Faculty Advisor(s)

Michael Fillyaw

Document Type

Course Paper

Publication Date

12-3-2014

Rights

© 2014 Benjamin Blanchette

Abstract

Background and Purposes: A sarcoma is a cancer found in certain tissues such as muscle, fat, cartilage or bone. Some sarcomas require amputation in order to avoid further growth or metastasis. There is limited research on dementia involving motor planning impairments. Physical therapy exercises and activities are more difficult for a patient with poor motor planning compared with a healthy individual. The purpose of this case report is to describe the inpatient physical therapy management of a patient with motor planning deficits and a right above knee amputation. Case Description: The patient was a pleasant 82 year old female status post right above knee amputation. Her general health status was good and she had a supportive family. She also had a diagnosis of dementia which caused short term memory and motor planning impairments. Her chief complaint was decreased functional mobility. She was transferred to a skilled nursing facility from an acute rehabilitation hospital four weeks post amputation. Outcomes: The patient was able to meet most of her physical therapy goals at discharge. She was unable to perform a sit to stand transfer independently with a walker but she was able to improve slide board transfers to a modified independent level to allow discharge to an assisted living facility. Discussion: The patient made good progress from initial to discharge. She was able to improve strength, range of motion and functional mobility and decrease pain sensation. Her comorbidities such as immobility prior to surgery, age, dementia, and above knee amputation affected her from progressing to higher levels of functional mobility. Further research is recommended to explore optimal physical therapy intervention strategies for patients with motor planning deficits.

Comments

The case report poster for this paper can be found here:

http://dune.une.edu/pt_studcrposter/23.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.