Dr. Prather discusses the unique field of Physiatry in this video.
Showing posts with label Heidi Prather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heidi Prather. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Friday, June 22, 2012
Physiatry 'Missing Link' in Orthopedics
In her office at the new Washington University Orthopedics and Barnes-Jewish Hospital Outpatient Orthopedic Center in Chesterfield, Heidi Prather, D.O., first lowers her eyes, then looks at the ceiling for a moment as she recalls her decision to go into physical medicine and rehabilitation as a specialty and to focus a part of her practice primarily on women.
“I’ve never told this story,” she says. “My mentor during residency, who happened to be male, once looked at me and said, ‘Since you’re going into academic medicine, you’d better figure out these things about women because we men aren’t going to.’ That’s honestly when I thought, ‘OK, that can be my issue.’”
That was during her residency at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, which is home to the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Her mentor, Joel M. Press, M.D., says he was mostly telling her things she already knew.
“She always understood that it’s about the patient,” says Press, director of the Rehabilitation Institute’s Spine and Sports Rehabilitation Center in Chicago. “By focusing on patient needs, both women and men, she’s become a leader in our field. She’s also been able to build one of the best musculoskeletal fellowship programs around and helped improve the already outstanding reputation of Washington University Orthopedics.”
Prather, an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, is the first woman president of the Physiatric Association of Spine, Sports and Occupational Rehabilitation. In that capacity, she’s getting a chance to raise awareness nationally among physiatrists (those who specialize in physical medicine and rehabilitation) regarding issues involving women and injuries.
She says when treating an injured woman, doctors — and physiatrists in particular — must consider the continuum of the lifecycle for women and where the woman is along that timeline when she experiences an injury or impairment.
“There are pre-pubertal women versus post-pubertal,” she explains. “Then there’s before babies, during pregnancy, immediately post-partum, pre-menopausal, post-menopausal and aging. Where a woman is on that timeline will greatly influence her musculoskeletal function. Men simply don’t undergo the same kinds of changes.”
For example, when a pre-menopausal woman has a compression fracture of the spine, Prather immediately worries about early osteoporosis. A similar fracture in an older woman also might be due to weakened bones, but determining the cause of such a fracture — an important factor in determining treatment and rehabilitation — is especially urgent for a woman of 40.
“I might easily see what the problem is, but figuring out why a woman has the problem is key,” she says. “If I don’t learn the cause, there’s a good chance she may face that same problem in the future.”
Music and tennis
Prather herself has been happy to avoid injuries lately. Because she’s been injury-free, she’s been running quite a bit. She says she rarely exercises when injured.
“I don’t overdo it because when I work with my patients, I see what can happen,” she says. “I’m pretty good when I’m hurt. I rest, and then I usually go around and ask other physicians and physical therapists to look at me. I find it’s usually better to trust someone else than to try to diagnose yourself.”
She grew up in Kansas City in a family of musical tennis players. Her father, Carl Prather, was a band director. Her mom, Becky, played drums. Heidi herself took up the trumpet and attended Drury College in Springfield, Mo., on a music scholarship, playing in the symphonic band and other musical groups, including the professional symphony in Springfield. But she never wanted music to be “work,” hoping instead to use it as an outlet.
These days, she plays piano to relax after long nights of dictation. She’d like to return to music more seriously someday, but that will have to wait until her kids Ethan, 10, and Emma, 6, are a little older. Much of her spare time these days is spent as a “soccer mom,” attending games and practices and taking turns shuttling them to Tae Kwon Do and dance lessons with her husband, Jeffrey D. Bradley, M.D., associate professor of radiation oncology at the Siteman Cancer Center.
She calls herself the least talented tennis player in the family, but she still managed to compete at Drury. Her younger sister, Gretchen, was the star, however, and still competes in sanctioned tournaments, recently playing in a national event.
In addition to running, Prather also rode her bike across Missouri this summer, accompanying her mentor, Joel Press. She was with him for 213 miles of his cross-country bike trip called the Ride for Rehab. Missouri was only a small portion of his total trip, but Prather made enough of an impression to receive official recognition as the Ride for Rehab’s “top female physiatrist rider without twins.”
“I’ve never told this story,” she says. “My mentor during residency, who happened to be male, once looked at me and said, ‘Since you’re going into academic medicine, you’d better figure out these things about women because we men aren’t going to.’ That’s honestly when I thought, ‘OK, that can be my issue.’”
That was during her residency at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, which is home to the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Her mentor, Joel M. Press, M.D., says he was mostly telling her things she already knew.
“She always understood that it’s about the patient,” says Press, director of the Rehabilitation Institute’s Spine and Sports Rehabilitation Center in Chicago. “By focusing on patient needs, both women and men, she’s become a leader in our field. She’s also been able to build one of the best musculoskeletal fellowship programs around and helped improve the already outstanding reputation of Washington University Orthopedics.”
Prather, an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, is the first woman president of the Physiatric Association of Spine, Sports and Occupational Rehabilitation. In that capacity, she’s getting a chance to raise awareness nationally among physiatrists (those who specialize in physical medicine and rehabilitation) regarding issues involving women and injuries.
She says when treating an injured woman, doctors — and physiatrists in particular — must consider the continuum of the lifecycle for women and where the woman is along that timeline when she experiences an injury or impairment.
“There are pre-pubertal women versus post-pubertal,” she explains. “Then there’s before babies, during pregnancy, immediately post-partum, pre-menopausal, post-menopausal and aging. Where a woman is on that timeline will greatly influence her musculoskeletal function. Men simply don’t undergo the same kinds of changes.”
