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The challenges faced by veterans returning from World War II inspired one of the earliest physical therapist inventors, Bessie Blount Griffin, to look for ways to improve their quality of life. “That was her whole purpose — to help somebody,” says her cousin Warren Frost, a retired master chief with the U.S. Navy. “She saw a lot of people handicapped, unable to feed themselves, unable to write because they had disabilities.”

Griffin, born in 1913 in Hickory, Va., invented a device that allowed amputees and paralyzed veterans to feed themselves. While working as a PT at the Bronx Hospital in New York in 1948, Griffin sometimes stayed up all night working at her kitchen table on the device, which delivered one mouthful of food at a time from a cup or bowl when a patient bit down on a tube. “When she found something she felt she needed to be involved with, she really got involved, from top to bottom,” Frost says.

Despite being told the invention was impractical, Griffin pressed forward and received a patent in 1951. Her efforts to market the device in the U.S. were unsuccessful, and the French government acquired the rights to the feeder from Griffin the following year. In a statement at the time, Griffin said she was glad to show that “a black woman can invent something for the benefit of humankind.”

Griffin, who had shown an interest in helping the elderly and disabled since she was a child, went on to invent more assistive devices to help disabled veterans up through the Korean War, although she never again sought patents. Griffin’s prior experience as a modern interpretive dancer helped her develop new methods of rehabilitation, according to relatives. She taught amputees to write using their toes.

Griffin received her physical therapy training at Union Junior College and Panzer College of Physical Education, both in New Jersey. She went on to a career in law enforcement forensics after her time as a PT. She died last year at age 95, but her innovative spirit lives on in the physical therapy field.

What would Griffin want her legacy to be? “To say that she did something in this world, that she contributed to the world. Not to say she was here for the sake of being here but that she contributed something with her life,” Frost says.

Practical Innovators

PTs such as Griffin look at a patient with a challenge, and their minds start conjuring possible solutions.

A new clinical waist pull perturbation balance test protocol designed by a PT was recently featured in the Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy. The validity of the Spring Scale Test, invented by Louis DePasquale PT, MA, was tested relative to four other balance-related measures and found to be a quantitative, reliable and valid clinical measure of standing balance.

Through the study of spinal central pattern generators, Edelle Field-Fote, PT, PhD, of the University of Miami, has developed protocols to help patients with certain spinal cord injuries overcome paralysis and relearn functional tasks such as walking and raising a drinking glass. Field-Fote says her research shows that repetitive task-specific training and electrical stimulation can essentially change the way the brain and spinal cord behave.

The U.S. Department of Defense has reportedly funded research toward a video game, designed by a PT, for troops with mild traumatic brain injury who wish to return to work. PTs partner with computer programmers, neuropsychologists and other experts to design these games to aid in physical rehabilitation. A social networking website for the game industry, academic and clinical communities to meet and discuss these types of projects can found at games4rehab.org.

Research Innovators
The research field has become an important setting for PTs looking to contribute to advances in treatment.

A New York PT is leading the charge toward using robotic devices to help stroke survivors who lose some of their ability to move their extremities. Lauri Bishop, PT, a researcher at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, is conducting ongoing clinical research trials with new devices, such as the Amadeo, which focuses specifically on the hand, engaging a patient to move his or her fingers along small tracks, and the Tibion Bionic Leg, which provides assistance and resistance a patient needs to enable a stroke-weakened leg to work in concert with an unaffected leg during therapy. These devices help restore neural pathways for crucial movements.

Surface electromyography biofeedback training, in conjunction with rehabilitation efforts, can assist the recovery process after knee surgery by helping patients reduce or overcome muscle inhibition, according to a new paper co-authored by Yoheli Perez, PT, MS, Pride Research Foundation, Dallas. Fear of pain and re-injury can inhibit recovery, but SEMG may show that the knee is capable of stronger contraction or may not have reached the full range of stretching motion it can achieve. SEMG is a tool that can educate and encourage the patient via visual and audio feedback, and empathy from the PT, according to Perez’s research.

For patients with painful swelling of the legs caused by chronic venous insufficiency, a combination treatment approach called “complete decongestive physiotherapy” can greatly reduce leg swelling and pain, and improve walking ability and quality of life, according to research by Yesim Bakar, PT, PhD, of Abant Izzet Baysal University in Bolu, Turkey. CDP involves manual massage to promote drainage of the lymph nodes, moisturizers and other treatments for skin changes caused by poor circulation, compression bandages to prevent fluid from reaccumulating, and simple leg exercises to improve blood flow and leg motion.

For her research on Parkinson’s disease, Laurie King, PT, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, Oregon Health Sciences University, was awarded the $300,000 Clagett Family Research Grant to investigate exercise interventions for older adults living with multiple chronic conditions. The goal of King’s project is to ascertain which type of exercise intervention — individual therapy in a clinical setting, a home exercise program or a group class — most benefits patients with Parkinson’s disease and how co-morbidities play into outcomes.

Organizational Innovators
Other innovations in physical therapy come not from individual PTs, but through an organizationwide effort.

In June, the American Physical Therapy Association accredited Fox Rehabilitation, based in Cherry Hill, N.J., to offer a post-graduate residency training program exclusively in geriatrics. Residents provide patient care, receive one-on-one clinical mentoring, and spend time on a variety of active learning experiences with faculty from Thomas Jefferson University and Temple University, both in Philadelphia. Fields such as orthotics, prosthetics, wound care, and advanced seating and positioning, are covered under the residency. Fox Rehabilitation CEO Tim Fox, PT, has been focused on geriatric physical therapy since he started his practice in 1998.

Carondelet St. Joseph’s Hospital’s ED in Tucson, Ariz., employs PTs, who are on-site seven days a week, contributing to the diagnosis, treatment and education of patients with relatively minor musculoskeletal problems. They also help coordinate outpatient physical therapy. Anecdotal reports and internal surveys of St. Joseph’s staff show the effort has helped patients with musculoskeletal problems recover more quickly, reduced the use of pain medications, decreased repeat visits to the ED, and improved access to outpatient physical therapy.

Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital in Chicago installed a rooftop garden, designed with input from its therapists, to give patients an inviting place to do therapeutic activities. A waterfall, vegetable garden, playground and colorful plants offer an alternative to the rehabilitation gym where patients can practice ambulation or wheelchair skills on different surfaces while safely accompanied by a PT. •

Compiled by Today in PT editors.