PFMH.OB Brings Relief to Doctors and Patients
More than 20 million people a year take a trip to visit their physician because of knee problems. The knee is the largest joint in the body and one of the most easily injured, according the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Ligaments and muscles around the joint are vulnerable to a variety of sprains, tears and ruptures. All across the United States doctors, physical therapists, and medical clinicians are always on the lookout for the newest and most innovative rehabilitation tools and programs to help patients improve specific body parts such as the knee.
Performance Health Technologies, Inc. (PFMH.OB) develops and markets performance evaluation and rehabilitation products that monitor and guide exercise and give real-time motivational feedback. One of the company’s products is the Core:TX®, a patent-pending wireless system built on their advanced MotionTrack™ platform. Core:Tx uses a gyroscope to sense the user’s limb motion relative to the user’s joint and continuously transmits that information wirelessly to the PC software. The software provides motivating and informational feedback to the user via an entertaining, game-like interface.
Physical Therapist Pete Sanzio of Performance Health Technologies uses Core:Tx at his facility. What he has found, applying the wireless system to his patients, gives him a new idea about what exactly is causing pain in many of his patient’s knees, “What we find is the problem is really coming from a bad hip or ankle. The knee hurts because it has to compensate,” he explains. “You can have great mobility but lack strength and get hurt, or you can have super strength and lack flexibility and get hurt.”
At the end of a session, patients are provided with a score which indicates numerous variables concerning their knee. The system is particularly aimed at aiding neuromuscular reeducation while strengthening muscles through an adjustable range of motion. Core:Tx is a versatile tool that is compatible with, and enhances, existing rehabilitative, preventative, and strengthening protocols and equipment that together enable neuromuscular re-education.
