In this case study, we will discuss the medical treatment program for a patient named Joan, who was diagnosed with a meniscus tear. The program was designed to alleviate her symptoms and improve her ability to function in her daily activities, with the ultimate goal of allowing her to return to her passion for playing tennis. By using our electromyography and kinematics testing protocols, we were able to identify the specific issue and the treatment team was able to help Joan make a successful recovery. The results of the program will be discussed in detail, as well as the strategies used to achieve them.
1. Why did they come into the ACTIVE program? What challenges were they looking to solve?
Joan was suffering from a medial meniscus tear and had undergone post-surgical rehabilitation. After the surgery and during the process of physical therapy, she had hoped the pain in her knees and legs would improve. However, her pain worsened and consequently had significantly adversely impacted her walking gait, physical independence, and her overall quality of life. She had spoken to her surgical and physical therapy teams to try to determine what was causing the notable deterioration in her condition. A year post surgery, multiple diagnostic tests, and having followed the advice of her rehabilitation team very closely, she was still deteriorating and the specialists around her were unable to give her any idea of what was causing her pain and altered walking gait. She grew frustrated with not knowing what was happening to her body. Joan came to the ACTIVE program to get in-depth musculoskeletal testing and hopefully, some answers about what is happening and a treatment plan that addresses the cause of her pain and gait disturbances.
2. What did she try in the past and why didn't that work for her?
For over a year prior to coming to the ACTIVE program, Joan had tried a wide range of treatment interventions, including physiotherapy, chiropractic, and massage therapy. Her physical rehabilitation process was stagnant and regressed largely due to 2 factors; inability to identify the cause of her condition and lack of coordination between the various members of her healthcare team. Because there wasn’t any insight on what was causing her issues, there wasn’t any plan of how to address them. Subsequently, this lack of ability to identify the cause of her condition forced each member of her care team to improvise a treatment plan without a proper sense of direction because they didn’t have a starting point for her. The lack of clarity around what was happening to cause her symptom presentation led to the disjointed treatment process she experienced which in turn led to her condition further deteriorating.
3. The treatment process with ACTIVE
The obvious and logical starting point for Joan was to identify what was causing her symptoms, so the ACTIVE program’s comprehensive musculoskeletal assessment was performed to identify the nature of her issue. The patient saw one of our clinicians for her assessment. The ACTIVE program’s comprehensive assessment includes surface electromyography (EMG) and kinematics testing protocols. Once her assessment was completed, her data was uploaded and the ACTIVE algorithm identified any sources of noise and interference. Based on the type of noise and interference, the ACTIVE algorithm designs filters to clean up the data. Once the data is filtered, the ACTIVE algorithm processes the data into a usable form for analysis. The ACTIVE algorithm then identifies, analyzes, and classifies any notable features in the data and compiles it into an exportable output, which is then manually reviewed by ACTIVE analysts and clinicians and adjusted (if needed) so the algorithm can learn and improve. Once the findings have been reviewed, the findings are summated and compiled into the ACTIVE report, which is a clear and concise report of findings. In this specific case, the cause of Joan’s musculoskeletal dysfunction, why it was negatively impacting her walking gait and causing her pain was identified by the EMG and kinematics data. From there, a coordinated and well-defined treatment plan was created for her that addressed the underlying cause of her symptoms with a clear and measurable outcome. Her findings from the assessment, as well as, her treatment plan was then reviewed with her and implemented.
4. What were the results of the program?
With the answers she so desperately wanted and a clear and coordinated treatment plan in hand, Joan was able to correct her walking gait and address her pain.
5. Any quotes that you have from them about their success.
“I am so grateful to the ACTIVE team and the program for allowing me to go back to playing tennis and giving me my life back, thank you”
- Joan
An overview of our data processing and analysis: