During what would typically be a mundane flight home with his team, Joe David was called to action as a passenger's health condition changed him from a physical therapist and varsity basketball coach to a fast-acting medical professional that saves lives. Joe was in the midst of a flight back home from a Florida basketball tournament with his team when one of the female passengers fell ill, causing a stewardess to ask if anyone onboard had medical training. Oddly enough, this was the second time Joe was asked that question as a month prior he was pulled in to help... Continue reading

Consider this our big giant love letter to Rehabstudents.com. We've featured them before and just got a nice big electronic hug from them. If you haven't seen their coverage you should, it's a great resource for college students and others interested in a rehab therapy career. If you've been to their blog, check them out on Twitter and Facebook as well. But I will say... I like our smiling dog better than their smiling cat. Gauntlet = thrown. Continue reading

RehabCare was featured today by Apple for their use of iPad and iPhone technology. If you've been to this blog before you probably know we spun out of a RehabCare Group project and continue to be sponsored by the great folks there. While we do our best to keep a level playing field that supports all rehabilitation companies, please allow us to be a bit self indulgent today as we're beaming with pride. The article highlights the way RehabCare has used different iOS apps to speed up the rehab therapy business and get patients back to their families faster and... Continue reading

Today is a national holiday. Didn't you get the memo? As declared by the World Confederation for Physical Therapy today is "World Physical Therapy Day"! Make sure you bookmark your calendar for every September 8th so you don't miss your day in the sun going forward. In honor of the holiday we've got a list of articles referencing the benefits of physical therapy, including some words from the WCPT president himself. It's quite a bit of information so check it out after the break if you're so inclined. Be sure to check out the other information available from WCPT at... Continue reading

Mike Reinold, a well known sports medicine physical therapist and popular blogger, published a list of 5 ways the best physical therapists and rehab professionals differentiate themselves. If you haven't heard of him get out from under your rock and check his blog out. Mike has consistently good content and certainly knows his stuff. This list, created by Cody West of Orthobuilder.com, is a great basic list of what makes Physical therapists and other rehab professionals stand out from the crowd. Here are his top 5: A hunger to learn They are rooted in biomechanics They know principles will set... Continue reading

Physical Therapists love Medicare. Wait, wait come back we're just kidding! While Medicare has its ups and downs today is a mark in the green column for the Medicare folks. If it were not for Medicare we would never be treated with this hilarious "Who's on First?" parody video created by Larry Benz of MyPhysicalTherapySpace. Clocking in at just over three minutes long, it's worth a watch and a chuckle. Even though part of me wants to roll around on the floor laughing at this, part of me is reminded so much of the movie Robots that I'm expecting animated... Continue reading

Why should you be an Occupational Therapist? I just ran across a great snapshot video that covers some basic points and should convince the naysayers. The video is part of a series by the US News and World Report detailing their picks for best careers. Check out the source video on YouTube, as always some of the best info is in reading the comments. Continue reading

If you're a Chicagoland native (and haven't been living under a rock) you've probably heard of the Chicago Air and Water Show. If you haven't? Go Google it then come back... we'll wait. Be quick though, we get bored... Now then, this year marks the 52nd year of the annual show. The biggest of its kind in the country, over 2 million people flock downtown to see this airplane extravaganza. If you've been there before you know how crowded it gets but if you haven't... let's just say it's worse than the crowds trying to get a glimpse of the... Continue reading

The StrongArm Mobility crutch is a new rehabilitation therapy product that deserves attention, especially from physical therapists and others in the field. When is the last time you saw innovation in a crutch anyway? We noticed it last year and got the opportunity recently to interview Andrey Kharlamov, the VP of the company. Please note we are not in any way sponsored by or affiliated with StrongArm crutches, we just love the crazy things. A few things you should know about StrongArm: Patients in a recent Mayo Clinic study ranked the StrongArm substantially higher than other canes/crutches (4.2 out of... Continue reading

If you're not familiar with the Smart Mobile initiative at RehabCare, it's time to change that. Check out the video below for a preview of their new initiative to move their tracking, monitoring and paperwork tasks to a slick new iPhone/iPod interface and device. Imagine working in an environment where you don't have to use the paper charts, 15 year old software or ancient computers as part of your daily work. Imagine a place you can grab one handheld device like an iPhone or an iPod Touch and run your entire day from it. How much time does that free... Continue reading

EasyStand has been on our radar for a while now and we've found the rehabilitation product so interesting that we wanted to highlight it a bit more. Rather than covering it ourselves this time we went straight to the source asking EasyStand to share in their own words why you, as a rehab therapist, should know about about EasyStand. Note we are not affiliated or compensated by EasyStand in any way... we just think they're awesome. The following is their response direct from Jackie Kaufenberg at EasyStand. Photo caption: Even though Hamza has a high level of disability, he is... Continue reading

