A PTA is working in an acute care hospital with an 80 year old patient who fell down the stairs to his basement and fractured his tibia.  The fracture was surgically stabilized 3 days ago.  He has been doing fairly well with his rehabilitation but the PT and PTA have expressed concern that the patient may not be safe to return home yet due to unsafe gait and deconditioning.  The patient lives alone in a two-story house.  Of the following, which is LEAST appropriate as a discharge option for this patient?

A 42 year-old previously healthy male falls while hiking and sustains a closed, displaced fracture of the femur just proximal to the adductor tubercle.  He is transported to the nearest Level III trauma center and evaluated in the emergency room by an orthopedic surgeon who is a trauma specialist.  The surgeon decides to treat the fracture with open reduction and internal fixation.  Which of the following was MOST likely an indication for the surgical treatment of the fracture?

The anterior longitudinal ligament is thinner in the neck than in the lumbar spine. Which injury/condition does this fact predispose us to?

Which segment of the spine, of those listed below, would be most prone to injury or disease?

A physical therapist assistant is treating a patient who reports a history of severe carpal tunnel syndrome.  Of the following signs or symptoms, which would NOT be consistent with this diagnosis?

A 68 year-old patient with lower back pain has x-ray evidence of bilateral narrowing of intervertebral foramen at L5-S1, causing nerve root compression and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy.  The compression is MOST related to:

A snowboarder who sustained a displaced supracondylar fracture of the humerus three weeks ago is wearing a removable hard plastic elbow splint for her PT appointment. The physical therapist’s treatment plan is somewhat vague and calls for “A/AROM.” Which of the following is MOST likely a part of the treatment today?

A slump sitting stretch is commonly used to stretch neural tissue by having the patient dorsiflex the ankle with the knee extended in a slouched sitting posture.  Which nerve does this stretch target, and what guidelines should be given for stretch?

A patient who has injured their knee playing basketball comes to PT with a severe valgus knee deformity.  The soft tissue injury you would expect is:

A physical therapist assistant is working with a patient with low back pain, and observes that step length is significantly short bilaterally.  Which of the following is MOST likely to be true about this patient’s gait?