It'sKnee Injury Month, Members!

Here is February’s Promote your Own Practice (POP) Printouts Package forKnee Injury(this is the companion to the POP Guide you also received). We launched the POP monthly promotional program to give you the tools to promote your own practice and share how you keep British Columbians moving for life with your patients, your community and referring physicians/healthcare colleagues.

This package contains the February 2013 items for Knee Injury, which you can customize and print out:

1.Physio-4 Tips Sheet

2.Media Release

3.Monthly Tips Poster

1.Physio-4 Tips Sheet – How to Use the Tips

  • Customizethe tips sheetwith your practice contact details & logo.
  • Send the tips sheet to your network of patients and physicians, and other healthcare colleagues.
  • Include the tips in your clinic or facility newsletters, blogs, and discuss them in your staff meetings and anywhere you want to raise awareness of the value of your role as a physiotherapist.
  • Provide tips to clients to use in their own corporate or business newsletters/correspondence.
  1. Media Release – How to Personalizeit
  2. Personalize it: We created this customizable release to help you differentiate your practice from other providers and from other physio clinics. Add your information in the spaces provided in the media release template in this package: add your logo and a story about your patient or practice success in this month’s theme. Remember about patient confidentiality; ensure you have their permission if you are citing specifics or names.
  3. Send your personalized media release to your local regional media.
  4. Encourage local media to run a monthly column on Physio-4 tips (there is a new monthly guide and printouts package available at the beginning of each month).
  5. Tweet and Facebook the release to your followers – suggested post: “Check out this month’s Physio-4 media release for Knee Injuryat ”
  1. Monthly Tips Poster - Where to Display it
  2. Display the colorful poster throughout your workplace: waiting room, restrooms, treatment room, gym...
  3. The poster features an image of the activity of the month as well as the Physio-4 tips.

4 Tips to Minimize Long-Term Knee Damage and Heal Faster

February: The knee joint is made up of bone, cartilage, ligaments and fluid. Muscles and tendons help the knee joint move. When any of these structures are injured, there will be knee problems, specifically pain and difficulty moving.Common knee conditions include patella femoral pain syndrome, IT band friction syndrome, and ligament sprains. Tears to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are caused by a sudden twisting motion in the knee.

If you have pain in your knee either from overuse or through a sudden injury, your physiotherapist can work with you to minimize long-term damage and help you to heal faster. Correcting muscular imbalances and following the Physio-4 for Knee Injury can prevent further knee problems and keep you moving for life.

In Photo: Chris Napier, Restore Physiotherapy; Tanja Yardley, CBI Health Group

  1. Correct muscular imbalances. Most overuse injuries of the knee develop gradually due to muscular imbalances and poor movement patterns. Your physiotherapist can show you corrective exercises to address the muscle imbalances and improve the way you move.
  1. Strengthen your hips. Strengthening your hips and improving core muscle strength will reduce the risk of adversely loading your knee joints. Stretching the muscles that attach into your hips/knees/ankles will also minimize compression of these joints. Your physiotherapist can show you how.
  1. Protect your joints. If you have any degenerative changes in your knees (e.g. osteoarthritis) your physiotherapist can show you how to protect your joints during activities of daily living, prescribe exercises to improve the strength of supporting muscles, advise you on safe forms of exercise, and assess your footwear.
  1. Correct movement patterns. Poor movement patterns during sports (e.g. incorrect landings during jumping) greatly increase the risk of traumatic knee injuries. Your physiotherapist can teach you how to move properly and minimize this risk.

Physiotherapists are the rehabilitation specialists recommended most by physicians. They are university-educated health professionals who work with patients of all ages to diagnose and treat virtually any mobility issue. Physiotherapists provide care for orthopedic issues such as sport and workplace injuries, as well as cardiorespiratory and neurological conditions. As Canada's most physically active health professionals, BC's physiotherapists know how to keep British Columbians moving for life.

[Insert name of your practice, clinic or facility with contact details, logo – here]

Don’t suffer with sore knees, get some relief by visiting your physiotherapist.

BC physiotherapists share 4 tips to treat knee injuries and keep British Columbians moving for life.

Vancouver, BC February 4, 2013 | Sore knees are a common complaint for British Columbians of all ages. Sore knees are often caused by a sudden injury, like a twisting motion that can tear the anterior cruciate liagment (ACL), but can also occur through routine overuse. BC’s physiotherapists want to share their Physio-4 for knee injury, 4 tips on how to treat knees, to keep British Columbians moving for life.

“The knee joint is made up of bone, cartilage, ligaments and fluid. Muscles and tendons help the knee joint move, so when any of these structures are injured, there will be knee problems and that will result in pain and difficulty moving,” says [insert clinic owner name here]. “If you have pain in your knee either from overuse or through a sudden injury, your physiotherapist can work with you to minimize long-term damage and help you to heal faster.”

  1. Correct muscular imbalances. Most overuse injuries of the knee develop gradually due to muscular imbalances and poor movement patterns. Your physiotherapist can show you corrective exercises to address the muscle imbalances and improve the way you move.
  1. Strengthen your hips. Strengthening your hips and improving core muscle strength will reduce the risk of adversely loading your knee joints. Stretching the muscles that attach into your hips/knees/ankles will also minimize compression of these joints. Your physiotherapist can show you how.
  1. Protect your joints. If you have any degenerative changes in your knees (e.g. osteoarthritis) your physiotherapist can show you how to protect your joints during activities of daily living, prescribe exercises to improve the strength of supporting muscles, advise you on safe forms of exercise, and assess your footwear.
  1. Correct movement patterns. Poor movement patterns during sports (e.g. incorrect landings during jumping) greatly increase the risk of traumatic knee injuries. Your physiotherapist can teach you how to move properly and minimize this risk.

We recently treated a patient who had an injured knee...[Customize with a story of how you helped a patient.]

The Physiotherapy Association of BC created the Physio-4 to share the expertise of its members with fellow British Columbians. Each month, on movingforlife.ca 4 tips are provided to treat specific health or physical conditions that will help keep British Columbians moving for life. BC’s physiotherapists want British Columbians to know that if they are injured or in pain, a physiotherapist can help. After all, they are the healthcare professionals physicians recommend most.

To learn more about how physiotherapists keep British Columbians moving for life, visit movingforlife.ca.

Physiotherapists are the rehabilitation specialists recommended most by physicians. They are university-educated health professionals who work with patients of all ages to diagnose and treat virtually any mobility issue. Physiotherapists provide care for orthopedic issues such as sport and workplace injuries, as well as cardiorespiratory and neurological conditions. As Canada's most physically active health professionals, BC's physiotherapists know how to keep British Columbians moving for life.

For more information please contact:

[Add clinic contact information here]

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