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Tag: bracing

The Modified Low Dye

Craig Smith June 1, 2023

A physical therapy band-aid for foot pain during running Running-related injuries are commonly seen for physical therapy at Smith Performance Center. Unlike some of the advice, you may hear, stopping can prolong the problem.  Rest does not automatically equal recovery or resolution of an injury.  A nice tool to consider learning is the modified low dye.  It can help to reduce foot and lower leg pain while allowing you to continue training. Where is it from? I learned about the modified low dye from Dr. Tom McPoil.  He is faculty at Regis University and was previously faculty at Northern Arizona.  He is an expert on the foot and wrote an article on tissue stress theory that still impacts my practice today.  The purpose of the modified low dye in a physical therapy program is to limit stresses to the tissue of the lower leg and foot to allow desensitization. In

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4 Ways Individuals With Heel Pain Can Make Their Pain Go Away

Craig Smith January 31, 2023

Why is your heel pain not getting better? Heel pain is a common, painful foot condition leading internet searches for “cures to heel pain” or “treatments for plantar fasciitis.” The pain resolves with time if the cause of symptoms is removed, but up to 10% of individuals with heel pain do not get better. These chronic sufferers try everything to get rid of the pain including plantar fascia releases, injections, and pain medications. The causes of heel pain are numerous, ranging from plantar tendinopathies like the flexor digitorum brevis, nerve involvement with tarsal tunnel syndromes or lateral plantar nerve, low back referrals, and double crush syndrome to fat pad injuries. The answer is not more stretching and new orthotics. If you are stuck with heel pain and the typical treatment for plantar fasciitis is not making you feel better, then you likely have a different problem and require a different

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5 Treatment Options to Reduce Knee Pain without Surgery, Injections, or Drugs

Craig Smith January 30, 2023

We treat intractable knee pain on a daily basis. Our process is called the PT Solutions Treatment Hierarchy. The treatment hierarchy allows our team to support the diagnosis, reduce pain, and create a clear home plan. Building a treatment framework is a critical component of the plan and it changes based on the key sign, the structural diagnosis, and the trigger management plan.  For example, a person with an anterior horn meniscus lesion, we would first normalize painful end range extension of the knee.  Once passive extension is pain free, we would start to load their leg with the activity that normally hurts, providing them an exercise like terminal knee extension with the band that will keep their knee extension pain free.  Finally we would dig through all of their daily activities that cause symptoms like fast walking or going downhill and stop them from doing it to allow healing.

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Bracing for Groin Pain

Craig Smith September 2, 2020

A useful brace to compress and reduce pain in the adductor muscles   Bracing, Taping, and Training Aids Home Page Bracing, Taping, and Training Aids   Bracing for poor hip control The SERF Strap   Bracing for foot and lower limb control The Post Tib Brace   Taping for the Foot Modified Low Dye  

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Bracing, Taping, and Training Aids

Craig Smith August 30, 2020

One of the key differences in our practice compared to normal, insurance-based physical therapy is how we schedule our sessions.  We normally do a session once every week to two weeks. This developed as a result of our focus on the home plan.  The second reason was how we started to use braces, tape, and training aids.   These tools became a key part of our practice.  The funny (maybe sad) part of using braces is how terribly the instructions are in their use.  The SERF strap is one of my absolute favorite tools for a variety of force absorption-based injuries.  The brace is extremely difficult to put on and the instructions are awful.   We were tired of shooting the same video over and over and over, so we made a general video explaining it all and put it up on the site.    The SERF strap is just one brace

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How & When to Use a SERF Strap

Craig Smith April 4, 2018

What is the SERF Strap? The SERF Strap is the first patellofemoral brace designed to treat PFP due to poor hip control. Basically, the strap is a really long elastic band that you anchor at the knee (my term is foundation 1), tension over the outside of the thigh, and anchor around the pelvis (foundation 2). When you create these anchor points, the strapped leg will now have support for external rotation at the hip joint.  This reduces pelvic drop and knee valgus.  You can take someone whose knees hit together and immediately correct this dysfunction. While the marketing material and websites talk just about patellofemoral pain, I use this tool for symptoms in the leg (sometimes the back) during the stance phase of running or walking. This includes injuries like posterior tibialis tendinopathy, adductor longus and gluteus medius injury, and trochanteric bursitis. For athletes, I prescribe it as an

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