Adjusting the exercise load to manage musculoskeletal pain syndrome

Adjusting the amount of exercise load involves seeking a balance between increasing or decreasing the load. Athletes and healthy individuals the bias is towards increasing the load to improve capacity and performance. For musculoskeletal injuries, post-orthopedic surgery, or musculoskeletal pain syndromes, the bias is towards decreasing the load to facilitate healing and recovery. Tactics to…

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Orthopedic surgery is not always necessary – coper vs non-coper

A diagnostic image such as an MRI can show significant structural damage such as a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), a complete tear of the rotator cuff of the shoulder, a herniated spinal disc, or other musculoskeletal tissue damage. In 1983 Frank Noyes and colleagues in a seminal study of patients without…

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Using symptoms &/or sign modification procedure to manage musculoskeletal pain syndrome

The symptom modification procedure is a clinical reasoning process and is a common practice in the Physical Therapy profession. The symptom modification procedure involves identifying the specific movement, posture, and/or activity that reproduces the patient’s symptoms. Typically, the symptom is pain, which can be weakness, falls, or other functional limitations. Then intervening to alter the…

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Pain – Movement

If pain occurs with movement, then observation and analysis of movement is required. The measurement of the symptom of pain occurs using the familiar numeric pain scale (zero to 10). 0-10 Numeric pain scale diagram. Clipart image In 1996 the American Pain Society lead a campaign to consider the measurement of pain as the 5th…

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Exercise prescription – Art & Science

Exercise while not a drug can behave like one. Exercise can help in the management of chronic diseases and offer pain relief for individuals suffering from musculoskeletal pain syndromes. Like prescribing drugs, the concept of dosage applies to exercise prescription. A dose-response to exercise is not unlike drugs however the minimum dose, dose-response, and maximum…

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