Stem cells are unique cells with the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body. These cells can divide without limit to replenish other cells, thus forming a sort of repair system for the body. Stem cells can be basically classified into two types based on their origin of derivation – Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs) and Adult/Tissue Specific Stem Cells (TSSCs). The Embryonic stem cells (ESC) are derived from either the zygote or the blastocyst. (image 1) The... Read More

Millions of people, all ages and abilities around the world, suffer from various orthopedic ailments that may benefit from physical rehabilitation.  Meanwhile several million are investing in Wii Fit, the home fitness tool used with the hugely popular Nintendo Wii gaming system.  Now Wii fitness and rehab can be combined.  Wii-habilitation or better known as wii-hab, is the medical application of interactive video gaming devices to augment therapies of physical, cognitive, beha... Read More

The normal  angle  of thoracic kyphosis in younger population range between 20 to 40 degrees . Boyle J J & et  al in their study of men and women, reported mean angle of thoracic kyphosis by Cobb angle on lateral thoracic spine images as 26 degrees in persons in their twenties, 53 deg in those in 60 to 70 years of age, 66 deg in those older than 75 years of age. Thus  it  can be seen that this angle of thoracic kyphosis tends to increase with age. A non-invasive a... Read More

Brian Mulligan is a name that needs no introduction to physiotherapists across the globe. His concept of mobilisation with movement (MWMS) in the extremities and sustained natural apophyseal glides (SNAGS) in the spine have progressed physical therapist-applied passive physological movements and accessory techniques in the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries. No.we didn't travel to New zealand to do the interview but were able to connect with brian through email, where he shared some of... Read More

Physiotherapists play a significant role in improving the functional status of patients with neurological disorders. However, there are some neurological diseases and injuries, where despite our best efforts, the patients are still left with severe and incapacitating neurological deficits.It is for this group of patients that there is now a new hope in the form of regenerative medicine using stem cell therapy.The relevance of stem cell therapy to us is that, physiotherapist have a very import... Read More

Introduction to direct access or first contact practice has increased the accountability of Physiotherapists within the profession and outside including competing for health practitioners and health-conscious consumers. Hence, a recognized need to define and promote those characteristics that lead to superior clinical performance exists within the profession to firmly establish physiotherapists as autonomous, competent health care professionals capable of sound clinical decision making and ef... Read More

Introduction – Musculoskeletal physiotherapy is a specialist area of professional physiotherapy practice concerned with the assessment, diagnosis and management of the musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction. The main aims of musculoskeletal physiotherapy are to reduce pain, maintain/regain joint movement, and maximize function and health-related quality of life without adverse effects, enabling people to cope better with ill health. Traditionally, musculoskeletal phy... Read More

Today a huge number of people are suffering from debilitating health problems that quite possibly are caused by poor posture and malco-ordination. People are in effect causing themselves huge amounts of pain without realising. The malco-ordinated way people sit stand and move often involves over-tensing the entire muscular system and this tension can increase over the months and years and can directly or indirectly cause many of many the back, neck, shoulder, hip, knee and foot problems that ... Read More

Kathryne Ellen opton, or "KEO" as she is known to her clients and friends, is passionately dedicated to the enhancement of health and wellness in the community, one individual at a time. After reciving her undergraduate degree from cornell, she pursued her graduate stidies in special needs education and initially began her professional life as a teacher of the deaf. Keo formed her own personal training company and also competed as a bodybuilder. As a personal health advocate, public... Read More

Physiotherapists work in a health care climate of rising complexity and rapid change, of economic restraint and demands for accountability, of scrutiny from both internal and external sources. In such a climate, the ability to respond appropriately to these pressures is critical, not only for professional growth but also for professional survival. New generations of physiotherapists emerging from professional programs require more than a solid foundation of clinical skills. They require an ed... Read More

Impairment of muscle performance is commonly treated by physiotherapist and is usually described as strength deficit that is capacity to develop maximum force during a single contraction.  The relative strength, endurance, and control of muscles are considered more important during a co-ordinated movement than overall strength of a muscle or a muscle group (Jull and Janda). Co-ordinated movement involves multiple joints and muscles that are activated at appropriate time and with the corr... Read More

