| ||
| Vol. 23, No. 1 |
| January 15, 2001 |
|
TWU Faculty Contributes to Rehabilitation Field By ANN HATCH Texas Woman's University Faculty members in the Schools of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy at the Texas Woman's University Institute of Health Sciences Houston Center are conducting research that contributes to rehabilitation - helping people to recover from injuries, to deal with pain or to manage their disabilities. Some of those faculty members are exploring hand injury, lower back pain and neck pain. Drs. Josephine Chan and Jean Spencer, both faculty members in the TWU School of Occupational Therapy, recently presented research during the conference of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and the American Society for Hand Therapists, held in Seattle, Wash. Their study, titled Holistic Examination of Adaptation to Hand Injury, provides a holistic examination of adaptation to hand injury; it combines quantitative measures of physical recovery and psychosocial adaptation with a qualitative "insiders' perspective" on the impact of injury in individuals' daily lives. The specific aims of their research are to track the process of adaptation for six months and to identify personal and environmental factors that influence the adaptive process. Drs. Chan and Spencer's findings illustrate differences in independent versus interdependent strategies, as well as landmark experiences that occur both inside and outside therapy. By identifying key adaptive issues and meaningful experiences from the clients' perspectives, this study provides groundwork for therapy that addresses psychosocial and contextual issues, and physical recovery. The study explores ways to integrate these aspects of treatment in clinical settings that emphasize productivity. Dr. Mohamed Sabbahi, professor of physical therapy and neuroscience in the TWU School of Physical Therapy, is an expert in low back pain and neck pain. In 2000, he published and presented information on his newly developed technique for evaluation and treatment of those problems. Dr. Sabbahi says this technique tests the nerve signal by using electrical stimuli in order to test the level, degree and direction of impingement on the nerve root at the spinal level. These tests are done during lying (unloading) and standing (loading) conditions to increase the sensitivity of the test, which detects subtle nerve impingement. MRIs and other imaging techniques cannot be done during the loading condition, so this technique provides an alternative. Dr. Sabbahi says from the first test phase, they can identify the affected limb, nerve root, and level and direction of the nerve impingement or compression. The second phase includes testing the patient during movement of the spine or trunk in 14 different posture positions, such as forward bending, backward bending and rotation, among others. He then develops a guided treatment program using the information from test results. Dr. Sabbahi explained when patients follow these programs, they may experience an instantaneous reduction of leg pain, numbness and tingling, as well as low back pain. This technique proved successful for patients with low back pain, as well as neck and arm pain. It was more successful for patients who did not undergo spinal surgery; those who did have spinal surgeries experienced less success.
©2006 Texas Medical Center E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/01_15_01/page_17.html |