neck pain.

Sound familiar? If so, you've suffered one of the many types of headache that can occur on its own or as part of another disease or health condition.

Anyone can experience a headache. Nearly 2 out of 3 children will have a headache by age 15. More than 9 in 10 adults will experience a headache sometime in their life. Headache is our most common form of pain and a major reason cited for days missed at work or school as well as visits to the doctor. Without proper treatment, headaches can be severe and interfere with daily activities.

Certain types of headache run in families. Episodes of headache may ease or even disappear for a time and recur later in life. It's possible to have more than one type of headache at the same time.

Primary headaches occur independently and are not caused by another medical condition. It's uncertain what sets the process of a primary headache in motion. A cascade of events that affect blood vessels and nerves inside and outside the head causes pain signals to be sent to the brain. Brain chemicals called neurotransmitters are involved in creating head pain, as are changes in nerve cell activity (called cortical spreading depression). Migraine, cluster, and tension-type headache are the more familiar types of primary headache.

Secondary headaches are symptoms of another health disorder that causes pain-sensitive nerve endings to be pressed on or pulled or pushed out of place. They may result from underlying conditions including fever, infection, medication overuse, stress or emotional conflict, high blood pressure, psychiatric disorders, head injury or trauma, stroke, tumors, and nerve disorders (particularly trigeminal neuralgia, a chronic pain condition that typically affects a major nerve on one side of the jaw or cheek).

Headaches can range in frequency and severity of pain. Some individuals may experience headaches once or twice a year, while others may experience headaches more than 15 days a month. Some headaches may recur or last for weeks at a time. Pain can range from mild to disabling and may be accompanied by symptoms such as nausea or increased sensitivity to noise or light, depending on the type of headache.

The therapists at Right Path Physical Therapy can help determine the source of your headache and alleviate it.

Titlist Performance Institute (TPI) Golf Program

Our TPI trained therapists at Right Path can lead you through assessment and training to eliminate physical limitations to your golf swing. We then coordinate with your golf instructor to maximize your gains and lower your score.

What is the TItlist Perfromance Institute (TPI)? TPI is the world's leading educational organization dedicated to the study of how the human body functions in relation to the golf swing.

Since its inception in 2003, TPI has studied thousands of golfers ranging from the top professional Tour players to weekend enthusiasts. An incredible amount of data on players of all shapes, sizes, ages, and fitness levels has been gathered during this time. Using this data, TPI discovered how a properly functioning body allows a player to swing a golf club in the most efficient way possible. Additionally, TPI has analyzed how physical limitations in a player’s body can adversely affect the golf swing and potentially lead to injury.

Neck Pain

Neck pain happens. But when does it become a real problem? When our well-being and overall function start to suffer. Common complaints include not being able to turn your neck, all-over nexk soreness, stabbing pain localized to one spot on the neck, or pain that radiates as far down as the fingertips. Headaches can even start occurring.

Neck pain has a postural or mechanical basis and affects about two thirds of people at some stage, especially in middle age. Acute neck pain resolves within days or weeks, but may become chronic in about 10% of people. People that have experienced a whip-lash injury are especially susceptible to chronic neck pain.

The research says that the sooner you get in to a physical therapist, the better chance there is for acute neck pain to not turn chronic. The therapists of Right Path Physical Therapy have helped hundreds of patients with neck pain return to living their best lives. 

Hip Pain

Hip pain is a common and disabling condition that affects patients of all ages. The differential diagnosis of hip pain is broad, presenting a diagnostic challenge. Luckily, at Right Path Physical Therapy, we are experts at determining source tissue for hip pain.

Patients often express that their hip pain is localized to one of three anatomic regions: the anterior hip and groin, the posterior hip and buttock, or the lateral hip. Anterior hip and groin pain is commonly associated with intra-articular pathology, such as osteoarthritis and hip labral tears. Posterior hip pain is associated with piriformis syndrome, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, lumbar radiculopathy, and less commonly ischiofemoral impingement and vascular claudication. Lateral hip pain occurs with greater trochanteric pain syndrome. 

We can explain all this to you and help simplify your pain to something manageable with a proven combination of exercise, movement retraining, and hands-on manual therapy. Your life is about to get a whole lot better. 

Foot and Ankle Pain

Musculoskeletal conditions of the foot and ankle are an important public health challenge due to their increasing incidence combined with their substantial negative impact on patients’ quality of life. Non-pharmacological treatments e.g., physical therapy serve as the first line of treatment and are frequently used for patients with musculoskeletal conditions of the foot and ankle.