Exercise can be defined as the prescription of a physical activity program that involves the client undertaking voluntary muscle contraction and/or body movement with the aim of relieving symptoms or improving function, or improving, retaining or slowing deterioration of health (Licht S (1984).  Physical therapy, which is the care and services provided by or under the direction of a physical therapist includes Examining and alleviating impairments and functional limitations. (Model defin... Read More

Introduction: Shoulder pain along with subsequent restriction of movement is a common clinical presentation in both the sporting and general populations .Compromised shoulder movement due to pain, stiffness or weakness can cause substantial disability and affect a person’s ability to carry out daily activities and work.One year prevalence of shoulder pain has been reported between 5% and 47% . Conditions that can contribute to the clinical picture... Read More

The human brain is an incredible learning machine. It helps us transform ourselves from helpless wiggling neonates at birth to the most dominant living organism in the known universe. Its rich imagination helped mankind to develop technologies that cleverly manipulate the environment and turn it in our favour. It helps us to, consciously perceive the world, make complex decisions, and execute movement commands all at the same time. Human beings were, are and will always be intrigued by this 1... Read More

Physiotherapist is an important team member in the management of a high risk neonate especially those with severe respiratory and neurological complications. Our experience with babies receiving Chest physiotherapy in the NICU has shown to be beneficial in terms of early weaning from ventilator, improved oxygenation and decrease length of stay in hospital. This in turn has been beneficial for parents in terms of cost and early recovery which decreases the stress level of parents. We have obse... Read More

India is a country on the move. And so is the profession that specialises in movement - Physiotherapy!

We, as physiotherapists, are engineers of the finest machine, the human body. And where better to watch the best than at the Olympic games. By the time you are reading this, London's gold would have been won, lost and found a million dreams. Not the least could be Saina, Abhinav, Mary and Vijender carrying the hopes of India along. I would like to think that th... Read More

James Parkinson described this condition as paralysis agitance in an ‘Essay on the Shaking Palsy’, in 1817. It was after a century that loss of dopaminergic cells was discovered in Parkinson’s diseases (PD) and later on low levels of dopamine in corpus striatum were detected, which gave a boost to medication for PD in 1970. In Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy,  the main regulators of the caudate nucleus... Read More

Women’s population world over is around 50%; in our country, it is below 50%. Other than motherhood, a woman has shouldered responsibility as a housewife. It is not just housekeeping; rather she should be a home minister. At times she is a decision maker; some other time she influences decisions. This has been irrespective of her education or earning capacity. She is a respected person in family. She represents culture and as a part of it, sacrifices for the family with love and underst... Read More

Low Back Pain: Focus on Self Management:  Low back pain is a major health problem around the world which accounts for considerable socioeconomic and healthcare burden. The life time incidence of LBP has been reported between 60-80% (Twomey 2000; O’Sullivan 2005) and out of these incidents in about 80-90% cases pain subsides within first 2-3 months and rest of the patients (around 10-20%) develop chronic pain syndromes (Carey et al 2000). Chronic low back pai... Read More

Introduction: Traditionally, muscular dystrophies are evaluated clinically with history and examination; electro-diagnostic testing (nerve conduction testing and electromyography); genetic testing; and muscle biopsy. Recently, there has been increasing interest in non-invasive imaging modalities, particularly muscle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), for the diagnosis and assessment of disease progression for various neuromuscular diseases. In this article we shall... Read More

Introduction: Dyspnea (shortness of breath) is defined as a subjective experience of breathing discomfort, and is of varying intensity. The occurrence of dyspnea in subjects with chronic disorders is from the interactions among multiple factors which include physiological, psychological, social and environmental factors. Dyspnea may or may not be associated with hypoxemia, tachypnea or orthopnea. Literature states that almost all of the COPD patients, 80 % of adva... Read More

Introduction: Shoulder pain,  reported to be the most common musculoskeletal disorder after spinal pain (Eltayeb et al., 2007) is often recurrent and persistent (Croft et al., 1996; Van der Windt et al., 1996; Van der Windt and Croft, 1999; Winters et al., 1999; Kuijpers et al., 2006, 2007). This article highlights the difficulties in diagnosing shoulder disorders, the need for the classification system in extremities, and provides information on how shoulder pain i... Read More

The ancient art of yoga is proving to have great benefits for children on the autism spectrum. Yoga comprehensively addresses their heightened anxiety, poor motor coordination and weak self-regulation, something that otherwise is very difficult to do.

