Physiatry is unique among medical fields in that its area of expertise addresses the function of the whole patient, as compared with a focus on an organ system or systems. Suffering an acute injury or living with chronic illness can affect the way people move and communicate, perceive themselves and their role in the home and workplace.
Physiatry is about patient-centered care and maximizing independence and mobility with the goal of returning patients to their roles in society.
What Do We Treat?
Physiatrists treat painful injuries and dysfunction with various regenerative medical techniques.
Ultrasound Guided Injections
Ultrasound is increasingly being used to assist Sports Medicine Physicians, Rheumatologists, Orthopedists, and Primary Care Physicians in performing evaluations and injections of different muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints.
Injections can be beneficial for both the diagnostic and therapeutic treatment of a variety of problems involving every joint of the body, including the hip, spine, shoulder, and knee. The use of ultrasound improves the accuracy of the injection of corticosteroids, hyaluronic acid or other therapies such as Platelet Rich Plasma, Prolotherapy or Stem Cells. Ultrasound can also be used for joint aspirations to rule out joint infection or gout. Lastly, guided injections can be used diagnostically to help determine which structures are generating the patient’s pain.
Ultrasound-guided injections allow the practitioner to visualize the needle in real time as it enters the body and traverses to the desired location. This assures that the medication is accurately injected at the intended site. Despite good intentions, even in the most experienced hands, blind (injections performed without imaging) injections are not 100% accurate and in some joints accuracy is as low as 30%-40%. With ultrasound guidance the accuracy of nearly every joint injection exceeds 90% and approaches 100% in many. Additionally, ultrasound guided injections have been shown to be less painful than blind injections. Ultrasound injections also have the advantage of giving “real time” and “dynamic” feedback that the patient and the doctor can see and use immediately. The doctor is able to watch the desired treatment being delivered to the intended target and even visualize surrounding structures both before during and even after the procedure.
