 Most people spend a lot of time researching and weighing options for a large purchase or a decision like changing a job. Think about the last time you made a big purchase, say $1,000 or more. Did you go out and buy the first thing you saw? Take one recommendation from somebody? Or did you research it, learn some things, compare it to other options, and select something that was right for you? Most people tend to be educated and research large purchases like cars, televisions, or the newest cell phone. So why do we so often fail to do this with healthcare? So what can you do to become a more educated healthcare consumer? Ask questions to understand what your options are, what is being recommended, and why. Some good questions to start with are: ● What are the risks and benefits of this treatment? When a treatment or procedure is recommended, the patient often assumes that it will make them "better." But what the patient expects and what the healthcare provider expects are often two different things. For example, a patient having back surgery expects to be pain free after surgery. The surgeon probably doesn't expect that to happen. A large study of 1450 patients in the Ohio worker's comp system showed that after 2 years 26% of patients who had surgery returned to work. Compare that to 67% of patients who didn't have surgery. There was also a 41% increase in the use of painkillers in the surgical group ● What other options do I have? Never feel bad about asking about the alternatives to the treatment. We want you to be educated on your decision to have a particular treatment! ● What's it cost? This last question is becoming more important as patients bear an increasing share of the cost of healthcare. Even if you don't have a high deductible plan or hefty co-pays, by being financially responsible today, you'll probably see smaller price increases in your premiums down the road. That back surgery that we've been talking about? It'll likely cost between $60,000 and $80,000. An educated consumer would learn that physical therapy is a viable alternative to surgery with comparable outcomes, much less risk and lower cost. In fact, a large study of 122,723 subjects showed that people with back pain who got physical therapy in the first 14 days lowered their healthcare costs by 60%.  At Family Physical Therapy, we pride ourselves in making patient education a priority! We want you to play an active role in your physical therapy plan of care! At our sister clinic, Next Level Performance and Sports Therapy , Kirsten Carmichael works hard to combine cutting-edge treatment techniques, patient education, and her specialized education in Sports and Concussion rehab to help athletes drive their care towards a return to their sport. Whether you are recovering from surgery, injury, concussion, or looking to improve your sport performance, we believe playing an active role in your own care will help improve your overall outcomes! This article is adapted from The Private Practice Section of the American Physical Therapy Association. Founded in 1956, the Private Practice Section of the American Physical Therapy Association champions the success of physical therapist-owned businesses. Our members are leaders and innovators in the health care system. The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) represents more than 85,000 physical therapists, physical therapist assistants and students of physical therapy nationwide. For more information, please visit www.ppsapta.org.
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We have two physical therapists here at Family Physical Therapy that have a passion for pediatrics, Ila and Lexi. We love coming up with new and creative ideas to keep physical therapy fun while helping children reach their goals! Shlok gets a patient spotlight this week because he has been working hard during his physical therapy visits with Lexi and each visit he continues to improve in his balance and overall gross motor skill development. We want to share how proud we are of all of his hard work! Thank you for working hard, Shlok, and thank you to his mother for giving us permission to share a part of his story.
 Keep up the hard work, Shlok!  In observation of Independence Day, Family Physical Therapy and Next Level Performance and Sports Therapy will be closed on Thursday , July 4th.
