Episode 1628 - Do you hear what I hear? Post-op scars tell a story #PTonICE Daily Show

Dr. Lindsey Hughey // #ClinicalTuesday // www.ptonice.com 


In today's episode of the PT on ICE Daily Show, Extremity Division Leader Lindsey Hughey discusses the need to assess beyond the physical properties of a scar. Scars can have deep meaning to our patients, and learning the human story behind the scar can help with better understanding a patient. Whether the scar was planned or not, the story behind the scar has value.
Take a listen to the episode or check out the full show notes on our blog at www.ptonice.com/blog.
If you're looking to learn more about our Extremity Management course or our online physical therapy courses, check our entire list of continuing education courses for physical therapy including our physical therapy certifications by checking out our website. Don't forget about all of our FREE eBooks, prebuilt workshops, free CEUs, and other physical therapy continuing education on our Resources tab.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION
INTRODUCTION
Hey everyone, this is Alan. Chief Operating Officer here at ICE. Before we get started with today’s episode, I want to talk to you about VersaLifts. Today’s episode is brought to you by VersaLifts. Best known for their heel lift shoe inserts, VersaLifts has been a leading innovator in bringing simple but highly effective rehab tools to the market. If you have clients with stiff ankles, Achilles tendinopathy, or basic skeletal structure limitations keeping them from squatting with proper form and good depth, a little heel lift can make a huge difference. VersaLifts heel lifts are available in three different sizes and all of them add an additional half inch of h drop to any training shoe, helping athletes squat deeper with better form. Visit www.vlifts.com/icephysio or click the link in today’s show notes to get your VersaLifts today.
LINDSEY HUGHEY
Good morning, PT on Ice Daily Show. How's it going? My name is Dr. Lindsey Hughey. I am extremity faculty, and I'm delighted to be with you here the day after Christmas. For those that are on YouTube Live, unfortunately, that is not working. So I'm just gonna have to send it via Instagram. Today, I'm gonna chat with you all about how scars, and I promised a month ago that I'd be chatting about actual scar management.

THE HUMAN SIDE OF SCAR MANAGEMENT
But what I didn't tell you last time was that we're gonna focus on the more human side of scar management for our post-op folks. So after surgery, no matter what extremity is involved, whether it's shoulder, maybe it's elbow, maybe it's hip, knee, ankle, maybe it's even back surgery, right, there is a scar that comes along with it. And as physical therapists, we tend to focus on the more physical part of managing that scar. And so what I mean by that is we focus mechanically, right? How's it moving? What's its pliability like? What's the elasticity surrounding that tissue, right? Is it moving well with the fascia? Are there any adhesions? Our scar tissue buildup. We are looking at the pain response of the patient, right? To show if there are any signs of infection. Think red, hot, tenderness, or spreading redness, right? We're looking for the management and guiding education accordingly. In addition, we're looking for any excessive swelling, right? Is the scar raised? Is it flat? And then we're really focusing our efforts on educating, mediating, against infection and then how to keep that scar moving. We aren't often focused on what that scar might represent from the patient. And what I mean by that is some intangible and unquantifiable measures like their emotional and their mental and their social response to having that scar. I wanna share two personal anecdotal experiences with scars that I've had myself to try to illuminate that part that's more unquantifiable, right? That emotional, social, mental piece in our scar management. So I have three kiddos, 13, 12, and seven. Some of you that know me already know this. And they were all born via C-section. C-se