SPOT On Chicago

Who's on Group? A Physical Therapy/Medicare Parody

Physical Therapists love Medicare. Wait, wait come back we're just kidding! While Medicare has its ups and downs today is a mark in the green column for the Medicare folks. If it were not for Medicare we would never be treated with this hilarious "Who's on First?" parody video created by Larry Benz of MyPhysicalTherapySpace. 

Clocking in at just over three minutes long, it's worth a watch and a chuckle. Even though part of me wants to roll around on the floor laughing at this, part of me is reminded so much of the movie Robots that I'm expecting animated Robin Williams nightmares. With that little nugget burned into your brain it's time for the show!

Video SPOTlight: StrongArm, Chicago's Own Crutch

 
The StrongArm Mobility crutch is a new rehabilitation therapy product that deserves attention, especially from physical therapists and others in the field. When is the last time you saw innovation in a crutch anyway? We noticed it last year and got the opportunity recently to interview Andrey Kharlamov, the VP of the company. Please note we are not in any way sponsored by or affiliated with StrongArm crutches, we just love the crazy things.

A few things you should know about StrongArm:

• Patients in a recent Mayo Clinic study ranked the StrongArm substantially higher than other canes/crutches (4.2 out of a possible 5)
• Medicare covers the StrongArm as a crutch under codes HCPCS codes E0110 (pair), or E0111 (each) and often times will pick up the cost for patients
• The ergonomics were originally thought of as a fishing rod attachment before a crutch
• Both founders went to school in Chicago, incorporated the company in Chicago, financed the company in Chicago and still run it from there. How's that for homegrown?

Be sure to support your local Chicago rehabilitation products and try out the StrongArm. Check out their website and let them know we said hello!

  

SmartMobile at RehabCare

If you're not familiar with the Smart Mobile initiative at RehabCare, it's time to change that. Check out the video below for a preview of their new initiative to move their tracking, monitoring and paperwork tasks to a slick new iPhone/iPod interface and device.

Imagine working in an environment where you don't have to use the paper charts, 15 year old software or ancient computers as part of your daily work. Imagine a place you can grab one handheld device like an iPhone or an iPod Touch and run your entire day from it. How much time does that free up? How much more effective and connected does that allow you to be? This is the future folks. Talk about a nice working environment... holy cow. 

Full disclosure: This blog is sponsored by RehabCare. That being said I'm posting this video because of how impressive this technical initiative is. Frankly, we're proud to be part of an organization that "gets it" this much. If you've seen this technology up close and personal let us know... we'd love to hear about your experiences. Is it as ridiculously spiffy as it looks like?

80 Online Resources for Rehab Therapists

Rather than highlighting just one of these we're bringing you more blog for your dollar today with three lists every rehabilitation therapist should look at. No matter if you are a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist or an assistant there are some nuggets of gold here you should take a look at. Within these three resources reside 80 different ways you can use the internet as a healthcare worker, so without further ado here are the sites:

• 5 Ways Social Media Helps Promote Good Health: This list from notable social media blog Mashable highlights ways patients are connecting with each other as well as healthcare professionals online. It covers some collaborative and educational resources as well serving as a great primer on how others are using the internet in the healthcare field.
• 25 Excellent Social Media Sites for Your Health: While this list is from 2009 it has some gems that I've never heard of that made the list. The sites listed are separated into news, fitness tools and patient activism sections.
• Top 50 Occupational Therapy Blogs: Think of this more as the top 50 rehabilitation therapy blogs. It separates blogs into categories of physical, mental, news, professional and first hand account sections. The RehabCare Campus blog, one of our sister blogs, is even featured on the list. Tons of great resources on this list including blogs from Meta-OT and Anita Hamilton over at @VirtualOT. Be sure to check it out.

Chicago Hospital Encourages Physical Therapy Over Surgery

The Times They Are A-Changin'. 

