Episodes

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is an autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system that’s typically diagnosed when someone is between the ages of 20 and 40. An estimated 400,000 Americans have been diagnosed with MS, but while those people are united by their diagnosis, the effects of MS can vary significantly from person to person. That can make diagnosis alone difficult, and it can make treatment and management of the disease’s symptoms even harder. That’s where physical therapy comes in...

In 2007, David Kendrick was stationed in Iraq when a sniper shot him in the legs. After several surgeries, he wondered if he would ever walk again. David was depressed and scared to put weight on his injured limbs. But then David met some physical therapists who told him that his chance of recovery was good and made him believe again. In this episode of Move Forward Radio, David shares his story of recovering from his injuries, and what he is doing today to inspire others. http://www.moveforward...

When it comes to treating people with cancer, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. The type and severity of cancer a person has will dictate the method and intensity of their treatment. But early research suggests that anyone with cancer will likely benefit from prehabilitation—a period of intervention between a cancer diagnosis and the traditional treatment. In today’s episode, physical therapist Mary Lou Galantino, PT, MS, PhD, MSCE, will discuss what prehabilitation entails and how it bene...

Playing sports as a kid likely used to mean there was a good chance you played several sports. Maybe soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and track and field in the spring. However, today, many kids aren’t so diversified. At a fairly young age many kids now pick just 1 sport and stick with it almost all year long. The potential upside is obvious: more focused time increases a child’s experience, which can accelerate their progress. But there are potential downsides, too – some physical,...

If you want to improve your fitness, one great way is to swim. Swimming works muscles throughout the body without the pounding of land-based exercise. That’s why injured athletes often turn to the pool when they want to maintain their fitness and rehabilitate an injury at the same time. But that doesn’t mean that swimming is an injury-free activity, which is why competitive swimmers benefit from cross-training out of the pool. In this episode of Move Forward Radio, Brian J. Tovin, PT, DPT, MMSc,...

Helo Matzelle ignored the ringing in her ears until that sound was joined by voices in her head. What she hoped might be a small problem wasn’t; Helo had a brain tumor. Surgery to remove the tumor was successful, but it was not without complications. Helo experienced brain swelling, and at one point had to have her body packed in ice just to keep her alive. Once Helo stabilized, a second life-saving process began—an effort to return Helo back to the woman she was before the tumor. With the help ...

For the past 15 years, Americans in pain have increasingly been prescribed opioids—painkillers that include Vicodin, OxyContin, methadone, and combination drugs like Percocet. These drugs can be effective over short periods and safe in low doses. But they come with risks, including depression, overdose, addiction, and withdrawal symptoms. The result is a national health crisis that involves not only prescription opioids, but heroin, as well. There are safer ways to manage pain—among them, physic...

New staggering statistics illustrating the reach and toll of America’s opioid epidemic seem to be released almost daily. In 2012, health care providers wrote enough opioid prescriptions for every American adult to have their own bottle of pills. In 2015, roughly 1 in 3 Medicare beneficiaries were prescribed at least 1 opioid. Approximately 60% of adults prescribed opioids have leftover pills, and that 1 in 5 of them reported sharing their medication with someone else. But adults aren’t the only ...

Erin Jackson’s pelvic pain, a mysterious, stabbing pain, felt both internal and external, plagued her for over a decade. She endured it through college and law school, but it was always there, preventing her from having an active life. She saw multiple health care providers in multiple states. She was prescribed multiple medications, none of which worked. And it made her pain worse. After moving to other states to seek better health care treatment, Erin began working with a physical therapist wh...

The 2016 Olympic Games showcased a week’s worth of track and field, the single sport, with its wide variety of events, may best exemplify the Olympic motto, “Citius, Altius, Forius” – “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” How do elite athletes get faster, higher, and stronger? With a smart training program that seeks to maximize performance and minimize injury. That’s the kind of program that physical therapist Shannon Singletary oversees at Ole Miss, where he directs the Health and Sports Performance tea...

Joanne was enjoying her life as an art teacher when she started experiencing hip pain. The pain increasingly intensified, making it hard to stand or walk, ultimately forcing her into retirement. She began to accept the pain, and loss of mobility and quality of life as a normal side effect of aging. But when Joanne was set on a path to address the problem, including hip replacement surgeries and physical therapy, she launched a personal mission to regain what pain had taken from her. In this epis...

Margaret’s experience with pain started with an accident when she was stepped on by a horse. She didn’t suffer any broken bones, but the pain didn’t go away. It was thought that it was a bunion, so she had surgery. But the pain continued. Eventually, Margaret was diagnosed with complex regional pain disorder. She began extensive physical therapy to simply help her get over her fear of putting weight on her foot, and then to begin walking. Today, her therapy is ongoing, but her progress is signif...

