February 7, 1994 Boston With the opening ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games just around the comer, world famous figure skater Nancy Kerrigan has a lot of work to do to get ready. As if regular Olympic preparation weren’t enough. Kerrigan is also battling the knee injury she sustained during an attack on her at last month’s United States Figure Skating Championships in Detroit. A few years ago, returning to competition so quickly was simply unheard of for elite athletes. The rehabilitation of such serious injuries used to take several months at the least. But now, thanks to advancement
Read more →ALBANY – Bonita Claytor was pushing a cart bearing a 500-pound liquid nitrogen cylinder when the small steel wheels got caught on the leading edge of a carpet. She tried to tilt the cart and landed in the hospital. “I lost the feeling in my foot and my leg,” said Claytor, 42, a lab technician at Chevron Research Co. in Richmond. “I didn’t know that 1 had hurt my back.” The jelly-like substance in the disk between Clayton’s lumbar vertebra and sacrum had herniated, or squirted out, and was pushing on her spinal nerves, causing muscle weakness. and severe lower
Read more →By Dawn Frasieur El Cerrito physical therapist Alan Ling believes that swimming is an exceptional therapy tool. “Little babies swim before they n can walk,” he said. “It’s such a natural thing. You eliminate gravity and move freely without restricting forces.” Ling is enthusiastic about the use of such a natural approach to therapy. For that reason, he shies away from machines in his practice. “We don’t use many machines,” he said. “I believe people heal better with touch.” Ling described what he does as a kind of “touching for healing.” The combination of comfort and skill is the key,
Read more →By Dawn Frasieur ALBANY – The new stairs at Albany Pool make entering and exiting more convenient for any swimmer who uses the facility. But for someone with a limiting physical handicap, they’re almost a necessity. It was that type of person that Dr. Alan Ling had in mind when he donated the stairs for community use. Among those who can now get in and out more easily are his own “pool therapy” patients. Ling, whose practice is entitled Physical Therapy Innovations, has had tremendous success using water as a physical therapy tool. Charles Novascone is a typical success story,
Read more →By Gerri Kobren The Baltimore Sun Faced with a choice, Pat Butz decided 21 months ago not to take life sitting down. “It was extraordinarily difficult for me to walk,” says the 47year-old Monkton, Md., resident, whose multiple sclerosis had progressed to the point that she was almost ready for a wheel chair. Instead, she opted for therapy and exercise in a heated pool, where she is freed of gravity’s drag by the buoyancy of the water and loosened up by its warmth. These days, thanks to her three-times-a-week water workout, she is able to do strength training at the
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