Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation
Howard Head Sports Medicine helps people of all abilities rebuild their body and spirit. Working with the world's top orthopaedic doctors and researchers, our progressive sports medicine treatments help people get back to the activities they love.
Aquatic physical therapy is physical therapy in an aquatic environment. The natural buoyancy of water creates a partial to non-weight bearing therapeutic environment that decreases stress on joint structures. The use of aquatic therapy allows patients to perform activities that they would otherwise not be able to outside of this environment. Aquatic physical therapy can improve function, pain, endurance, flexibility, relaxation, and strength. The ultimate goal of aquatic therapy is to maximize the patients function and to progress to a land based program.
The Brain and Balance Care team’s mission is to bring quality care to the people that suffer from concussion, dizziness and fall related impairments in order to return individuals to their active lifestyle in the safest and most effective way possible.
Concussion
Our physical therapists through the Brain & Balance Care program specialize in concussion management and will examine neurologic, orthopedic and cardiovascular systems in order to create a plan of care that is individual to every patient. We administer ImPACT testing, help patients make activity modifications in order to return to school or work and assist in the return to sport process. Symptoms are often vague but include visual motion sensitivity, dizziness, headaches, neck pain, sleep impairments, and difficulties with memory.
Vestibular
Our vestibular therapists specialize in treatment of balance impairments and dizziness. Three systems contribute to balance are examined; vestibular system (equilibrium), visual/ oculomotor and Spatial orientation inputs. An exercise program is customized to address the patient’s specific needs. Conditions treated include but are not limited to Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), vestibular hypofunction, migraine associated vertigo, cervicogenic dizziness, and oculomotor dysfunction.
Fall Prevention
Falls are the leading cause of injury in adults over the age of 65 and a major contributor to hospitalization. The purpose of this program is to identify individuals who are over 60 years of age and are at risk of falling to offer them a multi-disciplinary approach to preventing falls.
Physical therapists work one-on one with the patient in order to improve strength, balance and confidence. Our vestibular specialists can treat the underlying dizziness that may be leading to poor balance. Additionally, patient and caregiver education is provided regarding making simple changes in the home to decrease tripping hazards.
Concussion
Our physical therapists through the Brain & Balance Care program specialize in concussion management and will examine neurologic, orthopedic and cardiovascular systems in order to create a plan of care that is individual to every patient. We administer ImPACT testing, help patients make activity modifications in order to return to school or work and assist in the return to sport process. Symptoms are often vague but include visual motion sensitivity, dizziness, headaches, neck pain, sleep impairments, and difficulties with memory.
Vestibular
Our vestibular therapists specialize in treatment of balance impairments and dizziness. Three systems contribute to balance are examined; vestibular system (equilibrium), visual/ oculomotor and Spatial orientation inputs. An exercise program is customized to address the patient’s specific needs. Conditions treated include but are not limited to Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), vestibular hypofunction, migraine associated vertigo, cervicogenic dizziness, and oculomotor dysfunction.
Fall Prevention
Falls are the leading cause of injury in adults over the age of 65 and a major contributor to hospitalization. The purpose of this program is to identify individuals who are over 60 years of age and are at risk of falling to offer them a multi-disciplinary approach to preventing falls.
Physical therapists work one-on one with the patient in order to improve strength, balance and confidence. Our vestibular specialists can treat the underlying dizziness that may be leading to poor balance. Additionally, patient and caregiver education is provided regarding making simple changes in the home to decrease tripping hazards.
Our Certified Hand Therapists (CHTs) specialize in treatment of the hand, wrist, and elbow. A Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) is an occupational therapist or physical therapist who has a minimum of three years of clinical experience, including 4,000 hours or more in direct practice in hand therapy and successfully passed a comprehensive test of advanced clinical skills and theory. Conditions treated include fractures, tendon injuries, peripheral nerve injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, crush injuries and repetitive motion disorder. We also specialize in custom splint fabrication to protect your injury and/or surgical repair.
Our physical therapist specializing in concussion management will examine neurologic, orthopedic and cardiovascular systems in order to create a plan of care that is individual to every patient. We administer ImPACT testing, help patients make activity modifications in order to return to school or work and assist in the return to sport process. Symptoms are often vague but include visual motion sensitivity, dizziness, headaches, neck pain, sleep impairments, difficulties with memory.
Dry Needling is a manual therapy technique within the scope of physical therapy practice. Dry needling involves utilizing small needles accurately placed into muscles to deactivate trigger points, increase flexibility, reduce muscle spasms, and improve muscular related pain symptoms. These treatments can be an important and effective aspect of physical therapy treatments, symptom reduction, and athletic conditioning maintenance.
