Dr. Ivan Edwards, D.O.

The best treatment for heel spur pain depends on the severity of the condition and may include the following options:
- Rest and Activity Modification: avoid activities that put direct pressure on the heel. For instance, swimming and cycling can be better alternatives than jogging.
- Different Footwear: wearing well cushioned shoes with arch support can decrease pain.
- Orthotic Shoe Inserts: inserts can provide additional support and cushioning.
- Physical Therapy: calf and arch stretches can help relieve pain and effect appropriate ligament repair.
- Medications: over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications or pain relievers (like Ibuprofen) can help modulate pain.
- Weight Management: losing weight can reduce the stress of extra weight bearing down on your heel.
If these non-surgical treatments fail, then seeing a physician (like a PM&R specialist) can perform a corticosteroid injection.
For last resort, if all fails - then surgery becomes the last option to consider.

Source: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21965-heel-spurs

Stroke rehabilitation is an important part of recovery after a stroke. It involves a program of different therapies designed to help patients relearn skills lost after a stroke. Here are some of the treatments that can help stroke patients recover:
a) Motor-skill exercises: These exercises can help improve muscle strengthening in areas of mobility, gait, and swallowing - areas in which strokes impair those functions.
b) Mobility training/facilitation: Patients could require aids, such as canes, wheelchairs and braces to effect functional mobility.
c) Constraint-induced therapy: Patients could be compelled to use the paretic side versus the non-paretic side in order to promote recovery.
d) Range-of-motion therapy: Patients would move the affected parts of the body to counter the risks of getting contractures due to immobility.
e) Functional electrical stimulation: Electricity is applied to weakened muscles, causing them to contract, part of "reawakening the affected muscles."
f) Robotic technology: Robotic devices can assist impaired limbs with performing repetitive motions, helping the limbs regain strength and function.
g) Virtual reality: The use of video games and other computer-based therapies to improve coordination, gross and fine motor skills.
h) Therapy for cognitive symptoms: Occupational therapy and speech therapy to help with affected memory, thought-processing, problem-solving, social skills, judgment, and safety awareness - which can be impacted by a stroke.
i) Antidepressant medications: To help with patients' thoughts that "all is over and that there is no hope."
j) Nutritional supplementation: Proper nutrition can support the body’s healing process, tissue renewal, and new cell formation.

It’s important to note that the specific treatments used can depend on the parts of the brain affected by the stroke and the type of abilities affected. Rehabilitation is not pigeon-holed. Therefore, each patient’s rehabilitation plan will be unique to their needs. It’s also been found that people who participate in a focused stroke rehabilitation program perform better than most people who don’t have stroke rehabilitation. Thus, stroke rehabilitation is recommended for all people affected by stroke.

Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/stroke/in-depth/stroke-rehabilitation/art-20045172

Occupational therapy would be better suited for chronic wrist pain.

Yes, it can.

For a hip replacement, most patients can begin walking on the day they have had surgery.

Recovery following hip surgery varies. On average, hip replacement recovery can take around 2-4 weeks. Some experts quote a recovery time of 3-6 weeks. But, more importantly, you should remember that everyone is different, and the recovery time can vary--depending on the individual's health status, comorbidities and previous activity level.

Yes, if you choose the right therapist who has worked with knees. Ask first before you commit working with one.

Depending on the severity of the condition, yes. If the condition becomes recurrent or develops into a chronic pathology - you might then need to have an injection (a corticosteroid injection or PRP) to improve your symptoms.

Physiotherapy is helpful in treating some of the underlying causes of tennis elbow.

A chiropractor and a physical therapist have unique approaches to treating posture issues. Both can get the job done.

But there are some differences you should keep in mind.

Generally, a chiropractor is much more well versed in spinal issues than he/she is in the intricacies of posture, mobility and gait. Similarly, a physical therapist is much more well versed in the issues of posture, mobility and gait than he/she is in the intricacies of the spine.

Short answer: a physical therapist would be better for bad posture if spinal issues are not central to the issue. You can also utilize the services of both if your spine is part of the problem in your bad posture.

Most certainly, yes--and this depends largely on the extent of surgery.