 Treatments for autism come in all shapes and sizes, and as families well know, what works for one autistic person doesn’t necessarily work for another. Choosing an intervention must be based on an autistic individual’... Read More

Since the dawn of the atomic era, human locomotion has taken the precedent of being most precious. It gives us the gift of being independent. If our locomotion is affected, our existence is affected. Injury to the body is seldom limited to the body alone. Bodily injury also causes injury to the mind, which is our supreme ruler. Anxiety due to temporary and (sometimes permanent) loss of function often results in altered levels of confidence and social embarrassment. Especially, when it involve... Read More

In the last article, authors Melzack, Wall and Bowsher helped explain the theory of pain relief through Dry Needling. This is the last article of the series, where we will be listing a few conditions that will benefit from the extensive use of Dry Needling. Also mentioned will be other techniques that could prove useful along with Dry Needling, thus specifying a global approach to treating that particular condition.

1) Headaches:  Before treating headaches, it ... Read More

Most people don’t find it difficult to walk across a gravel driveway, transition from walking on a sidewalk to grass, or get out of bed in the middle of the night without stumbling. However, with impaired balance such activities can be extremely fatiguing and sometimes dangerous. Imbalance are common complaints in both the adults and the general population. The patient who complains of Dizziness often presents a diagnostic and management dilemma to the attending ENT, Audiologist or Phys... Read More

Abstract: A 15 year old boy was referred to direct access physical therapy with a complaint of left tempromandibular joint (TMJ) pain for approximately 3-4 months.  Upon examination, a slight loss of range of motion (ROM) upon opening was observed.  A slight “C” curve produced upon opening indicated the presence of muscular hypertonus.  Upon palpation, the patient was found to have evidence of painful hypertonus in the left masseter and ... Read More

John is a 10 year old boy facing difficulty with fine- and gross motor skills. As a result he lags behind his peers, who already mastered these skills 2-3 years earlier. John has problems with daily living skills such as getting dressed, tying shoelaces, washing hair. He has not mastered riding a bicycle, and has problems participating in team sports. This has led to low self- esteem and feelings of shyness. He is secluding himself from society. At a parent’s interview,... Read More

Not so long ago, we considered the muscles and the fascia as two distinct entities. As our understanding of the soft tissues evolved, we have come to realize that muscles and fascia are structurally and functionally inseparable, together they constitute the myofascia.Myofascia is a complex web of connective tissue which covers the human body extensively. The fascia gives contour and alignment to the muscles, allows smooth sliding of the muscle fibers on itself and transmits the active and pas... Read More

Cortical stimulation with electrical currents, a technique developed many decades ago and then largely forgotten, has remerged recently as a promising tool for experimental neuroscientists, physiotherapists and psychologists in chronic pain conditions. Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists beyond the normal recovery period or pain that is paired with a chronic health condition. The pathology of chronic pain is extremely varied; the variables involved include, but are not limited to: m... Read More

I have great pleasure to part with my experiences on Assistive Devices, with many I am closely related since 1960. Till 1980s definition spelled that appliances could be worn on body like orthosis or prosthesis. Later, they became walking devices. Aids are ambulatory like wheel chair, tricycle etc.; a walker is mini movable version of parallel bars. A Seat-lift chair underlines a device in transfer activities and so a sliding board. We have used for weak/ painful hand, the forearm-resting wal... Read More

Anatomy and Biomechanics of Hip Joint:   The hip is a classical ball-and-socket joint. It meets the four characteristics of a synovial or diarthrodial joint: it has a joint cavity; joint surfaces are covered with articular cartilage; it has a synovial membrane producing synovial fluid, and; it is surrounded by a ligamentous capsule (Byrd J., 2004). The cup-shaped acetabulum is formed by the innominate bone with contributions from the ilium (approximately... Read More

