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Bone and Joint Awareness Week

As a physical therapist, I spend a good portion of my day working with my patients to make changes to their musculoskeletal systems, helping them to overcome problems associated with pain, movement, and strength.

The musculoskeletal system is a complex system made up of bones, muscles, tendons, cartilage, ligaments, joints, and other connective tissue. It literally provides the frame for our body, providing support to the body and the organs within it and stabilizing us as we move.

When the musculoskeletal system isn’t working correctly, we experience pain and discomfort, decreased mobility and function, and other things that affect our overall quality of life. Musculoskeletal disorders include conditions like arthritis and osteoarthritis. The system is involved with neuromuscular and neurological conditions like multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and Downs Syndrome. Dysfunctional can also be caused by trauma, like a broken bone, a torn ligament, or a pulled muscle. We can also develop wear and tear over time, whether it’s caused by aging, activity, and overall health, especially if we aren’t proactively working to keep our bodies functioning properly.

Nearly half of adults have a musculoskeletal condition, making it one of the most common health problems. These conditions reduce our quality of life, making us able to do things that we want or need to do, limited by pain or loss of function. And problems can occur at any age – a child unable to participate in a dance recital due to a twisted ankle, a 25 year old who can’t work at his construction job due to a back injury, or an 80 year old who can no longer live independently because of significant limitations from arthritis.

 

This week, October 12 – 20, is Bone and Joint Awareness Week, recognized globally by the Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Health and other health organizations.

It is a time to bring awareness to the importance of the health of our musculoskeletal system.     

 

Physical therapists help patients recover from problems related to the musculoskeletal system, and can help you reduce or avoid some of those problems in the first place!

  • If you have experienced an injury that you’re not completely recovering from – a knee injury, for example – a physical therapist can help decrease the severity of pain and the impact on your daily life.

  • If you’re experiencing  pain or decreased function due to things like osteoporosis or arthritis, a physical therapist will work with you to improve your strength to decrease stress on your joints, teach you exercises that promote better bone density, and improve your balance so that you don’t have to feel worried about a fall.

  • If you have experienced trauma that resulted in damage to bones, ligaments, tendons, and/or muscle, a physical therapist will make sure that you are on the right road to recovery, respecting the natural healing process and timelines of the human body, while also appropriately challenging your body during the rehabilitation process.

Your therapist will do an evaluation to determine what factors are contributing to the problem, and then teach you ways to adapt activities, to strengthen or stretch muscles, to increase your motion, and to retrain your body to do what it’s supposed to be doing, rather than what it wants to do.

And even better than helping you recover from something, physical therapists can help with prevention of musculoskeletal problems in the first place. This may include teaching you lifestyle modifications, modifications of how and where you work, screenings to determine risk of injury, or annual PT exams to learn what can be address now before it develops into something more. Prevention is a major component in avoid the financial, physical, and emotional costs associated with developing more major conditions. Too often, a problem that could have been avoided results in more money, time, and energy spent on doctors’ visits, medication and injections, diagnostic imaging, surgery, and then the rehabilitation after all of that, not to mention lost wages, lower quality of life, decrease independence, and increased stress.

Since this is Bone and Joint Awareness Week, take the time to learn more about the importance of maintaining the health of your musculoskeletal system, and the rest of your body, all essential parts of your well being and quality of life. Visit a physical therapist to help you with preventative measures or to address a problem before it develops into a bigger issue. Many times, a small discomfort when moving can grow into a very large, expensive problem that could have been avoided. Just like maintaining your car to make sure that you around, maintain and repair your body so it’s there for you to live your life as you want. Make yourself and your musculoskeletal system a priority by practicing safety, self-care and seeking medical care when needed.

 

 

 

Dr. Alyssa Arms, PT, DPT, OCS

Article author, Dr. Alyssa Arms, PT, DPT, OCS holds a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and later obtained a Board Certification as an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS). She is also the President and Owner of Back in Step Physical Therapy in Centennial, Colorado, and is an instructor at her PT alma mater.

A Thank You to Physical Therapists for Making My Life Better

In celebration of October being National Physical Therapy Month, we wanted to share this great “thank you” letter from someone who is grateful for the PT’s that have been in her life. Please enjoy her story below! ~ Dr. Alyssa Arms, PT, DPT, OCS

A thank you to physical therapists who made my life what it is today.   I never went to a physical therapist until about 12 years ago after I had a serious brain injury.     I was one of those people who don’t really understand what you do.    Now I understand so much more about what your profession does and how you can change peoples’ lives.

After my accident, I had so many problems which took years to sort out.   I had physical pain, balance problems, visual processing problems and cognitive problems.   I couldn’t work, drive and had problems doing just about everything.    During my journey of recovery, I learned that physical therapists did many different things, not just helping with rehab from a back injury, knee or hip replacement or something along those lines.