For example, when a pre-menopausal woman has a compression fracture of the spine, Prather immediately worries about early osteoporosis. A similar fracture in an older woman also might be due to weakened bones, but determining the cause of such a fracture — an important factor in determining treatment and rehabilitation — is especially urgent for a woman of 40.
“I might easily see what the problem is, but figuring out why a woman has the problem is key,” she says. “If I don’t learn the cause, there’s a good chance she may face that same problem in the future.”
Music and tennis
Prather herself has been happy to avoid injuries lately. Because she’s been injury-free, she’s been running quite a bit. She says she rarely exercises when injured.
| Heidi Prather, D.O. Born: May 20, 1965, Kansas City, Mo. Education: Bachelor of arts with honors, biology and chemistry, 1987, Drury College; D.O., University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine, 1991 University position: Associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Washington University Orthopedics Family: Son, Ethan Bradley (10); daughter, Emma Bradley (6); husband, Jeffrey Bradley, M.D.; mother, Becky Prather; father, Carl Prather; sister, Gretchen Evans |
She grew up in Kansas City in a family of musical tennis players. Her father, Carl Prather, was a band director. Her mom, Becky, played drums. Heidi herself took up the trumpet and attended Drury College in Springfield, Mo., on a music scholarship, playing in the symphonic band and other musical groups, including the professional symphony in Springfield. But she never wanted music to be “work,” hoping instead to use it as an outlet.
These days, she plays piano to relax after long nights of dictation. She’d like to return to music more seriously someday, but that will have to wait until her kids Ethan, 10, and Emma, 6, are a little older. Much of her spare time these days is spent as a “soccer mom,” attending games and practices and taking turns shuttling them to Tae Kwon Do and dance lessons with her husband, Jeffrey D. Bradley, M.D., associate professor of radiation oncology at the Siteman Cancer Center.
She calls herself the least talented tennis player in the family, but she still managed to compete at Drury. Her younger sister, Gretchen, was the star, however, and still competes in sanctioned tournaments, recently playing in a national event.
In addition to running, Prather also rode her bike across Missouri this summer, accompanying her mentor, Joel Press. She was with him for 213 miles of his cross-country bike trip called the Ride for Rehab. Missouri was only a small portion of his total trip, but Prather made enough of an impression to receive official recognition as the Ride for Rehab’s “top female physiatrist rider without twins.”
By: Jim Dryden
Read the original article here:
Keeping dancers on their toes | Newsroom | Washington University in St. Louis
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Spine Disorders Complicate Hip Arthroplasty
Patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA) who have coexistent lumbar spine disorders (LSDs) do not report as much improvement in pain and function after arthroplasty compared with patients without lumbar disorders.
Heidi Prather, D.O., from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues retrospectively examined 3,206 patients who underwent THA from 1996 to 2008. To identify which patients were also evaluated by a spine specialist, the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision billing codes for LSDs were cross-referenced with patients who had undergone a THA. Functional outcomes were measured using the modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS) and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) hip questionnaire, and physician medical charges were assessed.
The researchers found that a higher number of LSD patients were significantly older (64.5 years) compared with patients treated with THA alone (58.5 years). Compared with the THA + LSD group, patients in the THA alone group had significantly greater improvement in the mHHS, UCLA score, and pain. On average, patients in the THA + LSD group incurred significantly more in charges per episode of care ($2,668) and significantly more days per episode of care, compared to patients with THA alone.
"Patients undergoing THA alone had greater improvement in function and pain relief with fewer medical charges as compared with patients undergoing a THA and treatment for an LSD," the authors write.
Read the original article in MD News here:
MD News - Coexistent Lumbar Disorders Complicate Hip Arthroplasty
Friday, June 15, 2012
Heidi Prather on Low Back Pain
Dr. Prather, one of our physiatrists, discusses the common causes and remedies for low back pain:
To read more about Dr. Prather please visit: http://ortho.wustl.edu/content/Patient-Care/2711/Find-a-Physician/Listing-of-Faculty/Heidi-Prather-DO/Bio.aspx
To read more about Dr. Prather please visit: http://ortho.wustl.edu/content/Patient-Care/2711/Find-a-Physician/Listing-of-Faculty/Heidi-Prather-DO/Bio.aspx
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Female Soccer Players May Face Health Problems - Study
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Intense training combined with insufficient nutrition may threaten the health of young female soccer players, suggests a new study that finds menstrual irregularities and stress fractures are common among these athletes.
Nearly one in five elite female soccer players reported having irregular menstrual cycles, while 14 percent had a stress fracture in the past year, the study found.
Though the toll of so-called "aesthetic sports," such as dance and gymnastics, and endurance sports, such as running, on young women's bodies has been well studied, soccer has largely escaped scrutiny, said lead study author Dr. Heidi Prather, an associate professor and chief of the physical medicine and rehabilitation section at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Read More
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Psychiatry, Podiatry, but what the heck is PHYSIATRY?
Many people have never heard of a Physiatrist. However, patients who 
need comprehensive evaluations and conservative treatment of orthopedic conditions will benefit from an appointment with a Washington University Orthopedics physician specializing in non-operative care, also known as a physiatrist.
Dr. Heidi Prather explains more about this unique specialty within our orthopedic department. Click here.
need comprehensive evaluations and conservative treatment of orthopedic conditions will benefit from an appointment with a Washington University Orthopedics physician specializing in non-operative care, also known as a physiatrist.Dr. Heidi Prather explains more about this unique specialty within our orthopedic department. Click here.
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