Take for example this new effort at Chicago's Swedish Covenant Hospital. Swedish has a new back pain center offering chiropractic, massage and physical therapy as precursors to invasive back procedures. Old hat you say? Keep reading. Only after these options are exhausted will they move to surgery. In fact the surgeons are on salary and earn it with or without the surgeries. 

How's that for a twist? The specialist gets paid even if they find a safer more inexpensive treatment option. How refreshing! Straight from surgeon Daniel Laich:

"I'm one of the rare neurosurgeons who spends time talking about nutrition with our patients. I tell them, 'You're changing. Your hormones are changing. Perhaps you want to get on a vitamin supplement plan that's useful.' "

Oh I bet the insurance companies LOVE this place. Here's some facts about the new back pain center at Swedish:

• $2.5 million dollar investment
• 3 neurosurgeons plus support staff
• resembles accountable care organizations
• trials of surgical strategies and devices from Europe

Check out the full article at HealthLeadersMedia and let us know what you think. Drop a comment below or shoot us a note on Twitter: @SPOTonChicago

Twitter Chat with Move Forward Physical Therapy

Just a reminder to join us on 7/13 at 1:00pm cst for a Twitter chat with Move Forward Physical Therapy. The topic will be "Pregnancy and Beyond, Overcoming Aches, Pains and Incontinence". 

If you've never done a "Twitter chat" before they're very easy. 

1. Click on the Move Forward RSVP page to register
2. Go to the Tweetchat room at 12:00 CST
3. Sign in using your Twitter username
4. Chat with everyone else using the hashtag: #MovePT
5. Look for us on there: @SPOTonChicago, don't forget to say hi!

Hope to see at least some of you there... and by "some of you" we mean 452 of you. 

Make us proud Chicagoland... see you there! 

6 Tweets for Physical Therapists in Chicago

Switching things up just a bit this week I wanted to share some of my favorite tweets today. I know what you're thinking loyal readers: "What?!? That's insane Brad! It's tweets of the week not tweets of the day!!!" Well let me assure everyone, you heard me right. The world has turned upside down and today we're doing it different. Frankly there were so many great ones today they get their own blog post. Without further ado here's what caught our interest today:

#APTA commends MedPAC Report Addressing Growth of Physical Therapy Services in Physicians’ Offices. http://tinyurl.com/268en3sWed Jun 23 19:26:50 via webAPTA
APTAtweets

OTs need to ask ourselves: are we meeting the needs of the patient, or the service. If its the service - STOP! #cot2010Thu Jun 24 14:03:54 via TweetDeckClaire Hayward
EnableOT

Heard about #Barefoot Running? Tried it yet? Concerned? Intrigued? Here is our thoughts: http://ow.ly/22GCaThu Jun 24 14:10:31 via HootSuiteExcelPhysicalTherapy
ExcelPT

Severe storm rolls through Chicago, suburbs :: Chicago Sun-Times :: Photo Gallery: http://bit.ly/avxd4x via @addthisThu Jun 24 13:21:14 via webJess Brown
jessrbpt

Mashable.com announces worldwide Social Media Day, June 30th, Event in #Chicago http://bit.ly/aOExvsThu Jun 24 13:37:30 via webSteve Sipress
stevesipress

OTs need to ask ourselves: are we meeting the needs of the patient, or the service. If its the service - STOP! #cot2010Thu Jun 24 14:03:54 via TweetDeckClaire Hayward
EnableOT

New Rehab Therapist Student Site

Happy Friday folks, here's a new site to wet your whistle on. It's called RehabStudents. 

It's a brand new site with more than a few resources students might find useful. With areas on the site such as "In the News", "Professor Says", and "Tips and Advice" it looks like it may become an exhaustive resource containing everything rehab and best of all...IT'S FREE! We like free. We like it better than chocolate (sorry chocolate, we still love you). Free is the new black.

So right after you read three more articles on SPOTonChicago.com *ahem*, go check out rehabstudents.com. From what we dug up it's all independent and run by students so who knows what kind of wacky therapy news they'll have there in the future. They'll even peer pressure you into joining their Facebook page.

