Physical Therapy
The focus of the Physical Therapy Department is to promote functional mobility and safety across all settings. Addressed may be activities to increase strength, function, balance, safety, mobility, endurance, energy conservation, body mechanics, fitness, community access and travel training.
As taken from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), “Physical therapists are health care professionals who help individuals maintain, restore, and improve movement, activity, and functioning, thereby enabling optimal performance and enhancing health, well-being, and quality of life. Their services prevent, minimize, or eliminate impairments of body functions and structures, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. Physical therapy is provided for individuals of all ages who have or may develop impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions related to (1) conditions of the musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and/or integumentary systems or (2) the negative effects attributable to unique personal and environmental factors as they relate to human performance.
Physical therapists play vital roles in today’s health care environment and are recognized as essential providers of rehabilitation and habilitation, performance enhancement, and prevention and risk-reduction services. Physical therapists also play important roles both in developing standards for physical therapist practice and in developing health care policy to ensure availability, accessibility, and optimal provision.”
The physical therapy profession recognizes the use of evidence-based practice (EBP) as central to providing high-quality care and decreasing unwarranted variation.
Partnerships
Cardinal Cushing Centers has partnered with Hanger Orthotic Clinic to provide an orthotic clinic at our Hanover campus. Our goal is to provide assistance for our students who may benefit from extra support at their feet. Students at Cardinal Cushing are very active during their school and vocational activities. At times, students may need this extra support due to their foot structure, alignment, muscle tone, or gait pattern.
By providing an orthotic clinic on campus, our hope is to assist students and families who live far from campus or whose students may have difficulty attending medical appointments for a variety of reasons. Optimal foot alignment is the foundation for movement. Having a stable base helps to prevent injury, provide comfort, and maintain an active lifestyle. Orthotics can alleviate areas of pain and accommodate or correct deformities to improve overall alignment of the foot and ankle. The ultimate goal is to stop discomfort, pain or injury before it occurs.
Hanger Clinic is the largest prosthetic and orthotic provider in the world and luckily has two local clinicians, Brian Heckathorn CPO and Anne Rowell MS, OTR/L, CPO who will be providing assessments with physical therapy clinicians here at our Hanover school.
If you would like more information or to have your son or daughter scheduled for the clinic, please contact the physical therapy department at 781-826-6371 x 1280.