Our certified lymphedema therapists specialize in performing manual lymphatic drainage and compression bandaging as needed to improve lymphatic flow and decrease edema. This very gentle massage technique can be used to treat lymphedema related to cancer surgeries and treatments, along with decreasing post-operative edema. We can also assist you with information on compression garments for long term treatment of your lymphedema.
The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in activities of everyday life. Whether in a patient’s hospital room or in a Howard Head Sports Medicine clinic, our occupational therapists work to achieve this goal. Outpatient occupational therapists specialize in the rehabilitation of the hand, wrist and elbow. Inpatient occupational therapists often work with patients who have strict precautions following surgery and need to adapt to complete daily activities. Therpists assist patients to increase their independence, often using adaptive equipment to complete tasks such as dressing and bathing. By reducing pain, assisting functional movement through adaptive devices, or ergonomically modifying a patient’s environment, occupational therapists enhance their patients' ability to regain the life they knew before injury.
Our physical therapists are part of your cancer treatment team. We treat musculoskeletal issues after mastectomy, abdominal or pelvic surgery. Physical Therapy can help you overcome pain, tightness or decreased function associated with your treatment. Physical therapy can also help resolve incontinence after prostatectomy.
Orthopedic Rehabilitation emphasizes an evidence-based practice to treat the musculoskeletal system after surgery or injury, including muscles, tendons, bones, and ligaments. Our therapists specialize in examining movement patterns, posture, and gait mechanics to evaluate and treat patients both preventively and post-injury. The goal of our orthopedic rehabilitation team is to treat anything from sprains, strains, ligamentous injury, or even a total joint arthroplasty, to get the patient back to what they love to do!
Pediatric therapists work with children and their families, caregivers, and teachers to pro¬mote active participation in activities or occupations that are meaningful to them. Physical and occupational pediatric therapists focus on teaching children the necessary skills to function more independently at home, school and in the community. Pediatric therapists work with children in the following areas.
- Fine motor skills – coordination of small motor movements mainly in the hands and fingers; grasping skills
- Visual motor skills – small motor movements in coordination with the eyes; may include tasks such as cutting, drawing, and writing
- Sensory processing and sensorimotor skills
- Self-help skills such as, dressing, grooming, bathing tasks
- Feeding – sensory and motor approach
- Visual perception – how visual information is perceived; visual memory, visual figure ground, visual spatial awareness, visual discrimination, visual
- Handwriting
- Strength and endurance – core and upper body strength and endurance as it relates to the ability to perform daily tasks
- Coordination – ability to use both sides of the body to perform coordinated movement patterns
- Eye-hand coordination – ability to coordinate eye movement with hand movement; ball skills
- Social skills
- Play skills
Utilizes a variety of procedures to restore function to the body, reduce pain and help prevent future injury.
Pilates improves body awareness, mobility, joint stability and postural control. Five basic biomechanical principles are used to help you discover where the center is for your pelvis, spine, rib cage, neck and shoulder girdle and how to breathe and move without tension. It is a beneficial adjunct to standard therapy and an effective bridge between therapeutic exercise and fitness conditioning.
SafeFit® is a musculoskeletal wellness program provided by Howard Head Sports Medicine to local employers, designed to keep their employees active, healthy, and working, through early intervention, injury screens, education, treatment, and exercise prescription. This voluntary program is 100% free to employees, and designed to provide a valuable employee benefit, improve the employee’s physical health, mitigate workers compensation risk, and reduce healthcare costs. SafeFit® care is provided in Vail, Edwards, and Eagle by Howard Head Sports Medicine’s own Physical Therapists.
Sports rehabilitation uses a specialized approach that’s focused on restoring maximum athletic performance and decreasing future injury risk through training and education. This structured program includes cardiovascular, strength, power, and agility training, along with sport-specific activities.
Our total joint program at Howard Head focuses on a team approach between the surgeons, nurses, physical and occupational therapists and the medical facility of Vail Health. The first part of the team approach begins with your pre-operative education session where you will be working with a physical therapist to discuss the surgical procedure, surgical precautions, and expectations after surgery to allow you to have the best possible outcome. Following surgery, you will work with our inpatient physical and occupational therapists that will prepare you for your discharge home. Once released by your physician, you will begin working with our outpatient physical therapy team focusing on restoring your range of motion, normalizing your gait, and exercise prescription to assist your return to an active lifestyle.
Evaluates and treats incontinence, pregnancy and post-partum pain, overactive bladder, pelvic pain/weakness, prolapse, interstitial cystitis and tailbone pain.