Importance of Home Exercise Program Compliance During my career as a physical therapist, I have heard many comments such as " I'm too busy" or "I'm too tired" or " I have pain" or" I forgot" or " I just don't want to do them". These are just some of the reasons why people do not perform their home exercise program.  Although the majority of excuses are valid most of the time, it does not take away the importance of a consistent home exercise program. When I started working at STAR 25 year...

Importance of Patient Choice The health care system in Rochester, just like most areas of the country, is undergoing changes in response to health care reform. The hospital systems are consolidating, they are buying physician practices, and Accountable Care Organizations (ACO’s) are being formed. The intent is to create greater accountability among health care providers, and to improve efficiencies within the system. Payment models will change from the current fee-for-service model, and p...

The Time is Now  It has been has been said that in life, timing is everything.  The same could be said about rehabilitation of an injury. When a patient first comes into Physical Therapy, the first visit is the initial evaluation. One of the first questions asked is “how long has your injury been bothering you?” More often than not, the answer is between 6-12 months. The second question asked at that point, “what took so long to have this addressed?” There a...

There’s an App for That! We are proud to announce that STAR is now offering the use of a web-based mobile application to all patients. For the past year I have been working with Netsmartz, a locally based software development company, with the goal of using this application to increase compliance with home exercise prescriptions and patients’ understanding of their condition.   The application has 2 major components - "Home Exercise Builder" and “3D – Educate.&rdqu...

Tendon Injuries Tendon injuries are among the most common types of musculoskeletal conditions. This condition is often labeled “tendonitis”, but advances in scientific research have led to a revised perspective on the underlying cause of tendon pain.  Although acute tendon injury can lead to inflammation, by far most tendon problems are degenerative in nature. In other words, the substance of the tendon has broken down over time due to chronic, excessive loading. This has led ...