Symptom modification of painful gait

Symptom modification procedure is common practice in the Physical Therapy profession. This procedure involves identifying the specific movement, posture, and/or activity that reproduces the patient’s symptoms. Historically diagnosis of musculoskeletal problems was based on examination which selectively provoked musculoskeletal tissues by compressing or stretching the various tissues to provoke the symptoms. This provided direction for…

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Pain walking/running deviant gait – self treat &/or seek expert assistance

Experiencing pain when walking or running can be a complex problem. Asserting a hypothesis is a systematic way to solve complex problems. A hypothesis is an “if-then statement” or conditional statement which can be tested, accepted, or refuted. Hypothesis: If you have pain walking and/or running, then gait analysis to determine if there is a…

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Healthcare Whisperer versus Con Artist

The popular idiom of a “whisperer” is used to describe an individual who has special skills to interact with humans or animals to alter behavior and achieve outcomes that others cannot. What are the characteristics of a whisperer? A whisperer: Has high level of empathy Has specialized skills Focuses is understanding Uses body language communication…

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Analysis of Movement with Smartphone Video

Physical therapists are movement specialist according to the American Physical Therapy Association. Addressing issues related to the human movement system is what Physical Therapist do. The movement system is collection of systems (cardiovascular, pulmonary, endocrine, integumentary, nervous, and musculoskeletal) that interact to move the body or its component parts. Visual observation and analysis of movement…

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Gait Deviation – Excessive Inward Rotation of Hip Joint

Excessive inward rotation of the hip joint can be a contributing factor to development of repetitive use injuries of: Lateral hip pain (gluteal muscle tendinopathy) Buttock pain (piriformis syndrome) Anterior knee pain (patella femoral arthralgia) Lateral knee pain (IT band syndrome Shin pain (posterior tibial tendinopathy) Plantar heel pain This video first illustrates the gait…

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Shoe drop – how the pendulum swings

Put on your high-heel sneakers, Lordy Wear your wig-hat on your head Put on your high-heel sneakers, child Wear your wig-hat on your head Ya know you’re looking mighty fine, baby I’m pretty sure you’re gonna knock ‘em dead – Tommy Tucker Growing up in the 1960s, I remember the song, “Put on Your High-Heel…

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How to do the analysis of slow-motion video of human movement

Smart phone video technology provides significant opportunities to analyze human movement. There are four steps involved in using smart phone video for slow motion video analysis. Each step has considerations, challenges and barriers that need to be addressed. The four steps are recording movement; analyzing the movement; storing the video data; and retrieving the video…

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Keeping the Spring in Your Step: Ankle Joint Power & Aging

  As we amass more birthdays and get older we tend to walk/run slower, take shorter steps, and fewer per minute. Why do we seem to have less spring in our step the older we get? Kids move fast and crash elderly move slow and crash. One factor is kids have good ankle power elderly…

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