Make Vertigo, Vertigone!
To understand vertigo the most important thing to be able to understand the anatomy of the vestibular system. This system consists of three semicircular canals located in the inner ear on the right and left side of your head. This is why vertigo is commonly referred to as an “inner ear issue.” Within these canals are a system of hairs, fluid, and crystals. As we rotate our head, these three structures work simultaneously to let your head know where it is in space. For example, if we turn our head to the left, the fluid within our vestibular system on the left and right will activate the hairs and crystals and let your brain know that you are turning to the left. As you can guess, when this system doesn’t work properly, it can lead to some nasty side effects that are debilitating to living a healthy lifestyle. It’s important…
BJJ: Ankle Sprains
Hello everyone, and welcome to our second blog post about injury management and jiu jitsu. Today’s post will focus on ligament injuries, their occurrence, diagnosis, and recovery. Here’s the sitch (that’s what the cool kids say… right?): You’re rolling at the end of practice, and unfortunately you get caught in a submission, for the sake of this story let’s say it’s a straight ankle lock. You’re convinced you can tough out the submission and find a way out. Only too late do you realize you need to tap out in order to prevent a serious injury. Now you’ve left practice, and the adrenaline has worn off only to find that your ankle is in severe painand it hurts to put weight into your foot. Well, what’s likely happened is you’ve suffered a sprain to your ankle. For the sake of this blog, we will assume that you have gone to…
BJJ: Start Your Training Right
Hello everybody, my name is Dr. Josh Hammaker, PT, DPT. I am a physical therapist at Full Range Physical Therapy in West Chester and I am a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (I am pictured on the right). This will be the first of a series of blog posts related to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and injury management. My hope is that through these blog posts, I can combine my 20 years of grappling experience through wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with my background as a physical therapist to provide helpful information on improving your health while performing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). For the first post of this series, I will discuss the importance of performing exercises before training or activity to improve your mobility and flexibility. In BJJ, you can often find yourself in awkward positions that place stress on your body. One of the best ways we can…
Top 5% in Patient Satisfaction
Renaissance Home Health has earned the 2021 SHPBestTM “Premier Performer” Patient Satisfaction Award Exton, PA, July 22, 2022 – Renaissance Home Health (RHH) has been recognized by Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP) as a “Premier Performer” for achieving an overall patient satisfaction score that ranked in the top 5% of all eligible SHP clients for the 2021 calendar year. The annual SHPBest™ award program was created to acknowledge home health agencies that consistently provide high quality service to their patients. The 2021 award recipients were determined by reviewing and ranking the overall satisfaction score for around 5000 home health providers. With the largest HHCAHPS benchmark in the nation, SHP is in a unique position to identify and recognize organizations that have made patient satisfaction a priority and have been rewarded for their efforts with high marks on the HHCAHPS survey. “SHP is proud to present the SHPBest awards to our top-performing customers. We commend…
Consistency Is Key
Consistency is key in everything! Whether is it education, your profession, or your health, consistently practicing, studying, and performing good habits is an important key to success. But when it comes to healthcare, there is another side of consistency that is key: developing a quality group of providers that has your best interest at heart! For some of your providers, this is easy. Having the same primary care, or family doctor, is a regular expectation in our healthcare system. Having a consistent team of specialists when you need them is a bit more challenging. But when it comes to home health or outpatient care, it may seem that you don’t have a choice! Having a consistent home health or outpatient team, including nursing, therapies, etc…, is crucial to reaching your goals! When you have the same team each session you develop a trust in them AND they understand your challenges,…
Direct Access Physical Therapy
You feel it. You started feeling at soon as you picked up that heavy load of laundry, and that low back pain has grown since that time. Youve dealt with this before, and you know what’s coming. To make matters worse, you simply don’t have the time. You’ve got a long list of things to do. You know that physical therapy will help but simply don’t have time to wait for a Doctor’s appointment, go to the office, get a prescription and finally make that appointment for therapy. The good news is… you can cut out a few steps. Physical Therapists in Pennsylvania can see you without a doctor’s prescription. Therapists with a Direct Access License can work with you for up to 30 days before needing a prescription or referral. Even more, we will contact your doctor and keep them in the loop from day 1! This way there…
Ready for the slopes?
A quick message from Brian Mallon, PT, DPT at Full Range PT- West Chester! The season has finally turned, and the snow has fallen. A quick reminder to all of us snow lovers that snow sporting activities are about to kick into high gear. Be it skiing, snowboarding, sledding or tubing, winter fun is finally upon us. If you are like me, you wake up every day and check the Poconos ski report and the Poconos weather forecast. You can’t wait to finally strap that equipment to your legs and let gravity control your destiny. Here in Pennsylvania, we don’t get a particularly long season by comparison. More notable ski locations do boast bigger mountains, more trails and the most divine snow you could ask for, but with COVID restricting our travel, we must make the most of every chance we have to glide down a slope of pillowy ice crystals. While we can’t make…
Holiday Hours
Modified Hours for the Holidays! Due to the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, our outpatient clinics will operate with modified hours over the next two weeks. All of our offices will be closed on Christmas day and New Year’s Day, with our home health division operating on-call services. Below are the modified hours: Full Range PT- Drexel Hill Monday: 12:00 – 8:00 pm Tuesday: 7:00 am – 3:00 pm Wednesday: 7:00 am – 3:00 pm Thursday: 12:00 – 8:00 pm Friday: Closed Full Range PT- West Chester Monday: 12:00 – 8:00 pm Tuesday: 7:00 am – 3:00 pm Wednesday: 7:00 am – 3:00 pm Thursday: 12:00 – 8:00 pm Friday: Closed
RPE & COVID-19
By: Dr. Patrick Rutledge at Full Range PT- Drexel Hill Whether recovering from COVID-19, pneumonia, or deconditioned from lack of activity, catching your breath, or even simply breathing may be difficult at times. For some, this may be due to weakened lungs and cardiovascular system, too much streaming and comfort foods during the pandemic, or even the daily donning of thick face masks to prevent the spread of the virus while out in public or at the workplace. Why does this matter? Typically, when someone is meeting with their doctor or medical professional, their vitals and general health is assessed through blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation of their blood. These can be quickly measured via a BP cuff, finger pulse oximeter, and visually assessing their respiratory rate. However, a quick assessment that is often under utilized is called the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE). The…
Getting Moving… Again
By: Dr. Brian Mallon at Full Range West Chester It’s that time of year. The Holidays. Spreading cheer, love and happiness. This year of course, all from a 6-foot distance. It’s also that time of year for people to enjoy the many holiday treats we’ve come to expect over the years. Holiday cookies, pumpkin pies, leftover candy from Halloween. This does have the tendency to show a bit of our holiday cheer around our midsection, leading many to get that age-old New Year’s resolution “I’m gonna go to the gym and get in shape”. This year, as we are all aware, due to the pandemic, everything has changed. Gyms are closed in most areas again, and the cold weather does not serve as a great motivator. That leaves us in a tght spot! What can we do to get motivated, get in shape and shave off the results of those holiday treats? Here are 5 easy tips to…