Physical Therapy

Yes, you can lift weights for your upper body with a medial navicular fracture in your right foot. Make sure to sit down while doing the exercises and it is recommended to use a stability ball to help work your core.
 
Transcript: "Hi, this is Blair Green and the question I'm answering is can I lift weights for my upper body with a medial navicular fracture in my right foot? So the navicular bone is a bone in the foot and fractures in the feet should not impact your ability to lift weights for your upper body. What I like to recommend to patients is that when you are doing exercises with your upper body and as an aside, I strongly recommend that you continue to strengthen your upper body even with a lower extremity injury that you sit down. So sitting on a bench or even better sit on a stability ball which is going to help work your core while you're working your upper body or if you prefer to use machines you can certainly do upper body machines while you are injured in your foot as long as you are in a sitting down position. So absolutely go for it."

Muscle spasms are caused by a lack of oxygen or blood flow to the muscle, which can be caused by trauma or overuse.
 
Transcript: "Hi, this is Blair Green and the question I was asked is what is the cause of a muscle spasm? So what a muscle spasm is, it is a knot in the muscle. It's an area where the muscle tissue remains contracted. And the reason that happens in a muscle is typically because of lack of oxygen or lack of blood flow to the muscle. And so the muscle stays contracted and can't relax. There's a couple different reasons why that can happen. Two that I like to mention are trauma and overuse. So when I say trauma, that can be anything from an acute injury to maybe repetitive strain, which is also known as overuse. But really, when you injure a muscle, the muscle protects itself by going into spasm so that the tissue can heal. Overuse, like I said, happens with repeated movements over time. And when that happens, the muscle can get tired and blood flow reduces."

Physical therapists can help improve your range of movement and gait speed, as well as give you strategies to improve your endurance and strength. Mobility and stability are important for increasing your performance.
 
Transcript: "Hello, so if your physical therapist helps with your range of movement, that can improve your gait speed because you're able to move more freely. But then, theoretically, if there's less resistance to your movement, there might be more endurance. So, a physical therapist can also give you strategies in which you can improve your endurance and make yourself stronger, better, faster, all these things. But mobility is key, stability is key, so the more stable you are, the less work there will be and the longer you'll last. So, all of these things are within the tools of the physical therapist."

When dealing with complicated injuries, it is best to break it down into smaller steps and address each problem one at a time rather than trying to do everything at once.
 
Transcript: "I had a patient who came in with the most complicated groin, hip, everything was wrong. And actually we sort of peeled off the layers of the onion, strengthened up each little bit individually and he's back to his sport which is rugby and like full contact, really difficult but amazing when we just took things step by step rather than like trying to scatter down an approach which a lot of the time people do with these sort of massive injuries is trying to fix everything at the same time. So that's my key tip for anyone who is trying to get through a massive injury is to break it down and not like the song."

I love complicated patients because it's like an exciting puzzle to solve, and I'm determined to figure out how to help them.
 
Transcript: "I love a complicated patient because it's like a really good mystery, an amazing puzzle that you have to sift through all the stuff, work out all the bits that are weak, the bits that are tight, the stuff in the head that could be affecting them. So the more complex the better because I love it when somebody walks in and says, I have seen 17 other physiotherapists and what are you going to do differently? Because I'm not actually going to reinvent the wheel, I might do it in a different way but I'm determined to crack it if a physio can crack it. So I like a challenge."

The key to building confidence with patients is connecting with them and inspiring and motivating them to work on themselves.
 
Transcript: "I think the key for building confidence is not talking a load of crap with your patients and to find out what hasn't worked in the past as well because there's no point if you had a patient who comes in and you give them the same crap that everyone else has given and it might not even be crap but it just is the way it's been delivered that's not fair so you just have to try and think out the box do different things with them inspire them encourage them and really motivate them to work on things themselves as well so for me it's a lot about the connection with the patient."