This week, APTA launched a public awareness campaign to educate consumers about how to prevent and treat low back pain with the help of a physical therapist. The goal of the campaign is to drive people to www.moveforwardpt.com to learn more about low back pain, the ways in which a physical therapist can help, and to find a PT. The initial phase of the campaign will target top-tier national print, broadcast and online media.

The effort is supported by the results of APTA's “Move Forward” Low Back Pain Survey of more than 2,600 people aged 18 and older who disclosed their experiences and habits regarding low back pain. View APTA's press release for some of the key findings. Working with member volunteers, APTA also developed Low Back Pain: Prevention and Management, an e-book that broadly examines the types, causes, and symptoms of low back pain and when to seek medical advice.

Social media also will play a large role throughout the promotion of the campaign. An infographic titled Low Back Pain by the Numbers, which graphically illustrates the results of the survey, is being shared across Move Forward's Twitter and Facebook pages, in addition to Move Forward's new Pinterest page. APTA will encourage fans, followers, and friends to "Pin-Away Low Back Pain," for a chance to win prizes.

Move Forward will host its first BlogTalkRadio show on April 23, 7 pm ET, to discuss the results of the survey. Guests will include APTA spokesperson Mary Ann Wilmarth, PT, DPT, who will discuss strategies for relieving low back pain. Mike Ryan, PT, ATC, PES, athletic trainer for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and CoLette Morgan, MD, with Emory University and AARP's Georgia chapter, will join the show to discuss back pain as it relates to athletes and aging, respectively. The show will also cover prevention strategies and proper techniques for everyday activities.

Tomorrow is the deadline to submit a Letter of Intent for the Foundation for Physical Therapy's investigative research study on the influence of physical therapy referral characteristics and practices on quality, cost effectiveness, and utilization patterns. The Foundation has received $350,000 in combined funding from multiple sources to be used for this investigation.

Investigators with extensive experience and a strong publication record in health services research are invited to apply for this opportunity by noon April 6, ET. Interested parties should visit the Foundation's website for RFA specifications, eligibility criteria, and application requirements.

People who have a cardiac arrest that can't be helped by a defibrillator shock are more likely to survive if given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) based on updated guidelines that emphasize chest compressions, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

AHA changed its CPR guidelines in 2005 to recommend more chest compressions with fewer interruptions. The emphasis on chest compressions continued in the 2010 guidelines update.

After the 2005 guidelines, several studies showed improved survival from shockable cardiac arrest.

However, new evidence shows that most cardiac arrests—nearly 75%— are due to conditions that don't respond to shocks. Researchers identified 3,960 patients in King County, Washington, who had a type of cardiac arrest that doesn't respond to shock from a defibrillator, or nonshockable cardiac arrest.

They compared survival rates among patients who had nonshockable cardiac arrests from 2000-2004—before the 2005 guidelines changes—to those who had nonshockable arrests from 2005-2010 and found:

• The likelihood of survival to discharge from the hospital improved from 4.6% before to 6.8% after the new guideline changes.
• The proportion of patients who survived with good brain function increased from 3.4% to 5.1% between study periods.
• One-year survival almost doubled from 2.7% to 4.9%.

Free full text of the study is available online in Circulation.  

Search the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) acronym finder and glossary for acronyms and terms that are commonly used by CMS and the health care industry. Browse the agency's Frequently Asked Questions for information on billing, coding, fraud and abuse, enrollment and certification, Medicare demonstrations and reports, and more.

A new addition to APTA's Innovations in Practice video series highlights how a frequency-and-duration program has changed practice for some 80 therapists in the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia rehabilitation division. The program aims to ensure that the therapists' services are being used optimally, not only in mindfulness of insurance resources that may need to be spread among different health care providers but also to give the best possible care to their young patients. The program has focused on establishing guidelines for frequency and duration of visits for different levels of intensity of services; setting realistic goals for each patient based on the guidelines; and moving each patient and his or her parents, as appropriate and with monitoring as needed, toward self-care, independent from hospital visits. Hear Kim Nixon-Cave, PT, PhD, PCS, explain how the program was created and implemented, and check out the handout that illustrates this innovative model of care.   

Slower walking speed may be a marker for incident knee osteoarthritis (OA), say authors of an article published online last month in Arthritis Care & Research.    

For this study, 1,858 noninstitutionalized residents age 45 years or older who lived at least 1 year in 1 of 6 townships in Johnston County, North Carolina, completed questionnaires and clinical examinations at baseline and at follow-up testing. Walking time was assessed using a manual stopwatch in 2 trials over an 8-foot distance. Walking speed was calculated as the average of both trials. For the hip and knee, researchers examined 3 outcomes per joint site—radiographic OA (weight-bearing anteroposterior knee radiographs, supine anteroposterior pelvic radiographs of the hip), chronic joint symptom, and symptomatic OA. Covariates included age, gender, race, education, marital status, body mass index, number of prescriptions, depressive symptoms, self-rated health, number of lower-body functional limitations, smoking, physical activity, and number of self-reported, health care provider-diagnosed chronic conditions.

Faster walking speed was consistently associated with lower incidence of radiographic (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=0.88) and symptomatic knee OA (aOR=0.84). Slower walking speed was associated with greater incidence of these outcomes across a broad range of different clinical and radiographic OA outcomes.  

APTA member Jama L. Purser, PT, PhD, is lead author of the study. APTA member Yvonne M. Golightly PT, PhD, is coauthor.