Page 48 - BusinessWest April 14, 2021

walking, therapists now have the AlterG, an anti- gravity treadmill that supports a person’s weight so they can exercise and build their strength prior to surgery. Noel-Doubleday said the treadmill also helps after surgery.
“If a patient is having difficulty getting their normal walking pattern back, the anti-gravity treadmill helps them get more comfortable and confident with their walking and with their move- ments before their full body weight is on the joint,” she explained, noting that equipment like this was not available even 10 years ago.
Playing Catch-up
One year ago, when COVID-19 infection rates began to overwhelm hospitals, joint replace- ments, along with other elective surgeries, came to a halt. Elective surgeries have since resumed, and doctors continue to catch up with what Sny- der described as “innumerable joint-replacement surgeries” that were put on hold due to the pandemic.
One sign that joint-replacement procedures are back in business, Jury noted, was the recent addition of two new orthopedic surgeons at Mercy Medical Center.
The joint-replacement rehab areas have all beefed up their screening process as well as implemented all the necessary safety protocols to continue to see patients, Noel-Doubleday said. “COVID changed our routine, but it hasn’t stopped us from doing our jobs. We might work with patients in a different space or alter things slightly, but overall, we’ve made the necessary adjustments.”
As the world starts to emerge from pandemic
times, many people are concerned about the “COVID 15,” a popular expression for the weight gained as a result of less activity during a year of being stuck inside. Maintaining a prop- er weight provides many health ben- efits, and lessening the wear and tear on the joints is one of them. Physical thera- pists say it’s a simple matter of biome- chanics: the more weight we carry, the more stress we put on our joints.
Snyder recently authored a whitepa- per on treating knee arthritis and dis- cussed the relationship between weight and our joints. In the data he cited, for every pound a person loses, the force on the knees is reduced by five to 10 pounds.
Physical therapist Steve Markey works with a patient on the AlterG anti- gravity treadmill.
Jury said carrying too much weight
over time can also throw off struc-
tural alignments in the body, which exacerbates the stress on the joints. “We haven’t yet seen the impact from recent weight gains during COVID, and it will probably be years from now until we do.”
When joint-replacement surgery is neces- sary, Noel-Doubleday makes it a goal to educate patients before the procedure so they know what is involved. Jury makes sure his patients under- stand what he termed as “a couple important things” to know about joint replacement.
“First, it’s not an easy rehab, by any means,” he said. “But if the patient puts in the effort at physi- cal-therapy appointments and, more importantly, at home with their independent program, they will most likely have a successful outcome.”
He noted that the success rate based on stan-
dard outcomes is much better today than it was even five years ago. In turn, most joint-replace- ment rehab patients these days expect to resume their activities at high levels after surgery. “If you look at walking, the goal is more than comfortably getting around, it’s being able to take a three-mile walk for exercise every day like they’ve done in the past.”
Noel-Doubleday said identifying specific activ- ities patients want to return to is a change from past rehabilitation practices.
“For example, many patients want to resume playing golf or tennis, so we structure the rehab to help them do that again,” she said. “It’s been interesting to see how rehab has evolved like this, and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of it.” u
48 APRIL 14, 2021
HEALTHCARE
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