Floating Manipulative Therapy offers clinical indications in physical therapy and rehabilitation settings. It can be used to treat back, shoulder, and neck pain before or after surgery, as well as in post-stroke rehab.
While studies of ProtecFMT show promise, research is limited on its use in a rehabilitation setting; however, studies of manual therapy, decompressive therapy, and floating therapy have strong evidence in the rehabilitation literature. Further research is needed to validate ProtecFMT as a rehabilitation tool with opportunities to explore the following areas:
Future directions of a novel rehabilitation device.
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Dr. Varish teaches Chiropractic Technician and Chiropractic Radiological Technician certification courses in physiological therapeutics and in radiology. She is also an instructor for continuing education courses for Doctors of Chiropractic, CT’s and CRT’s with topics ranging from physiological therapeutics, anatomy, radiology, nutrition and clinical issues. Dr. Wendy Varish practices at Howards Grove Chiropractic.
As a stationary device that does not require gait positioning, ProtecFMT may benefit patients who may be too unsteady to undergo therapy with a gait belt.
Using ProtecFMT as a bridge to more intensive therapy while securing patients and minimizing their fall risk could be a promising area of future study.
Potential Outcome: Reduction in falls per unit time
*Works in progress
By using a proprietary pelvic stabilizer and hydraulic chair mechanism, ProtecFMT allows therapists to administer therapeutic exercises while their patients’ weight bearing forces are reduced therefore reducing risk of injury to both therapist and patient.
Research on the use of ProtecFMT in deconditioned patients, especially those with a high BMI, may potentially demonstrate benefit in reducing occupational injuries among physical therapists and injuries sustained by patients during therapy.
Potential Outcome: Reduction in injuries per unit time
*Works in progress
Studies of ProtecFMT have shown benefit to patients with as little as twenty minutes of use per session; however, little is known about the optimal duration and frequency of individual sessions with ProtecFMT and the duration of therapy overall.
Potential Outcome: Improved therapy & patient performance
*Works in progress
In our preliminary interviews, orthopedic surgeons felt that ProtecFMT could be beneficial to rehabilitating patients after procedures like total knee and hip arthroplasties since it can isolate motion segments while reducing weight-bearing forces.
Studies of ProtecFMT have demonstrated range of motion increases and future research on its role in stretching and range of motion may benefit patients rehabilitating post-operatively.
Potential Outcome: Expanded patient participation
*Works in progress
Larger, prospective, randomized trials comparing ProtecFMT to other treatment modalities or as a therapeutic adjunct in different patient populations will be needed to validate the use of ProtecFMT as a rehabilitation tool.
Both long-term outcome data and data on adverse events will be crucial in supporting the use of ProtecFMT in rehabilitation settings.
Potential Outcome: Expand IFU and utilization
*Works in progress