PTs human body 'maintainers'

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Grace Lee
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Similar to how a jet needs to be maintained, the human body needs help to recover after sustaining an injury or going through surgery.

The 56th Medical Operations Squadron physical therapy Airmen work with patients every day to help them achieve full mobility of the injured part of their body, improving their quality of life and returning them to service.

"Our job is to accelerate the recovery process after a patient has surgery or suffered an injury," said Staff Sgt. Kellie Kasischke, 56th MDOS physical therapy NCO in charge. "Patients commonly come in for back pain, knee pain or shoulder pain, to name a few reasons."

Physical therapy technicians help active-duty personnel, dependents and retirees using many techniques.

"When a patient comes in for their session, we start them off with a warm-up exercise before treating the injury," Kasischke said. "To treat the injury, we can use electrical stimulation, ice, heat, ultrasound waves and more to help ease the pain."

Strength training is also used to help fortify the muscle before and after surgery.

"It's important to strengthen the patient's muscles by lifting or pulling weights after surgery because it will speed up the healing process," said Staff Sgt. Alan McMurray, 56th MDOS physical therapy technician. "It's equally essential to strengthen a patient's muscles before surgery because the muscles will atrophy without use."

Additionally, patients can also be stretched out by technicians after surgery to help the patient gain more mobility of the injured area, Kasischke said. Technicians also do scar massages to break up and desensitize the scar tissue and break up adhesions.

Although some injuries are from working on-the-job tasks, some are from sports or some form of physical activity that can be prevented.

"To reduce the likelihood of injury, warm up before you run or exercise by doing dynamic or active stretches, which is when you perform active movements of each muscle group instead of holding the stretch," McMurray said. "After a workout, do static stretches where a stretch is held for 30 seconds to a minute."

While they aren't on the flightline, physical therapy technicians are essential to the Luke and Air Force mission.

"In the physical therapy clinic we are maintainers of the human weapon system. We help keep Airmen in the fight by ensuring they receive the therapy they need to get back out there and be mission ready," Kasischke said.