Death of a TITAN: Milk Massage 6/17/22 RIP
This article is a follow up the the Quad Sets 2022 article and challenges one of the tenants of how Athletic Trainers are taught to treat ankle sprains. After 20 pages, you will see that treating an ankle sprain is just the tip of the iceberg…
In Healthcare, treating swelling following an injury or surgery is an everyday occurrence. But, how we do that is often times incorrectly influenced by poor marketing of products and a fundamental lack of understanding the basics: BASIC anatomy and BASIC physiology. Sadly, the research and clinical evidence grossly supports this article, but to accept it means we have to let go of some archaic ways of doing things and think critically.
- Address the structures and systems that rid the body of swelling.
- Provide opportunities to expand manual skills to resolve swelling by stimulating the systems in #1 .
- Explain why milk massages (and the concept behind them) actually IMPEDE the resolution of swelling..
Knowledge Gap:
Treating swelling is a common occurrence in the world of orthopedic rehab. However, many clinicians struggle with both understanding and explaining where the swelling actually goes.
While many techniques exist, the are often reserved for patients suffering from severe lymphedema or oncology treatments. In either case, there is much that can be learned and applied to swelling that is present in orthopedic cases. At present, there are no established lymph protocols in the orthopedic/sports medicine world even though prolonged effusion is a common occurrence that slows healing, prolongs the need for care, increases the load/burden in the healthcare system, and extends the suffering of our patients. And sadly, prolonged swelling is an indicator of either a low quality of care and/or a lack of patient education on swelling (which is the clinicians responsibility)…. Either way, we have an opportunity to get better and move the industry forward. Or, we can dig our heels in and stay where we are.
CEU’:
Complete this course and receive 1.75 CEU’s .
You have to complete every lesson, including the thank you. Your certificate will be added to and show up on your Dashboard under ‘My Certificates’.