Disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to an external injury. Syndrome is a group of symptoms that consistently occur together or a condition characterized by a set of associated symptoms. While disease and syndrome both involve abnormal health conditions, diseases typically have a known cause, whereas syndromes lack a clear cause according to Franz Calvo and colleagues. Examples of the difference between disease and syndrome Examples of musculoskeletal diseases are polio, osteomyelit ..read more

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 symptoms. This procedure assumes that the symptoms and signs are the same thing. Signs and symptoms are similar, but they are also different. It depends on whether you are the individual experiencing t ..read more

There are three possible relationships between movement and musculoskeletal pain syndromes. There is either too much movement, not enough movement, or an optimal amount of movement. When a muscle tendon unit and/or joint is flexible, hypermobile, or unstable there is too much movement. When a muscle tendon unit and/or joint is stiff or hypomobile there is too little movement. The relationship or proportion of too much movement – flexibility and too little movement – stiffness is critical to understanding musculoskeletal pain syndromes. This relationship is “relative flexibility/stiffness.” Th ..read more

A selfie video can enhance motion analysis for the diagnosis and intervention of painful musculoskeletal injury, for injury prevention, and for enhancing movement performance. A selfie video is a video recording that you take of yourself, also called a velifie A selfie video can:    Provide opportunities for reflective self-learning. Provide visual data regarding comparing the way you move to the way of a hypothesized optimal/ideal movement. It is easy to search the internet for a video example of the movement/sport that you are striving to achieve. Comparing your selfie video again ..read more

When dealing with musculoskeletal pain syndromes uncertainty and ambiguity can cause unease and frustration for both patients and clinicians. The goal is to stamp out uncertainty, but not to stamp out ambiguity. Ambiguity may contain uncertainty. But they are different. Uncertainty is something that is not clearly or precisely determined, something unknown. Uncertainty implies that there is something to be certain about. It is certain that I will die. It is uncertain when and how I will die. The connotation of uncertainty is more negative. Ambiguity is being unclear or inexact because a choi ..read more

A definitive symptom of plantar heel pain is “first-step pain” First-step pain is felt on the first step out of bed in the morning or after other periods of inactivity such as sitting in meetings or long car drives. The following are simple steps to manage the 1st step pain: Purposeful pandiculation for pain plantar heel pain syndrome Isometric before stretch – rock, paper, scissors Stretch before step. First perform a purposeful, conscious, or voluntary pandiculation-type stretch of the foot and ankle before getting out of bed in the morning. Pandiculation is an automatic or involunta ..read more

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 vital sign. The 5th vital sign became a requirement of proper patient care as important as the basic assessment and management of temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate. It has been suggested that an unintended consequence of requiring the use of ..read more

In a previous article, I described how sharing selfie videos with healthcare professionals can facilitate motion analysis for the management of painful musculoskeletal syndromes, injury prevention, and performance enhancement. This article describes how to improve the quality and standardize the process of capturing selfie videos to facilitate the motion analysis process. I am a healthcare clinician, not a videographer. However, from self-taught processes and experiential learning, I have come to recognize considerations to achieve quality selfie video necessary for valid motion analysis. Lig ..read more

When dealing with musculoskeletal pain syndrome the ageless advice is the best solution is to see the right person, for the right care. For chronic and/or recurring musculoskeletal pain syndromes the choice of the healthcare provider assumes more importance. As it is likely to be a long-lasting relationship. You can choose from several different types of musculoskeletal healthcare providers including Physical Therapists, Surgeons, chiropractors, rheumatologists, Physiatrist; Neurologist; Podiatrist; Primary Care Providers, and others. Often there are sub-specialists within a healthcare provi ..read more

Why is the terminology “discharged from Physical Therapy” used? I have not heard of anyone being “discharged from dentistry”. I have not heard of anyone being discharged from massage therapy. The meaning of “discharge” is – to relieve of a charge, load, or burden; or to release from confinement, custody, or care; or to set aside or dismiss. If the Physical Therapy service occurs in an outpatient setting discharging a client makes less sense. If a third party (health insurance) is paying for the physical therapy service, it makes sense that the third party wants to discharge the client, to ha ..read more