Clinical Conversations

As cold weather arrives, do you notice more people sniffling and sneezing? Let’s look at a common health myth that is appropriate for our fall season: The common cold is caused by being cold. Your mom may have told you, “Put on a sweater or you will catch your death of a cold!” Most folks now realize that the cold is caught from a virus, not from ambient temperature.  The cold viruses, or rhinoviruses, are passed through physical contact or proximity to infected people.  Infected people can share their germs through coughing and sneezing.

So, science disproves that old myth that temperature creates illness.  Those miserable sore throats, runny noses, and headaches are caused by the viruses themselves.

Mom may not have been entirely off base with her association, though! Cold viruses enter the human body through the nose.  This is where our snot comes to the rescue, bundling up the viruses into an easily swallowed package that can be dropped into the caustic cauldron of the stomach where acid quickly degrades it.  However, when we breathe cold air through our noses, the cooler temperature slows down the movement of the mucus.  Since the snot cannot race to your rescue, the virus is more likely to enter the body through the mucus membranes and make you sick.

Also, cold viruses cannot survive high temperatures.  Cold weather is the preferred climate for rhinoviruses, and they can flourish in autumn temperatures for a longer time.  This improved survival rate increases the probability that a cold virus will be successfully passed from individual to individual.

So this myth is partially true – cold weather can increased your susceptibility to catching a cold from a virus by impairing your natural mucus defenses and boosting the survival rate of the virus.

Margo Burette, PT, DPT

This year has brought a lot of unknowns and increased patients’ fear to getting care they need.

You may have noticed that it is getting increasingly difficult for you to get the treatment you prescribe. This can only have negative effects on your overall health for the next few years to follow.

If it’s not fears related to Covid-19, patients are looking at high deductibles, out of pocket costs, required authorizations, and low number of authorized visit per benefit year.

Nick Rinard Physical Therapy’s focused treatment get’s our patients results within just 3-4 visits. 

We promise to discharge you and refer you back to your most trusted health care provider for further evaluation if there is not significant improvement after 4 visits.

We don’t want you taking any unnecessary risks, wasting time or money for ineffective therapies!

You will feel better with the right treatment!

Call 503-244-6232 and/or fax 503-244-7410

To schedule your visit at Nick Rinard Physical Therapy today!

        Are you finding yourself hesitant to schedule a physical therapy appointment these days?  As insurance covers less and less of physical therapy costs, it is more important than ever that the physical therapy you have been prescribed actually works!  There is nothing worse than receiving a bill from 12, 14, or even 20 visits at traditional physical therapy when it was not effective!

         If you are in pain, you should call Nick Rinard Physical Therapy first. We get results in an average of only 6 visits!  Nick Rinard physical therapists got patients 93% better in only 6.5 visits, when the national (and Portland) average was only 73% better in 11.1 visits.  This means Nick Rinard is TWICE AS EFFECTIVE – and worth the money.

         We check benefits for you so you know what it will cost upfront.  If we are not contracted with a particular insurance, we offer out discounted family and friends rate, no insurance, no bill in the end. We would rather give you a discount than give the insurance the “provider discount”.

Thank you Randy for your Nick Rinard Physical Therapy experience with the world!

“I lost 90% of the strength in my right thumb. I saw my primary care doctor took some X-rays of my neck where there was significant degradation to my C3/C4 which would explain the loss of strength and increasing pain that I was feeling most likely due to a pinched nerve. We started with an anti-inflammatory medication that eased the pain and restored a little bit of strength and motion but it was temporary and the meds are very harsh and not a long term option. Next step would have been spinal surgery which in my mind wasn’t an option. Decided to visit Nick again. My first time seeing him he helped me back to strength after a medial meniscus hook tear surgery to my right knee. I wanted to see if he could help resolve the problem using PT and not drugs or surgery. I saw him for about 2 months about once per week. Today, yes more than 1 year later I have about 90% of my strength back and 100% of motion back. It took more than 1 year but I now have the tools and the habits to manage it. No surgery, no drugs. Just paying attention to how I sleep with proper neck support, how I sit when working at the computer and exercises that I can do while working to keep improving. Nick gave me the tools and methods to make this happen. Highly Highly recommended. Helped me out twice now.” Randy 09-29-30