Big thanks to the campus team at RehabCare, who we stole this article directly from. We came in like ninjas and stole it from right under them... because that's what ninjas do. We're not giving it back either so there. :P (That's right, we just posted an emoticon.)

This Week in Twitter - 5/14

Every week we try to compile our favorite tweets from the PT/OT/SLP/COTA/PTA space and there were some real gems this week on Twitter. Be sure to follow the folks who wrote these tweets for some great info. More and more we're finding Twitter an invaluable resource for discovering things before anywhere else. 

Are you on Twitter? You should be. Let us know in the comments if you are, we'd love to follow you.

If you are make sure you're following us at @SPOTonChicago. There are plenty of links we push out there that don't make the blog. 

Here's the tweets:

RT @drwalker_rph: The stage is being set to enable patient-driven disruptive innovation - http://ht.ly/1J6xm good read via e-patients.netMon May 10 17:41:24 via TweetDeckApril Sciacchitano
aprilcs

KneadALaugh is featured on #SmallBizStories. http://bit.ly/b101qF I am so proud!Wed May 12 20:48:04 via webLeslie Kahn
KneadALaugh

RT @jayparkinson: Doctors in America. - Acute Care = They’re the World’s Best. Chronic Care (like obesity... http://tumblr.com/x7v9t1to7Wed May 12 20:50:14 via TweetDeckTherapyGirl5
SnippetPhysTher

It’s worth noting the brilliant work of physical therapists & the resilience of the patients they serve. Good example http://bit.ly/bR521bWed May 12 22:02:03 via TweetDeckMove Forward
MoveForwardPT

In the News: Teens turn Wii remote into physical therapy and occupational therapy device http://bit.ly/dylPNeThu May 13 13:04:36 via TweetDeckYourTherapySource
YTherapySource

Tiger Woods Needs Physical Therapy for his "inflamed neck" - BusinessWeek http://bit.ly/913Xn7Thu May 13 14:27:19 via bit.lyLarryBenz
PhysicalTherapy

Don't get me wrong. I like physicians & respect their role in health. I don't like aggressive AMA politics that harm consumers. #mdmonopolyFri May 14 17:55:22 via TweetDeckEric Robertson
EricRobertson

In 2001, the AMA even tried to prevent the internet from participating in healthcare: "puts lives at risk" http://bit.ly/dAGl5b #mdmonopolyFri May 14 17:51:54 via TweetDeckEric Robertson
EricRobertson

Remember when AMA called all DO's "quacks" and a "cult" and it was unethical to associate with a DO? #mdmonopoly Good job AMA.Fri May 14 17:46:53 via TweetDeckEric Robertson
EricRobertson

Watched another inspiring TED talk today about learning. If you haven't watched a TED talk, it's worth checking out!Fri May 14 20:39:43 via webChristina French
AttikenPT

Should be a good read – @ebertchicago is working on a memoir, which will probably be more than 140 words http://bit.ly/d8paaZFri May 14 22:40:59 via bit.lySuntimes
Suntimes

RT @EricRobertson Washington State court ruled for referral for profit & against PT as a separate & distinct profession http://bit.ly/dcE8DcFri May 14 22:41:36 via TweetDeckAllan Besselink, PT
abesselink

and we wonder why health care costs so much? Over-utilization of services, self referral for profit, need I say more? Stop the insanity.Fri May 14 22:43:45 via TweetDeckAllan Besselink, PT
abesselink

Physical Therapy Research via Google Reader

It's movie day boys and girls! I was lucky enough to catch a tweet by Eric Robertson, a consumate PT with as much passion for technology as anyone, that I wanted to share. The tweet pointed to the following video by Mike Pascoe, a Neurophysiology student in Boulder, CO. If you like to stay up on the current research, checking RSS feeds through Google Reader is a great option. 

Click through for the video as well as a selection of over 50 feeds from PT & OT sources to get you going.