It doesn't make any difference physiologically. It depends on your sense of wellbeing.

Typically, postpartum massage is recommended within the first 12 weeks following delivery.

Having someone, like a trained therapist, do it (after getting your OB-GYN doctor to bless it--is highly recommended. Do not do it alone.

Yes, you can. Physiotherapy is meant to increase quality of life in patients on hospice. One can request it.

Recovery from paralysis, following a stroke, depends on three factors:

Location
a) the location of the impacted part of the brain or spinal cord that the stroke is associated with. If, for example, the stroke arises in the motor area of the brain versus the sensory part--the paralysis will be more pronounced and longer lasting

Rehabilitation
b) Rehabilitation would be critical to restore recovery. If one does not participate in rehabilitation, the paralysis would persist or evolve into spasticity and contracture--and into more serious disability.

Compliance with treatment and therapy
3. Failure to comply with the appropriate treatment and therapy would limit the appropriate recovery from paralysis.

What you have is patellar instability. It happens when the patella "de-tracks" out of the trochlea groove, specifically, a patellar tracking disorder

This condition most commonly affects women.

It occurs from a twisting mechanism with the knee in extension, or with encounter of a direct hit to the knee cap.

Some of the proven ways to prevent the knee for popping out of place is to do the following:
a) taping or bracing - to prevent the de-tracking mechanism
b) orthotic device - to stabilize the tracking mechanism over time
c) quad strengthening - to support the appropriate tracking mechanism

Repeated subluxations (incomplete pop outs) or dislocations (complete pop outs) can further be assessed via imaging, to ensure that no ligaments or tissue destruction have occurred to precipitate the repeated dysfunction.

It all depends on your age, comorbidities, and prior level of health and endurance.

It can take up to 6 months, following the illness, for the patient to regain strength (1). Generally, it is safe to postulate that the length of time it takes to regain one's strength after having COVID-19 depends on the severity of the illness one went through.

Source
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7833295/

Rehabilitation, after stroke, is highly individualized from one patient to another. It is NOT a one fit all treatment modality.

Stroke rehabilitation is best attained in a facility staffed with therapists and a Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation specialist, practicing stroke rehabilitation since not all physiatrists practice stroke rehabilitation.

Stroke rehabilitation covers critical areas of mobility, ADL tasks, speech, cognitive, and medical management of stroke sequelae that encompasses issues like headaches, pain, depression, and bowel/bladder dysfunctions.

Here are some generic guidelines for stroke rehabilitation that would form the basis of a sound rehabilitation course in a patient who has had a stroke:

a) Promote mobility:
• exercises whose goal is to enable a patient develop in and out of bed mobility.
• motor-skill type exercises - for muscle strength and coordination.
• constraint-induced therapy - to use affected paralyzed musculature.
• Range-of-motion therapy - to minimize contracture formation.

b) promote ADL/self-care tasks:
• engage in basic ADL task re-training.

c) Promote speech, cognitive and emotional functioning:
• Therapy sessions for speech, cognitive disorders (memory, processing, problem-solving) - including swallowing and eating.

d) Manage spasticity

e) Manage bowel/bladder dysfunction

f) Manage conditions that increase risks of having further strokes

g) Manage post stroke depression (can occur after one has had a stroke)
• Monitor and treat.

h) Manage post stroke pain
• Monitor and treat central and peripheral pain as well.

Multiple causes can precipitate knee pain: joint/bone issues, soft tissue disorders, bursitis, injuries, ligament tears, etc. Self-diagnosis, via google search, will help you. Seeing a right doctor will. The best thing to do is go see a doctor, preferably a Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation specialist (a doctor who specializes in bones, muscles, nerves, brain, spine issues).

An entrapment type neuropathy. It can be either a distal entrapment mono-neuropathy like carpal tunnel syndrome, or a proximal nerve root entrapment, aka a radiculopathy. Go see a PM&R specialist specialist.

Participating in walking and performing pelvic floor muscle exercises (for strengthening) are recommended after prostate surgery, i.e. Kegel exercises.

A Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) specialist. First call/ask if the specialist does musculoskeletal medicine--since PM&R specialists do a variety of
muscle/joint/nerve/pain work.