Rather than highlighting just one of these we're bringing you more blog for your dollar today with three lists every rehabilitation therapist should look at. No matter if you are a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist or an assistant there are some nuggets of gold here you should take a look at. Within these three resources reside 80 different ways you can use the internet as a healthcare worker, so without further ado here are the sites: 5 Ways Social Media Helps Promote Good Health: This list from notable social media blog Mashable highlights ways patients are... Continue reading

The Times They Are A-Changin'. Take for example this new effort at Chicago's Swedish Covenant Hospital. Swedish has a new back pain center offering chiropractic, massage and physical therapy as precursors to invasive back procedures. Old hat you say? Keep reading. Only after these options are exhausted will they move to surgery. In fact the surgeons are on salary and earn it with or without the surgeries. How's that for a twist? The specialist gets paid even if they find a safer more inexpensive treatment option. How refreshing! Straight from surgeon Daniel Laich: "I'm one of the rare neurosurgeons who... Continue reading

Reports in from Miami today are that doctors and nurses in five states are being arrested as part of the biggest Medicare fraud case in history. Attorney General Eric Holder stated in response that defrauding the healthcare system should no longer be considered "a safe bet". I for one would like to know when it WAS a safe bet. Here I thought that's been a bad idea for years now. Picking up my sarcasm? Good, I'm laying it on thick. Here's some numbers from the case: 5 cities with arrests (Miami, New York City, Detroit, Houston & Baton Rouge) 94... Continue reading

Just a reminder to join us on 7/13 at 1:00pm cst for a Twitter chat with Move Forward Physical Therapy. The topic will be "Pregnancy and Beyond, Overcoming Aches, Pains and Incontinence". If you've never done a "Twitter chat" before they're very easy. Click on the Move Forward RSVP page to register Go to the Tweetchat room at 12:00 CST Sign in using your Twitter username Chat with everyone else using the hashtag: #MovePT Look for us on there: @SPOTonChicago, don't forget to say hi! Hope to see at least some of you there... and by "some of you" we... Continue reading

Anyone been down around the Chicago Loop today? No? Consider yourselves lucky because if you HAD been you'd be locked in your closet in the fetal position right now and crying like a baby. Why? Well let me show you: Oh nothing big just another lovely day in ChicagOH NO IT'S A GIANT EYEBALL!!!! Who would do something like this and set it loose on an unsuspecting world? A gentleman by the name of Tony Tasset used 9000 lbs of fiberglass and 9000 more lbs of steel to build this sculpture of weird, modled after his own eyeball. The bill... Continue reading

Happy 4th of July gang! The SPOTonChicago crew will be out for the holidays until Tuesday July 6th but we'll back back with some new things then. Everyone have a safe and happy 4th of July weekend. Shoot some fireworks for us, just make sure you have a permit. If you don't check out these displays to hold you over. Continue reading

Heard of BlogTalkRadio? No? It's not just three random words jammed together. BlogTalkRadio is a network of audio blogs. Even if you're not a Physical Therapist, an Occupational Therapist or a Speech Therapist there is something there for you. Trust me. Think of it like a website full of online radio call-in shows on a variety of topics. Check it out when you get a chance but today we're looking at one in particular. Physical Therapist Allan Besselink (@abesselink on Twitter) has a show on BlogTalkRadio that you should check out it you havent already. He does a new show... Continue reading

Switching things up just a bit this week I wanted to share some of my favorite tweets today. I know what you're thinking loyal readers: "What?!? That's insane Brad! It's tweets of the week not tweets of the day!!!" Well let me assure everyone, you heard me right. The world has turned upside down and today we're doing it different. Frankly there were so many great ones today they get their own blog post. Without further ado here's what caught our interest today: #APTA commends MedPAC Report Addressing Growth of Physical Therapy Services in Physicians’ Offices. http://tinyurl.com/268en3sWed Jun 23 19:26:50... Continue reading

Activists today held a demonstration at the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago to protest a dangerous piece of sidewalk. Apparently the curb cut is too steep for individuals with disabilities to reliably navigate without falling over. In the past month, a young man in a power wheelchair almost fell out of his chair as he tried to cross the Dan Ryan Expressway on-ramp on the sidewalk. The incline is too steep and does not meet the Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines for curb cut slopes, ADAPT said. "I was utterly terrified and thought I might tip over due to the... Continue reading

Looking for a good way to get out and try some new things in Chicago? We've got you covered this week. Thanks to our friends at @explorechicago we've got some suggestions. Let us know if you check any out... we'd love to hear about it. If you need more ideas hop on over to Twitter and ask them, they're full of ideas. Check out what we're talking about @spotonchicago while you're there @SPOTonChicago Fiestas Puertorriquenas is June 15-20 in Humboldt Park. http://bit.ly/95f4h4Mon Jun 14 22:51:21 via HootSuite explorechicago explorechicago @SPOTonChicago Vivaldi's Four Seasons will be performed in Millennium Park on... Continue reading