Family Physical Therapy Roseville and Auburn will be open for business as usual on Friday. Next Level Performance and Sports Therapy will be open for you to continue crushing your goals on Monday! Have a safe and fun holiday! Congratulations Lexi!!! You may remember last year, when we posted here about Ila and Kirsten becoming Myofascial Decompression Certified. We have blogged the past few years (here, here, and here) about our commitment to furthering our physical therapist's education in the field of myofascial decompression. Last week, we were at it again and Lexi became Myofascial Decompression Certified! About a week ago, one of our physical therapists, Lexi, took the Level 2 MFD course in San Diego, CA. Level 2 focused on a different way to use the cups - to inhibit a muscle! Why might you want to inhibit a muscle? A few common areas that need to be inhibited are upper traps, quadratus lumborum (a muscle in your lower back), and hamstrings. Let's say you are trying to perform an exercise to strengthen your middle or lower trap, but your upper trap keeps "taking over" and doing the work, making it difficulty to know what the correct movement pattern is to activate your middle/lower traps. One way you can help learn the correct movement pattern is to apply the inhibitory technique using cups to the upper trap and performing the exercise again. This inhibits the upper trap from doing the work so the work comes from the muscles that the exercise is meant to target! One of the fun things about taking these classes is finding out where we need to work on ourselves! Pictured above, Lexi is working on stretching her right hip flexor. Without the cups on, she was unable to feel the stretch in her hip flexor because she was arching her back too much (using her quadratus lumborum, QL). With the inhibitory technique applied to both of her QLs, she was able to immediately feel the stretch in her hip flexor. After taking Level 1 and Level 2, Lexi was eligible to take the exam to become certified. She took the exam last weekend and passed! We are so happy to have the opportunity to gain new certifications and learn new techniques to help our patients reach their goals. Ask your physical therapist for more information if you are interested in learning more!  Pacific Medical BioSkills Lab Physical Therapists Brett Pinkney, PT, MPT and Ila Suplizio, PT, DPT at the 2019 Pacific Medical Bioskills Lab 2 weeks ago, our physical therapists, Ila Suplizio and Brett Pinkney had the pleasure of traveling to Pacific Medical for an educational seminar on the latest advances in orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation, as well as a bioskills cadaver lab in which common orthopedic surgeries were reviewed by the surgeon's who regularly perform them!  Pacific Medical's Ortho Biologics Lab In order to further understand what our patients go through both anatomically and physiologically during surgery, Ila and Brett spent time in the cadaver lab with the surgeons, getting hands-on experience with knee replacements, arthroscopic shoulder, ankle and knee surgeries, grafting surgeries including ACL repairs, and more!  Dr. Christopher Page, DPM teaching Ila Suplizio, PT, DPT how to use an arthroscope for ankle surgeries. Ila and Brett also got to review their anatomy knowledge by going through cadaver disections with the surgeons  Ila Suplizio, PT, DPT reviewing internal ankle anatomy with an arthroscope. During the lecture portion of the seminar, the use of biologics, including stem cells and PRP were reviewed. "We are seeing more and more patients who have received biologic adjuvants and it was great to hear the surgeon's perspective on the rehab following these treatments" -Ila Suplizio, PT, DPT  Family Physical Therapy owner, Brett Pinkney, learning about ankle athroscopy. We would like to thank the wonderful staff at Pacific Medical and Sutter Surgical Hospital of North Valley, as well as all of the doctors and members of our industry who put on this great seminar. We all learned a great deal and we can't wait to share this new knowledge with our patients!   You may remember from our previous posts Here, Here, and Here, our clinicians have been working hard to become Myofascial Decompression Certified. Last weekend, Lexi traveled to University of California, San Francisco to take her Level I course in Myofascial Decompression! Myofascial decompression or “cup therapy” has been gaining popularity since Michael Phelps was seen sporting his round marks at the 2016 Olympics. Myofascial decompression is a modern adaptation of a form of ancient Chinese medicine. In our physical therapy practice, we use the cups over restricted areas in the muscle during specific movement and exercise in order to correct movement dysfunction. The cups provide a negative pressure to decompress the area, and when coupled with movement, the treatment can retrain the body's movement patterns.  The research behind myofascial decompression is growing, and current movement science literature is showing more positive effects of the use of decompression to treat inefficient movement patterns, sports injuries, contractures, chronic orthopedic problems, decreased flexibility, and more!  What Lexi has to say about her newly acquired knowledge from the course: "Learning about the physiology behind the results of MFD and seeing the current research that is being done has helped to solidify my "why" when it comes to incorporating MFD into treatment sessions for my patients. I'm looking forward to taking Level 2 at the end of June!" -Alexis Theuring, PT, DPT  This sweet little girl just graduated from physical therapy! One of our pediatric physical therapists, Lexi, has been working to help Erika's achieve her motor milestones! We are always so happy when our patient's meet their goals, but we sure will miss seeing Erika's smiling face! Thank you to Erika's family for trusting us with her care, and for letting us share this sweet photo of her
 Happy Birthday to our Auburn Clinic's wonderful physical therapist, Amy!!!!
 You may remember our previous post about our physical therapist, Lexi, participating in a fundraiser to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Lexi joined other members of Lifetime Fitness in Roseville to participate in "Ride for a Reason."  Lifetime Fitness in Roseville raised an amazing $21,291! This is in addition to the 2.5 million dollars Ride for a Reason has raised since 2016!  Lexi finished a 4-hour indoor cycling ride of 70 miles in order to help support St' Jude's Children's Research fund!  At Family Physical Therapy, we value the importance of research, and supporting our local community. We are so proud of Lexi for her dedication to helping children in our clinic, and through her philanthropy! Thank you, Lexi and Lifetime Fitness!
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