• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

PTs use a variety of techniques to help WTC burn victims

Rehab Regs, October 25, 2001

It is safe to say that many of the people who survived the World Trade Center and Pentagon tragedies of September 11 may never be the same, physically or emotionally. But more than a few PTs are doing their part to get those peoples' lives back on track--physically at least--by helping out those with burn injuries. According to the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), physical therapy began immediately for patients treated for third-degree burns at New York Presbyterian hospital. "For those people who were able, we encouraged them to sit, stand up, or even walk," said Hope Laznick, PT, assistant chief of physical therapy at the hospital. "They were encouraged to perform active exercises to help prevent muscle atrophy and to control the formation of scar tissue." At the Washington DC Hospital Burn Center, Ron Lassiter, PT, director of burn rehabilitation, is helping people who were at the Pentagon on that fateful day. He and his colleagues are using massage and pressure garments to heal the hypersensitivity of the scar. Taking the severity of the burns into consideration, the therapists are using special skin-conditioning techniques when they begin therapy work.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive