Equipment

Good Health Physical Therapy has become a partner with Amazon. Below are items that our therapists often recommend to patients. If you click on the item title, you will be linked to Amazon. If you make a purchase by clicking the link we provide, we receive 4% of the purchase price. Additional streams of income help us not only to keep our lights on, but also to continue our one hour appointment times while most other therapy clinics see patients for much shorter appointments.

Click any title line below for a link.

Thumb splint

Recommended by Mark: Thumb hypermobility is a common issue with people with hypermobility spectrum disorder or hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. In the clinic, this can be helped by a sequential trial of supports starting with tape (if the patient is not sensitive). The item shown here is called a “Spica Splint”. This can be a good intermediate level of support. Higher levels of support may include a full wrist support with the thumb, spica, sleeve and hard shell variations on this same kind of splint.

TENS Unit

Recommended by Multiple therapists: This is a good and inexpensive unit for both pain control and also for Vagus Nerve stimulation. The model shown uses replaceable batteries. If you are getting this for Vagus nerve stimulation, you will need an ear clip electrode and a small tube of electrode gel which we buy in bulk and can supply you with in the office.

Wrist Widget Braces

Recommended by Liz. Many patients with hypermobility or hypermobile Elhers-Danlos have too much mobility at the ends of the forearm bones. This is one form of wrist hypermobility. These wrist braces can help and without the need for tape or adhesives.

Basic Wrist Brace

Recommended by Mark: This is a very basic wrist brace and can be useful for patients with mild wrist hypermobility.

Step Arch Supports

Recommended by Liz: These inexpensive stick on supports can be helpful in supporting the fallen soft tissue of the foot. The feet are the base of all movement. This link is for medium size. Small, large and extra large are available.

Tennis or Golfer’s Elbow Brace

Recommended by Mark: These elbow straps with the foam pad can be useful for tennis elbow (on the outside of the elbow) and golfer’s elbow (on the inside). While not by themselves a cure, the support can help protect the painful area and lower stresses on painful muscle attachments.

Heel Lift Small

Heel Lift Medium

Recommended by Mark: In therapy, after careful analysis, we find that some patients have a difference in their leg lengths. This is usually due to a difference in the long bone lengths. For those patients, a heel lift place in the shoe on the short leg side can reduce pain, improve quality of movement and improve balance. These lifts are adjustable in thickness. The size relates to the width of the lift. A small lift is commonly for a woman, a medium lift is commonly for a man and a large lift (not shown)is for a big (!) work boot.

TheraCane

Recommended by Jennifer: Knots, sore spots in your back? The Theracane provides a way for you to reach them and perform a self-massage to calm them down.

Small Exercise Ball

Recommended by Jennifer. This 9 inch diameter ball has a million uses during exercise, especially with Pilates exercises.

Resistance Bands– Intermediate to Advanced Level

These bands provide economical resistance at an intermediate to advanced level for stabilization exercises.

Resistance Bands – Beginner to Intermediate

These basic bands are commonly used in therapy for a great number of exercises. The degree of difficulty goes from lightest (easiest) to darkest (hardest): yellow, red, green, blue, black.

Ankle Brace

This very economical brace provides compression and support for ankle instability. With hypermobile patients, we have also used it stabilize both the talus bones and fibula of the ankle when these have a tendency to “go out” (sublux).

Exercise Ball

This large exercise ball (65cm = 26inch diameter) is extremely useful for a number of different kinds of exercises, especially the kind of stabilization exercises needed by our hypermobile patients. This ball is listed as useful for people ranging from 5’6″ to 5’11”. In our experience, they can be slightly under or over inflated to make them useful for people a couple of inches shorter or a couple of inches taller than this range. If you are much shorter, get a 55cm ball. If you are much taller, get a 75 cm ball. If you choose to buy from a store or another source, please be sure that you are getting a pump. These large therapy balls cannot be pumped up with a bike pump as a rule.

Foam Roller

Foam rollers also are very versatile for working on areas of tightness and stress. We find the firm model here in the 36″ in size to be the most commonly used by our patients. Softer foam rollers are available with a little searching. Short, 12″, rolls are available also and can be useful for travel or in cases of lack of space.