Falls in the elderly are the leading cause of fatal as well as non fatal injuries. Thirty percent of people over the age of 65 will fall each year.

Sixty percent of elderly falls occur in the home. By safe proofing your or your loved ones house, you can help decrease this number. Learn a few easy tips to help "fall proof" a house.

Living Room:
Pick up any throw rugs…. Do not have them anywhere in the house
Have ample space to walk in between furniture
Keep all electrical cords out of the way

Stairs:
Keep all stairways free of clutter
Install hand rails on both sides of the steps

Bathroom:
Keep a night light on at all times
Install rails in the bathtub or shower
Place a non skid mat in the shower or bathtub

After speaking to a patient the other day, it was conveyed that she felt her therapy sessions had become too "hands off." After being taught an exercise this patient would perform it independently while the therapist treated another patient at the same time.

The desire to have a more individualized and one on one therapy session is something a lot of patients seem to prefer.

What are your thoughts? Take the poll below!

The straight leg raise is an excellent exercise to strengthen the muscles of the hip. It is one of the first exercises done after hip or knee replacement surgery.

The straight leg raise helps prevent weakness to the group of muscles that bend the hip joint. Easy and effective, the straight leg raise is easy to perform.

Review this exercise with your therapist today.

We recently discussed the importance of participating in a home exercise program as an essential part of an excellent rehabilitation outcome.

So now we want to know, are you taking part in a home exercise program as part of your rehab process? Has this information changed the way you participate in your rehabilitation?

Take the quick poll below.

Initial recommendations after back injury described a period of bed rest for recovery time. This however, is no longer viewed as beneficial in the healing process. By being inactive the muscles of the back can become weak from inactivity, delaying recovery time.

Current recommendations include gentle back stretching activities and continuing with current day to day activities with modifications to alleviate strain on the back region. Starting an early rehabilitation program has been shown to decrease the healing time.

So keep active and perform gentle stretching activities after insult to the back! The temptation to rest in bed should be avoided.

The hamstrings are the large muscle group located on the back of the thigh region. They work together to bend the knee as well as extend the hip.

The hamstrings are often involved in strain injuries that occur with running and jumping activities. Stretching these muscles after they have been injured is an important part of the recovery process.

Learn how recover from a hamstring strain with these easy stretches:

• Seated Hamstring Stretch
• Standing Hamstring Stretch

Ankle sprains are one of the most common sports injuries. Most sprains occur during activities that include running, jumping, or walking.

Initial management of an ankle sprain includes:

• Rest: Rest and protect the injured area. If it hurts to bear weight on the injury, use crutches. If it hurts to move the area, immobilize it with a splint.
• Ice: Apply ice or a frozen object, such as a bag of corn, to the injury. The cold will reduce swelling and pain at the injured site. This step should be done as soon as possible. Apply the frozen object to the area for 20 minutes three times a day for the first 48 hours
• Compression: Compress the injured site by applying an Ace bandage. This will decrease swelling of the injured region. Although the wrap should be snug, make sure it is not too tight as this can cause numbness, tingling, or increased pain
• Elevation: Elevate the injured area above the level of the heart as much as possible. This technique will also assist in reducing the amount

A trip to the doctor is also advisable to determine the severity of the sprain. Most sprains will take several weeks to improve with some requiring therapy for rehabilitation.

How long will physical therapy take is a common question asked by many patients. Although the question itself is a simple one, the answer is much more difficult.

Unfortunately there is no correct answer to this question. Each person is different, and thus an individual's rate of healing is also different. It may take one person only three days to walk one hundred feet after knee surgery, however a patient who had surgery on the same day may need five days to reach the same distance. This is due to the variation in pain perception, motivation, and healing rate we each have.

Rather than setting a date to complete therapy, set various goals that you would like to achieve during your rehabilitation program. Make this your focus, not time! Reward yourself for achieving these goals, regardless of the time taken to reach them.

Wall slides are an effective way to strengthen your quadriceps muscles, the large muscles located in the front of your thigh.
Injuries that will benefit from wall slides include:

• Quadricep strains
• Immobilization after a fracture
• inability to bear weight on a leg for an extended period of time

Wall slides can also be beneficial in rehabilitation periods after surgeries such as:

• Total Knee Replacement
• Knee Arthroscopy Surgery

Review this effective exercise today!

If you suffer from back pain, you are far from being alone. It is said that four out of five adults experience the symptoms of low back pain at least once in their lifetime.

Back discomfort can be caused by muscular and ligamentous injury as well as a wide variety of medical disorders.

So tell us, have you ever experienced back pain?