Certified Ergonomic Assessment Specialist Cheyenne Rivers of Missoula-based ErgoWellness gives the following insights and recommendations regarding proper ergonomics while computing.

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It is important to long term health and work-safety to have a good ergonomic set up. It is also vital that y you recognize the importance of keeping your body moving and changing positions often. Healthy computing means more than setting up a good workstation. It also includes taking good care of your overall health with proper nutrition, exercise, and work & life balance. Here are a handful of tips to help.

Below are 12 tips and for healthy computing.

1.Top of monitor at or below eye level

2. Monitor and keyboard centered in front of you

3. No glare on screen

4. Documents in line with keyboard and monitor

5.  Negative tilt keyboard support, or better yet learn Dragon Dictate to mix it up (Nuance.com)

6. Wrists flat and straight, in the neutral position

7. Arms and elbows close to body, relaxed

8. Change postures often

9. Download RSIguard.com

10. Take frequent short breaks

11. Feet flat on the floor or foot rest

​12. Know the warning signs, such as burning, tingling, or pain in your neck, upper back, or arms and hands, and get help early!

Cheyenne Rivers, CEAS

Alpine Physical Therapy was started with the intention of helping as many people with back and neck pain as possible. That was May of 2006. Since then, we’ve treated more than 2,500Missoulians with back and neck pain.

There are several reason we’ve been able to work with so many people in such a short time. First, back and neck pain are common. Scientific studies indicate that 80% of people in industrialized nations will suffer significant back pain, the kind that keeps you from work or play, at some point in their lives. Fully 90%t of these folks will have recurrent episodes of pain.

Second, because Alpine’s physical therapists are on the front edge of spine treatment, we’ve built a reputation for helping people, including those who haven’t gotten results elsewhere. Our team of 11 therapists includes several highly certified professionals. In fact, Angela Listug-Vap, our Clinic Director at Alpine North, is Montana’s only Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists. Simply put, she’s the state’s expert physical therapist when it comes to helping people with back and neck pain. In addition to Angela’s certification as a manual physical therapist, Alpine’s owner, Brent Dodge, is certified as a manual physical therapist through the prestigious North American Institute of Orthopedic Manual Therapy.

We also have among our staff two Board Certified Orthopedic Physical Therapists, Brent Dodge, and Brace Hayden. To receive this certification, Brent and Brace a rigorous examination given by the National Board of Physical Therapists.

With a large professional staff, exceptional certifications, and an intense desire to help people, we’ve been able to help a lot of our fellow Missoulians. In fact, 2,500 is a number that can’t be matched by other free standing outpatient clinics in our city. We’re proud of our committment to provide Expert, Effective, and Caring help to people who seek help for neck and back pain.

For more information on Alpine’s work in the area of neck and back pain treatment, please visit our clinic website at www.AlpinePTmissoula.com.
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And for a list of reasons that answer the questions Why Us? Why Alpine? click here.

Votes are in. The tally is done. Alpine Physical Therapy steps into the forefront as Missoula’s top spot for orthopedic physical therapy. Doctors and patients know it. And there are many reasons why this is so.

We have twice the number of physical therapists compared to other free-standing outpatient clinics in Missoula, allowing patients to choose their therapist based on gender, personality, and specialty area. We have two physical therapists who are nationally board certified in orthopedics. And our therapy team holds nine national and prestigious certifications.

In addition, patients from more than 300 area physicians have been treated at Alpine.
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For a list of other key reasons that answer the question Why Us? Why Alpine?, click here.

What: A free seminar called Fitness for Fifty and Further.

When: 11/18/10 at 12:00 PM and again at 5:00 PM

Where: The cycling room at the Peak Health & Wellness Center, corner of Blue Mtn Rd and Hwy 93 south

Presenter: Brent Dodge, Owner of Alpine Physical Therapy

​For more information, see my previous blog post on the topic by clicking here.

