CTS Celebrates National PT Month!

Happy Physical Therapy Month! In honor of this great month, here are ten fun facts about PT that some people don't know:

1. Becoming a Physical Therapist requires a graduate degree. All programs are now Doctorate level. In the 90s, Physical Therapy programs had a Master's program, so you may see a PT that has different graduate degrees.


2. Similar to the rest of the healthcare team, Physical Therapy has different settings and specialties. Most people think Physical Therapy is only for elderly or post-operative patients. At Comprehensive Therapy Services, we specialize in Orthopedics, Sports and Pelvic Floor (for men and women).


3. Physical Therapists can help with prenatal and post-partum care. Many women do not know that leaking (incontinence) and pelvic pain are just part of being pregnant or becoming a mom. This is not true. See your Physical Therapist to help relieve your symptoms.


4. Physical Therapists can also treat TMJ issues. This can be the driver for chronic headaches and neck and jaw pain. PTs work with your dentist or orthodontist to help resolve your symptoms.


5. Lymphedema is associated with breast cancer treatment. Many times patients are told how to manage it on their own but never told that a Physical Therapist can assist in your care. There are specialists specific to Lymphedema, especially for more extreme cases.


6. "No Pain, No Gain" is a thing of the past. There are very few instances where a PT tells you to push through the pain. Treatment is gauged by your symptoms, not what the PT insists upon doing.


7. Physical Therapy is evidence-based. Treatments are based on research and clinical judgement.


8. You can come to PT for a tune-up! Sometimes you just sprained your ankle or strained a muscle and need help with accelerating your healing and preventing it from happening again.


9. You do not have to come to Physical Therapy 3 times a week. Depending on the nature of your injury, our patients come in anywhere from 2 times a week to 1 time a month.


10. With most insurances, you can come see your Physical Therapist first!

By April Douglas, DPT, MTC

Do you wonder why some breast-fed infants have reflux and digestive issues and others don't? Why are some kids more prone to sinus and ear infections than others? Why are some kids constipated despite a good diet? Why do some kids get headaches at an early age? Why do some kids have ADD and ADHD? Can we do something instead of giving drugs for all these disorders? The answer is "Yes!"

Your body is truly connected from your head to your toes. This means that if you have an injury in one place, it can affect the whole body and create dysfunction in another place. At first, you may not notice anything other than the most current injury or trauma. But, over time, your adult injuries and traumas along with untreated childhood injuries, have a cumulative physical effect that results in increased pain and dysfunction in other parts of the body.

A therapist trained in visceral manipulation and craniosacral therapy can feel where tissues are restricted everywhere in the body. They are trained in osteopathic techniques designed to go beneath what traditional physical therapists and chiropractors have the ability to treat, such as the viscera, the deep fascial connections, the cranial membranes, the dura, the nerves, the vessels and the brain.

I believe that if every baby saw a physical therapist trained in visceral manipulation and craniosacral therapy within the first few months of birth we would have healthier children and less dysfunction as adults.

How a baby is positioned in utero can create tissue restrictions which can have a huge effect on a baby after they are born. A normal non-traumatic vaginal birth can create numerous restrictions to a baby's head due to the amount of force and pressure the head must undergo to get through the birthing canal. These restrictions can be enough to create reflux and digestive issues and cause kids to be more prone to sinus infections, headaches, and even behavioral issues such as ADD and ADHD.

The biggest problem is that as children grow, their bodies develop around their early childhood restrictions and traumas, which leads to further complications and dysfunction when they become adults. For example, I have treated several adult patients who required stitches after falling and hitting their heads as children. When they came to see me for something completely unrelated to those childhood injuries I have found that the restriction created to their head when they fell as a child, was playing a large role in their adult dysfunction. These patients would have been far better off if a properly trained therapist had released their childhood trauma and restriction before their bodies grew and developed around the restriction. In fact, kids can be much easier to treat and get quick results with this type of therapy.

I would love to treat your kids in order to help them to live healthier lives as children and to prevent further complications and dysfunction as they develop into adults.

By Kim Zevin, DPT