Adaptive Mobility and Positioning Blog

Children with medical complexity benefit from use of supportive walkers and gait trainers for upright mobility opportunities.

Standing is thought to have many benefits for children with multiple disabilities including bowel management, bone density, tone management, range of motion, and pain management among others.

Many patients returning home after being hospitalized for severe respiratory failure, such as those recovering from COVID-19, are now confronting significant physical, neurological, cognitive and emotional issues. To describe this wide variety of challenges, experts use the term “post-intensive care syndrome” or PICS.

Serious adverse health outcomes result directly from prolonged ICU stays. With the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to understand the negative health impacts of hospitalization. Early mobilization and rehabilitation interventions have the potential to mitigate these conditions.

In the summer we shared a blog post about the use of Therabands with the TRAM from Linda Rusiecki, a physical therapist at the Blodgett Hospital in Grand Rapids. Watch Janette Tazzia and Linda Rusiecki tell about Janette’s recovery from a stroke that left her partially paralyzed.

Lifting and repositioning patients is a big part of healthcare, particularly for nurses and therapists. But how we do this is changing, based on the many studies that show how lifting patients manually without assistive equipment is causing staff injuries, lost days from work and decrease in care quality. The safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM) approach advocates for patient lifts and mobility...

I recently attended the APTA Next Conference in Boston. A new component to this conference is the experience zone—an education space in the exhibit hall allowing presenters to draw on resources from the show floor as part of their presentations. A great idea. I attended a course called “Creative Mobility Technology for Improved Outcomes” in the zone. Here we learned to get the most...

Although on the market for over five years, the TRAM continues to surprise us. Here are some great ideas for using the TRAM in rehab, focusing on balance support and activity, from Jamie Haines, PT, DScPT, NCS at Central Michigan University. High-Intensity Boxing This patient has Parkinson's disease, Stage III. He was afraid to participate in an exercise class until he used the Rifton TRAM. What a...

Last week I attended the Combined Section Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association. It was held in San Antonio (great choice, especially in February!) and included some excellent programming. I’d like to share highlights from one of the workshops which focused on using lift and transfer devices in schools. It was presented by therapists from four large school districts. Each district...

Whether assisting someone from a wheelchair to a mat table or the parallel bars, patient transfers are a routine part of all therapy interventions. But did you know that these transfers place a therapist at an extraordinary risk for work-related injury? Statistics show that caregivers engaging in manual patient lifting, transferring and repositioning activities beyond the 35-lb patient lifting maximum set...