Council on Aging: Learning about physical therapy

Minden Medical Center hosts ‘Health Talk’ monthly

Minden Medical Center hosted a Health Talk at the Council on Aging Thursday on physical therapy.
Concerns such as neuropathy, circulation and pain were addressed.

“Your feet are a system that tells you if you’re upright in space,” Dr. Janet Crawford said, “If you have neuropathy you’re not getting input from the ground. Your feet tell you you’re on a slant or you’re on flat ground. That’s hard to fix but we can give you strategies in physical therapy that can help you with that.”

Crawford said increasing balance, strength, and circulation can all be helped with physical therapy.

One guest asked, “I have a problem with my feet going to sleep and swelling in my legs.”

He said the problem is not relieved with medicine.

Crawford said the problems may be a symptom of circulation issues or pressure on the sciatic nerve among other issues but in the office, a physical therapist could figure out the root cause and work towards alleviating the issue.

Another guest asked if she could ever walk without a walker after having both hips replaced.

“You can always improve your functional mobility. It takes work, it takes perseverance, and it takes a good physical therapist,” Crawford said.

Crawford also suggested guests visit the American Physical Therapy Association website, apta.org. The “For the Public” tab offers information on diagnoses and how physical therapy can help patients. It gives information on choosing physical therapy instead of pain medication in response to the opioid epidemic as well.

“They have videos, questions and answers. There’s even a body diagram. You can move your mouse to a body part and it tells you what could be wrong. There is a diagnosis section. It will explain what your doctor has given you a diagnosis on. There is a lot about the opioid epidemic and the role of physical therapy. There are several stars on there that have had physical therapy and they give their testimony. There’s even a podcast called the Moving Forward podcast there. You have a world of information there, ” Crawford said.

Minden Medical Center hosts a Health Talk each month at the Council on Aging. This event is free to attend. For more information on the next Health Talk call Chastin Farley at 318-382-8282.