Southwest Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Information Headquarters

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.

In part 3 we studied how inflammation in tissue stimulates pain sensors, and also promotes healing. In Part 4, we will go inside the brain and spinal cord. Whenever I speak to a patient about pain and then mention the brain, the automatic response is, ”So, are you saying the pain is all in my head?” The answer is yes, all pain is produced by the brain: without the brain, there would be no pain. This does NOT mean that the pain is fabricated in your mind and is not real. The most recent research by Lorimer Moseley, PhD, and David Butler,PT from Australia shows that the pain sensors report the injury and inflammation to the spinal cord which feeds it to the brain. The brain then produces the actual physical sensation of pain, even though the pain is felt at the site of the injury.

So after my last Blog on “The Pathology of”, or the “what can go wrong”
of Motor Vehicle Accidents(MVA), I would be shooting myself in the
foot if I did not take the time to explain what it is that we, the
Physical Therapists, do for you, if you are in the unfortunate
predicament of being in a car accident. We as a profession will always
insist that you first see a physician and have the appropriate X-rays,
etc. that are recommended by your doctor. Once you are cleared by
your physician, ask to be referred to Physical Therapy if he/she does
not automatically do so. The sooner the better to keep your tissues
from becoming tight, your joints from becoming stiff, and the pain
from setting in too much. Also, remember that you, as a consumer of
medical services(i.e., the patient), have the right to go where YOU
want to go for your rehab/ PT. Below is a brief explanation of the

Motor vehicle accidents or MVA’s for short, are a very common injury
in our society. However when they occur, most people are unsure where
to go to get medical attention. The other problem is a lot of people do
not have pain or other symptoms immediately after the accident. The
most important thing to be aware of following an MVA, is that
symptoms/ pain can arise and/or worsen at any time following the MVA.

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! 

So let’s start today discussing INFLAMMATION after injury. Inflammation is a primitive defense mechanism that is essential for the tissue repair process. It is designed to hurt and it does. This is also a protective mechanism. Inflammation causes swelling. To make it simple, let’s call this swelling “inflammatory soup”.