Physical Therapy News and Research

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Big breasts a pain for some women

Women with macromastia, a condition of having abnormally large breasts, often experience symptoms of neck pain, numbness, tingling, and pain and weakness in one or both hands.

17 Oct 2007

Training for walking after stroke

Repetitive training that simulates everyday leg function can help people walk more easily after stroke, according to a new review of studies.

17 Oct 2007

Water exercises for the treatment of knee and hip osteoarthritis

For patients suffering from osteoarthritis of the hip or knee, doing aerobic and stretching exercises in warm water can bring some relief from the pain and could improve daily function, a new review has found.

17 Oct 2007

Acupuncture effective for treating low back pain

Six months of acupuncture treatment appears to be more effective than conventional therapy in treating low back pain, according to a study in the September 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, although the study suggests that both sham acupuncture and traditional Chinese verum acupuncture appear to be effective in treating low back pain.

25 Sep 2007

Do not ignore fatigue

Jennifer Sieck knew something had to be done when she would lie in bed most of the day and night.

5 Sep 2007

Ambulatory oxygen rarely a benefit in COPD patients without resting hypoxemia

Prescribing ambulatory oxygen in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) improves exercise performance, but not the quality of their daily life unless they have resting hypoxemia, according to researchers in Toronto.

17 Aug 2007

Protein-rich foods slow the deterioration of elderly people's muscles

Scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have good news for people who want to stay strong in their old age: older bodies are just as good as young ones at turning protein-rich food into muscle.

9 Aug 2007

Independent brain networks control human walking

In a study published in the August issue of Nature Neuroscience, researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland found that there are separate adaptable networks controlling each leg and there are also separate networks controlling leg movements, e.g., forward or backward walking.

8 Aug 2007

Overview of common hand conditions and treatments

When a wrist hurts, it could be carpal tunnel syndrome -- or something else. Over time, many conditions can affect crucial parts of the hands, causing everything from pain to the loss of normal function.

7 Aug 2007

Backache sufferers who fear pain change movements

People who fear aggravating a backache will change the way they move to prevent more pain, a new study finds.

7 Aug 2007

Discovery of new brain mechanism involved with waking up

How do we wake up? How do we shift from restful sleep to dreaming? Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have discovered a new brain mechanism that just might explain how we do that.

20 Jul 2007

Temporalis tendon transfer reanimates paralyzed faces

A surgical technique known as temporalis tendon transfer, in conjunction with intense physical therapy before and after surgery, may help reanimate the features of those with facial paralysis, according to a report in the July/August issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

17 Jul 2007

Tips to help baby boomers exercise without injury

Sure, you remember the way you could stretch a single into a double, smash an unstoppable serve over the net or fast-break for an easy two points.

10 Jul 2007

Surgery more effective than other treatments for common back problem

When it comes to low back pain, physicians generally advise exhausting nonsurgical options before resorting to surgery.

29 Jun 2007

Papworth method reduces asthma symptoms by a third

A sequence of breathing and relaxation exercises known as the Papworth method has been shown to reduce asthma symptoms by a third by the first randomised controlled trial to investigate the technique, which is published online ahead of print in Thorax .

28 Jun 2007

How will global warming affect human health?

Global warming will cause more deaths in summer because of higher temperatures but these will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters finds an analysis published online ahead of print in Occupational and Environment Medicine.

28 Jun 2007

Causes and treatment of degenerative disk disease

Back pain can interfere with normal activities. One of the most common causes is degenerative disk disease. Fortunately, there is help.

8 Jun 2007

Surgery best for degenerative spondylolisthesis with spinal stenosis

In one of the three most common back conditions for which patients seek treatment, surgery proved to have substantially better results than non-surgical remedies, according to Dartmouth-led research published in the May 31 New England Journal of Medicine.

1 Jun 2007

JRRD releases issue on pain

Effects of depression and pain severity on satisfaction in medical outpatients: Analysis of the Medical Outcomes Study, pg. 143 Patient satisfaction is a critical measure of healthcare quality.

1 Jun 2007

Human stem cell treatment restores motor function in paralyzed rats

Rats paralyzed due to loss of blood flow to the spine returned to near normal ambulatory function six weeks after receiving grafts of human spinal stem cells (hSSCs), researchers from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine report.

1 Jun 2007