Physical therapists are healers of many conditions.   They are also your counselor and coach in dealing with your situation, giving suggestions for coping with your condition, or just listening with compassion when you tell them all the problems you have getting through your day.

When I went to my therapy sessions, my PT’s not only worked with the primary problem I was there for, but they also made it a point to check in to see how I was doing in getting through my days and listen to the problems I was having.   They would give me tips on how to do things differently, so I could be more successful in doing things.   They would tell me how I could help reduce certain symptoms I was having, such as feeling seasick just sitting down.   They suggested I put weight on my lap and it would work.    They would encourage me to move outside my comfort zone in facing the world.

My initial PT visits were to address the physical pain in my back and to get my strength back.  She gave me easy exercises to start with.   Later I started doing Pilates on her Pilates table and then I got one at home, so I could progress in my strength building.    After a couple years and a variety of exercises, she suggested I try water aerobics to challenge me in different ways.    At my first visit to the pool, I felt anxious about getting in the water and felt very off kilter because of the busy locker room that overwhelmed my senses.   After I got in the water and overcame my anxiety, I experienced a wonderful feeling of freedom to move.    I didn’t have to try so hard to balance or avoid running into something.   I was free to move, and the water was like a giant cushion around me that was protecting me.     So, with prism glasses and earplugs to tune down the volume of the music, I continued the water aerobics for a few years.

My PT encouraged me to keep expanding my activities so after a couple years of water aerobics, I started eyeing the swimmers in the lap lanes.   I usually arrived at the pool early so I decided I would try to swim.   Never being a good swimmer, I made it about 1/3 of the way across and had to stop but I decided my goal would be to make it across without stopping.   I kept working on this and after about 2 years I was swimming 2 miles at a time and it would take 2 hours.    I loved it!    It was good exercise, but it also offered my senses an escape.   I still swim today but only for 1 hour at a time.

So, thank you to Karen Tanaka!  You helped ease my pain and helped me regain my strength.   You encouraged me and found solutions to problems that were getting in my way.    You even did some magic on my head when I would come in with pulsing in my head and my body that was uneven.   You’d touch my head and the pulsating would become more of an even rhythm that was not so disturbing for me.

In the early years after my TBI and doing vision therapy and wearing prism glasses, it was determined that I needed some special balance therapy that addressed proprioception, vestibular function and vision.   This was probably one of the most beneficial therapies in getting me to a better place even though it was not fun at all, but it was a process I had to go through to get better.   Initially, I worked on balance issues doing exercises across the floor, on a ball, standing on foam watching lights spin around me and “easy” things like that (although they really weren’t that easy for me).   Then, I moved on to the “proprio machine” or “the machine from hell” as I would describe it.   For nearly a year, I went through a process to make my 3 balance systems work properly together again.   This was a difficult time but well worth it.  After this, I felt I was much more grounded, I was less fatigued, and it also improved my cognitive functions because my brain wasn’t working so hard for me to be balanced and I was able to walk around without as many problems.

So, thank you to Julie Knoll and her team who brought me back to a better world to move around in.

And finally, but not the least of my thanks to my daughter, Alyssa Arms.   My accident occurred while she was an undergraduate in college working on a biology degree and preparing to go to a physical therapy school.     My TBI affected her and my entire family.    She was one of my caregivers and had firsthand experience with everything I was going through for years.   It also gave her a lot of insight into what a person deals with to recover from a complex condition.    Even today where I am doing so much better after nearly 13 years of recovery, Alyssa takes on the role of physical therapist when she sees I’m having a difficulty due to my brain injury.

So, thank you to Alyssa Arms, my daughter and physical therapist.

Thank you to all physical therapists for all you do and for all you are to patients who need to get back to a better life.   You do so much and can offer so much to improving peoples lives yet many people don’t even really understand what you do.   They have the misconception that you are the same as personal trainers or massage therapists, but you are not.   You are highly trained doctors who treat many conditions.    You are healers, coaches and counselors.    You have made a huge difference in my life!   I know you have made a huge difference in other peoples lives as well.    People who have had very different types of conditions than what I have had.

Thank you!

 

About the Author:

My name is Linda W. Arms.   I am a TBI survivor. My accident happened January 15, 2006. I am much improved but the effects of the injury are still with me and will be part of my life forever. Before the accident, I did not understand the impacts a brain injury can have. During the very dark days of the first years, I grieved for who I was and what I lost.  I despaired because I just was not getting better. Very slowly I saw improvements and now years later I can say I am much, much better. My recovery was assisted by many medical providers and by the elusive “Brain Fairy” who works magic (good and bad) in our brains.

Learn more about my story and find more brain injury resources at The Brain Fairy.