Sleep Disorders and Pacifica Orthopedics
Pacifica Orthopedics provides the highest level of service and diagnostic testing. Among our specialties are sleep disorders with workers’ compensation and personal injury cases.
A determination of sleep disability can be accomplished based on the objective findings revealed with proper, objective data collection correlated with subjective descriptions expressed by the patient through a clinical history and psychological testing.
Pacifica Orthopedics utilizes an Actigraph to objectively determine the patient’s sleep hygiene and as a tool in the diagnosis and treatment of insomnia, circadian-rhythm disorders, and other sleep disorders. The Actigraph can also be worn on the ankle to aid in the detection of restless leg syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder.
Actigraphs have been used to study sleep/wake patterns for over 25 years. They are slowly becoming the unexampled standard for unbiased evaluation of sleep for the diagnosis of sleep-related disorders. The advantage of the Actigraphy over the traditional polysomnograph is that the Actigraphy devices can conveniently record continuously for 24 hours a day for days or weeks. The Actigraphy is also an inexpensive alternative for assessing specific sleep disorders.
With the use of an Actigraph, it is possible to establish:
- Total amount of sleep
- Number of awakenings
- Duration of awakenings
- Sleep latency
- Sleep efficiency
Pacifica Orthopedics also utilizes psychological assessment and testing to aid with the assessment of disability. These instruments help determine the specific type of disorder affecting the patient, measuring psychosocial factors contributing to the condition, and provide information that guides treatment planning. A complete history of the patient’s sleep problem will be investigated, including the patient’s sleep hygiene habits, which are behaviors that can promote or interfere with better sleep, such as activity level, nighttime rituals, and use of alcohol, caffeine or nicotine.
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