The following information was graciously provided by Alpine Physical Therapy’s Jeff Morrison ATC, LAT.

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In the past year, sport concussions have seen an increase in media attention, and rightly so. Every sporting association from Pop-Warner football to college and pro sports have revamped their concussion guidelines. It’s concerning, however, that youth sports still see players allowed to return to play after sustaining a concussion without proper clearance.

What is a concussion? A concussion is an injury that causes a disturbance in normal brain function.1 The terms “bell-ringer” and “ding” have been used in the past to describe what people thought to not be a concussion, yet  it is now known that these so called dings can do just as much harm as a head injury resulting in loss of conciseness. This is because youth sport programs, unlike college and pro teams, don’t have a sports medicine team watching the players every step to determine the severity of a concussion. Concussions have been more prominent lately in all level of sport because of the increased level of awareness of the signs and symptoms of concussions and their consequences.

Youth sports are the most problematic sporting organization for concussions. This has to do with the lack of onsite qualified medical personnel such as Certified Athletic Trainers who are trained in the care and prevention of concussions. The prospect of having athletic trainers at every youth sporting event in the country is unrealistic. On the other hand if we educate every coach, parent, and the athletes to self-monitor and seek the proper medical advice for every known and unknown “bell-ringer” concussion seen, I feel we would ultimately see less traumatic head injures resulting in deaths in youth sports. One way we can educate these youth sport practitioners is to turn their attention to www.KnowConcussion.org. Know Concussion is a newsletter that covers the signs and symptoms, return to play criteria, and what to be on the lookout for in terms of concussions in youth sports. It is made available from Idaho State University and Caroline E. Faure, EdD; ATC an Assistant Professor in the Sport Science and PE department.

Know Concussion is a great resource for those who are looking to educate themselves or their organization about the need for heightened knowledge about concussion. Ultimately, concussions are nothing to toy with. No athlete who is suspected to have had a concussion should return to play without first obtaining clearance from a qualified medical professional. The best course of action is “When in doubt, sit them out.”

Special thanks to Caroline Faure and Idaho State University for all their hard work and for providing this information.

Resources:

1 www.KnowConcussion.org

The following information was graciously provided by Alpine Physical Therapist Brace Hayden, DPT, OCS, CSCS.

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Last month a variety of faculty from University of Montana (UM) School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science, the Athletic Training Education Department, along with a handful of local physical therapists met for the monthly journal article discussion group.

The topic this month centered on current research behind concussion management in sports. This hot topic has captured the attention of the national press as well as athletes, coaches, parents, and multidisciplinary healthcare providers and researchers. The highly charged debate about concussion management lies in providing a guideline that can easily assess the severity of the possible traumatic head injury and when it is appropriate for the athlete to safely return to his or her sport.

The take home messages from the round table discussion were:

1. Pre-season baseline cognitive, balance, and general headache-free activity level testing of each athlete should be required to best assess possible post-concussive head injury.
2. The UM Athletic Training Department is using standardized guideline (based on 2008 Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport from a conference in Zurich) that attempts to consistently define the severity, then stage the athlete’s concussion. The guideline allows a graded staging of rehabilitation needs, which exercises are appropriate or activities are inappropriate, and objective goals to be met at each stage.
3. The adolescent brain and the adult brain are significantly different in terms of staging and recovering from a concussion.  There are a lot of “unknowns” in the developing adolescent athlete’s brain, which makes concussion management quite difficult.
4. The human brain will never fully recover from a traumatic head injury. A second concussion on top of a primary concussion can be fatal if the athlete is allowed to return to sport too early.
5. Athletes need 6-7 days of recovery after the primary concussion symptoms (ie. headaches, confusion, dizziness) are reduced.
6. Taking an athlete out of their sport has proven to be quite difficult due to motivation on the part of the coach, parent, athlete to “play on through” a minor ding or bell-ringer.

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More information on this topic can be found at a great website put together by Idaho State University: KnowConcussion.org.