The American health care system is currently grappling with how to safely prescribe opioids, a group of drugs that can be key to the successful treatment of severe acute pain, but that can be dangerous, even deadly, when used long-term for the treatment of chronic pain. In an August 17 article for TIME Magazine, Dr Andre Machado, chairman of the Neurological Institute and the Charles and Christine Carroll Family Endowed of the Cleveland Clinic, compared prescription opioids to an airplane that i...

Broadway productions, such as the currently touring sensation Hamilton, provide audience members a memory that could last a lifetime. But for the cast and crew, that performance will be one of many in a packed schedule of rigorous routine. Beyond the music and lyrics, there is a lot of action in each show: dance numbers, costume changes, stage changes, and stunts. Behind any show like that, it takes someone like Gena Thurston to keep the human machinery moving. She is a physical therapist caring...

Charlie Plaskon spent most of his life thinking that recreational running was a foolish way to exercise. That’s why he didn’t actually try it until he retired at the age of 55. Quickly, his opinion began to change. Not quite 2 decades later, Charlie has completed more than 50 full 26.2 marathons and 8 full Ironman triathlons. And despite meniscal tears in both knees, multiple hernias, a rotator cuff tear, and a back injury that left him unable to walk, the now 73-year-old is determined to keep g...

When Morgan Hay broke her big toe, she assumed it was a small injury. Weeks later, however, her foot was still discolored and swollen, and the pain was so intense that she passed out. Morgan was referred to a neurologist, who prescribed numerous medications, including opioids, to mask the sensation of pain. The quick-fix approaches created more problems, and Morgan felt like she was living outside of her own body. She was ultimately diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome and started worki...

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder that causes joint inflammation and pain. Unlike osteoarthritis, which is the result of wear and tear on a specific joint, the effects of rheumatoid arthritis can be felt across a person’s entire body. In this episode of Move Forward Radio, physical therapist Maura Daly-Iversen discusses what we know about rheumatoid arthritis, which affects approximately 1% of Americans, and how to effectively manage its effects. http://www.moveforwardpt.com/Radio/D...

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that affects somewhere between 27 million and 30 million Americans. It’s a chronic condition that can cause pain and stiffness. Osteoarthritis can make movement difficult, and yet one of the best ways to manage osteoarthritis is to move. In this episode of Move Forward Radio, we’ll talk about hip and knee osteoarthritis with physical therapist Mary Ann Wilmarth, who doesn’t just treat people with the condition, but lives with it too. http://www.move...

These days, whenever ESPN injury analyst Stephania Bell meets an elite athlete who has undergone surgery to perform core muscle repair, she has a good idea about who might have performed the procedure. Dr William Meyers has been at the forefront of core muscle injury treatment dating back to the late 1980s, when he pioneered efforts to diagnose and treat this problem that somehow gained popular awareness under a different and misleading name: sports hernia. In this episode of Move Forward Radio,...

As the lead team physician for the Washington Nationals and the head team physician for the Washington Redskins, Dr. Robin West, chairman of Inova Sports Medicine, knows what good teamwork looks like – and not just on the field of play. To make sure that Nationals and Redskins players return from injury and avoid it in the first place, she constantly collaborates with other members of the health care team, including physical therapists, athletic trainers, surgeons, and more. In this episode of M...

Public understanding of concussion risks has improved significantly in recent years, due in large part to increased media attention about head injuries in football. And while many Americans now know to take concussion symptoms seriously, most probably don’t know what to expect when it comes to concussion treatment and management. Treating concussions today is typically a collaborative effort, involving professionals from across health care settings. In this episode of Move Forward Radio, physica...

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common motor disability in childhood. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year about 10,000 babies born in the United States will develop cerebral palsy. CP is incurable and permanent, but it isn’t life threatening or progressive. It is incredibly unique to each individual. Some may be able to walk, while others cannot. Some have significant intellectual disabilities, and others are not affected in the same way. In this episode of Mov...

It’s not often that physical therapists are mentioned in the same sentence as paratroopers, stunt professionals, and martial arts instructors, but that’s what happened in a January 2017 article from the New York Times titled “The Right Way to Fall.” According to the article, falls cause more than one-third of injury-related emergency room visits, and while avoiding falls in the first place is ideal, falling safely when gravity strikes is second best. In this episode of Move Forward Radio, physic...

A recent New York Times article “How to Run Like a Girl,” explored the differences between women and men who run. One of the experts featured in the story is physical therapist Blaise Williams, PT, PhD, who studies running mechanics at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Running mechanics is a new area of research. Much is still unknown, but this much is clear: women and men do tend to run differently. In this episode of Move Forward Radio, Williams discusses how women and men run differentl...