Written specifically for PTAs!

Develop the clinical decision-making skills you need to be a successful PTA. This easy-to-follow approach helps you learn how to successfully relate thermal, mechanical, and electrical biophysical agents to specific therapeutic goals while understanding all the physiologic ramifications.

Drawing from the APTA’s Guide to Physical Therapist Practice, this text will enable you to make the connection between a physical agent and the appropriate treatment interventions as part of a comprehensive, successful physical therapy treatment program.

Five Stars. “Great book easy to understand.”—Dania L., Online Reviewer

Excellent resource. “Very informative book for PTA students. Lots of useful charts and easy to follow.”—Stephen W., Online Reviewer

Unit 1 The Concept of Adjunctive Therapies
1. Evidence-Based Practice with Physical Agents
2. Tissue Response to Injury
3. Patient Responses to Therapeutic Interventions

Unit 2 Thermal and Mechanical Agents
4. Therapeutic Heat and Cold
5. Therapeutic Ultrasound and Phonophoresis
6. Aquatics and Hydrotherapy
7. Soft Tissue Treatment Techniques: Traction
8. Soft Tissue Management Techniques: Compression and Edema Management
9. Soft Tissue Management Techniques: Massage
10. Electromagnetic Radiation: Diathermy, Ultraviolet, and Laser

Unit 3 Electrical Stimulation for Therapeutic Treatment Goals
11. Foundations of Electrical Stimulation and Iontophoresis
12. Electrodes and Lead Wires: Material and Care
13. Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation
14. Electrical Stimulation for Tissue Repair
15. Pain Management with Electrical Stimulation
16. Interferential Current Therapy in Clinical Practice

Unit 4 Comprehensive Approach to Treatment
17. Integration of Physical Agents: Clinical Decision Making

Appendix
Parameters and Red Flags During Treatment

Index