“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.” ~Robert Frost

When was the last time you ran like a wild man or woman in the woods such that the experience was not only physically enthralling but nurtured your soul? Whether you’re stuck in a running rut, bored by your neighborhood routes or just plain hate the treadmill, it might... Read More

We’ve all been staying up late watching the non-stop coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics. You hear about the winners, the losers and the amazing feats of physical athleticism. But what is even bigger than Michael Phelps 21^st gold medal? What is the hottest talk about these days in the rehabilitation world? The answer is, ‘Cupping!’ Athletes work on their bodies non-stop. Preparation for an event of this nature, game day performance and then cool down and maintenance... Read More

‘CLICKING ELBOW’ or commonly called as ‘SELFIE ELBOW’, is a modern tech-induced ailment which is affecting a lot of selfie lovers these days. People like me and you, who do not have any sports background or record of being indulged in a sport like tennis or golf which requires repeated use of extended arm and repetitive jerk on the elbow are having problems which resembles the symptoms of the same. Each time you click a picture, you put yourself in a position where you... Read More

Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by low bone mass and abnormal bone tissue architecture. Although exact numbers are not available, based on available data and clinical experience it is estimated that 50 million individuals in India were either osteoporotic (T-score lower than -2.5) or had low bone mass (T-score between -1.0 and -2.5) by the end of 2013¹. It should further be noted that in spite of technological advances, osteoporosis still remains a severely underdiagnosed c... Read More

Salt therapy was discovered in the mid 18th century by Polish health official named Felix Botchkowski. Salt therapy was originally discovered as Speleotherapy or cave therapy, 'Spelenos' being the Greek term for 'cave'. Felix Botchkowski found that salt miners in Poland had not experienced lung-related ailments such as asthma, pneumonia, or chronic bronchitis. Even miners who had respiratory disease before they began working in the mines felt better and had fewer symptoms as t... Read More

Musculoskeletal disorders originating from muscles and tendons affect majority of general population. They impair mobility, cause pain and reduce overall well being. Efforts are made constantly to treat these disorders, but often they show limited success due to wide range of competing technology options available and lack of time from the patient’s part. Shock wave application represents a new therapy approach.  Clinical experience has shown that a wide range of functional disorde... Read More

When you hear the words “proprioceptive training” what comes to mind? If you do a Google image search for these two words you will get hundreds of pictures demonstrating balance exercises on unstable surfaces.   Despite the popularity of these unstable surfaces how effective are they for improving balance or proprioception? Surprisingly, not as good as their manufacturers would like us to believe. In this article I challenge you to question the effectiveness of ... Read More

1) Introduction- There are many articles where the role of physiotherapy in disaster management is highlighted internationally. It’s important to go through those articles and learn how a Physiotherapist contributes in activities before and after a disaster. Having advance knowledge of the possible roles and responsibilities in disasters is called individual preparedness which can be done by referring to the resources available on the internet. However, disaster pr... Read More

Being upside down brings back the memories of childhood punishment for some, while for others it is also a form of exercise with the intention of therapeutic or physiological benefits. Spiders, monkeys and bats, hanging upside down in the trees, must have known about the benefits of inversion therapy long before humans figured it out! Inverting the body has been around for hundreds of years - and has always been referred to as having a positive effect on the body. Although humans may not have... Read More

Physiotherapy has a wide scope of practice with emerging specialties. As the time changes, the needs of society change and we have to equip our technologies and treatment methodologies to suit the same. Rising incidence of obesity all over the world is leading to more people approaching health professionals with complaints of joint pain and other related co morbidities arising from being overweight.

Obesity is widely recognized as a disease state now and medical fraternity is coming... Read More

Introduction: Diabetic foot ulcers are common and estimated to affect 15% of all diabetic individuals during their lifetime. Almost 85% of amputations are preceded by diabetic foot ulcers. Like other forms of macro-vascular disease, peripheral vascular disease (PVD) is more common in diabetes. Diabetic foot is characterized into 2 types: the neuropathic foot where neuropathy dominates and neuro-ischemic foot where occlusive vascular disease is the main factor.&nbs... Read More