Break from Clinic 1

The most amazing thing from my first week of clinic is seeing how amazingly quick patients can walk after having a total hip or total knee replacement. They can in fact walk the same day of surgery.

You get operated on at 9am, brand new hip or knee and we have you walking by 3pm. Of course the patient should be WBAT (weight bearing as tolerated) meaning they put as much weight on that operated leg as they feel they can handle. Sometimes though that can lead to some buckling which I got to experience this week. This is why the therapist has to be right there to gaurd against that (close gaurding assist- CGA).

Remember people: SAFETY FIRST!!!

Side note: my favorite blog, Evidence in Motion, put in a great entry about the Bush administration making a health care "festivus" at the end of September. During this week one of the biggest insurance companies that exist (the US government) will withold payment of services to health care providers on medicare patients. How much does that stink... Happy holidays to us... The entry on the EIM blog says it all a lot better than I ever could, I just wanted to bring it to your attention...
Good night.