Southwest Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Information Headquarters

• Now let’s talk about pain -The doctors use the common 1-10 pain scale to tell them where your pain is at any given time. My PT’s talk about 3 parts of pain:

1. 1) intensity of pain, is it a 1 or a 10 ----or somewhere in between
2.  2) Frequency of flare-ups, Sometimes , all the time or am I in remission?
3.  3) Duration of flare-ups.  How long do they last? Keep a journal to recite all of these to your Dr or PT.

We are hiring physical therapist immediately! We are the funnest most patient oriented physical therapy clinic in Albuquerque. We have been in business since 2003 and our owner, Kale Isaacson has over 20 years experience as an orthopedic physical therapist. Kale has the borrowed the word "positivity" from a Bob Marley song and included it in our motto- "Positivity in Motion"

We've all heard of them, seen commercials for them, or even been tempted to try them ourselves, but do those diets that we see everywhere on TV actually work. You know the diets I am referring to, some of the more popular ones boast that you have the possibility of losing 5 pounds in two weeks simply by eating their products while others offer more of a lifestyle change and use their products to help jumpstart that change.Working for SWOPT, I see what exerise can do for our patients that have hurt themselves or just want to have a better sense of fitness. All of our clinical staff have been very highly educated on nutrition and I have learned a lot from their expertise. However, I have been struggling to lose weight myself and always saw those commercials and thought, could it work for me? I went ahead and tried some popular plans and will discuss my results with them in this series of blogs. The first one I will discuss is the Yoplait Two Week Tune Up.

Walking…..you do it, I do it.  Turns out it is something most everyone does every day.  But have you ever stopped to consider how far you actually walk in an average day?  How about a day at the mall?  I was recently introduced to a new friend while at a soccer tournament with one of my daughters.  My new friend caught my attention because while the rest of us “soccer moms” sat in the plush grass of Arizona soaking up some sunshine waiting for the game to start, she marched herself all around the fields.  When she finally sat down to watch the game, I began to inquire about her walking.  I discovered that my friend Lynne is employed by Sandia National Labs who it turns out encourages their employees to WALK! 

At Southwest Orthopaedic Physical Therapy, we see a lot of patients who enjoy running and many come to see us just to get back to running again. Running is used for overall health and wellness, to help lose weight, and as a hobby and stress reliever. For many runners, competing in marathons is something to strive to do. For the extreme in runners and athletes, the Ironman triathlon is the ultimate test of their strength and endurance. The Ironman consists of 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike race, and marathon (26.2 mile) raced without a break. This seems very daunting and almost impossible even to many avid competitors. The amount of training for an event like that is almost as daunting as the race itself.

"Healthy living is a possible lifestyle for anyone, young, old, big, small, dog, cat... it's possible for anyone or anything!!! It all starts with one choice, and that is to actually get started. With enough commitment , effort, and consistency, your goals will start turning into accomplishments.

Tennis elbow can quickly bring your tennis game to a halt. While this injury is commonly found in tennis players, it can also be found in chefs, construction workers, and painters. The reason behind this is because the wrist is constantly shifting from a flexed forward position to an extended back position. The muscles in the forearm that work the wrist also connect into the outside of the elbow. When constantly being stretched and contracted the tendons in the elbow begin to wear and tear. This causes inflammation in the elbow joint and thus creates pain when the elbow fully extends.

While the ability to stand and function on two legs allows humans to excel at home, work, sport or play, it is also a set-up for failure at the foundation or hub of the body; the lower back.