In individuals with musculoskeletal conditions of the foot and ankle, our chief objectives  of treatment at Right Path Physical Therapy are to afford pain relief, restore mechanics (alignment, motion and/or load distribution) and return the patient to their desired level of activity participation. We can even fabricate orthotic insoles if we deem in necessary. 

Given that most patients present with multiple impairments, combinational therapies that target foot-specific as well as global impairments have shown promising results. In particular, in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis and other rheumatic diseases, comprehensive rehabilitation strategies including early detection, foot-based interventions (such as orthotics ) and wellness-based approaches for physical activity and self-management have been very successful for us.

Knee Pain

Knee problems happen when you injure or develop disease in your knee and it can’t do its job. Your knee is the joint where the bones of the upper leg meet the bones of the lower leg, allowing hinge-like movement while providing stability and strength to support the weight of your body. Flexibility, strength, and stability are needed for standing and for motions like walking, running, crouching, jumping, and turning.

There are multiple scturctures in the knee that can be damaged including the bone, muscles, tendons, ligaments, menisci, and the articular cartilage. Chronic knee pain can lead to conditions like Osteoarhritis (OA) and result in the need for knee replacements. 

At Right Path Physical therapy, we are experts at determining what speicific structure is causing your knee pain and helping to reduce it through exercise, hands-on manual therapy, and neuromuscular retraining in order to get you back to what you love. 

We want to reduce the need for surgery, but sometimes surgery is required for conditions like advanced arthritis or a severe ligament tear. In this case, we talk with your doctor and develop both a prehab (before surgery) and a rehab (after surgery) program that is cutting-edge and tailored to you and your goals. 

 

TMJ Pain

Temporomandibular joint and muscle disorders, commonly called "TMJ," are a group of conditions that cause pain and dysfunction in the jaw joint and muscles that control jaw movement.

Researchers generally agree that the conditions fall into three main categories:

1. Myofascial pain involves discomfort or pain in the muscles that control jaw function.
2. Internal derangement of the joint involves a displaced disc, dislocated jaw, or injury to the condyle.
3. Arthritis refers to a group of degenerative/inflammatory joint disorders that can affect the temporomandibular joint.

A person may have one or more of these conditions at the same time.

Some estimates suggest that TMJ disorders affect over 10 million Americans. These conditions appear to be more common in women than men.

TMJ pain often resolves on it's own but if it is not resolving, please see a physical therapist to help analyze your bite and determine the source of the pain. We are also experts with hands-on treatment from the TMJ along with exercise assignments so you can know you are doing the right things to set you on the Right Path towards recovery. 

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain (CP) seriously affects the patient’s daily activities and quality of life, Thus, we emphasize the need to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to treatment so as to obtain more comprehensive improvements for patients in familial and social contexts. 

At Right Path Physical Therapy, we look at the whole person when it comes to chronic conditions. There is more to chronic pain that simply the pain itself. We take a comprehensive wellness approach treating both the pain and pain provokers. It is a team effort. If you're ready for change, we're ready to help. 

Shoulder Pain

Compromised shoulder movement due to pain, stiffness, or weakness can cause substantial disability and affect a person's ability to carry out daily activities (eating, dressing, personal hygiene) and work. 

There are multiple joints in the shoulder complex--not just the ball and socket joint--and if any one of those joints arent moving properly, all the others will be affected. Shoulder pain can even be radiating from the neck.

Let us help determine the source of your pain and put you on the Right Path towards recovery. 

Sciatica→

Sciatica affects many people. The most important symptoms are radiating leg pain and related disabilities. Patients are commonly treated in primary care but a small proportion is referred to secondary care and may eventually have surgery. We want to prevent that from needing to happen.

In about 90% of cases sciatica is caused by a herniated disc with nerve root compression, but lumbar stenoses and (less often) tumours are possible causes. 

At Right Path Physical Therapy, we will help diagnose the cause of your condition and work with you and you doctor to get you better.

Back Pain

Low back pain is a considerable health problem in all developed countries and is most commonly treated in primary healthcare settings. It is usually defined as pain, muscle tension, or stiffness localised below the costal margin and above the inferior gluteal folds, with or without leg pain (sciatica). The most important symptoms of non-specific low back pain are pain and disability.

Chronic low back pain (lasting longer than 3 months) represents the second leading cause of disability worldwide being a major welfare and economic problem.

Back pain can come from multiple sources. At Right Path Physical Therapy, we are experts at determing the source tissue and the pathway to decreasing the pain.