This is something I've played with the past several years. It is written from the "yoga" world of my experience using the latest science to help teachers and students alike grasp the magnificance of modern pain science.
Take a look and let me know what you think. Try it with your staff or a group of patients in a workshop…they love it and can't stop making comparisons and noting experiences to point toward in their life or with their clients.
I had this question posed on my FB wall from a professional colleague.
Thought I would use it as an interesting insight into how we might change our reference point with clients….
What do you think?
Matt, what do you think about the MBT shoes? They work the foot in a triplanar fashion and the ground reaction force moves up the kinetic chain improving posture and circulation. A therapist recommended I get them. I waited and just go a mimic from sketcher's called shape ups. They currently appear to be worthy of recommending them to some of my patients. I need to study them a little more. The only down fall I can foresee is that they disconnect the body from true gravitational forces. It is important that we experience the bones in our feet touch true ground without interference of a rubber shoe. I suspect that is one reason you have all patients take off their shoes and ambulate.
Last year we were fortunate to be able to share the broader of topic of "Complementary and Alternative Medicine in PT" at the 2009 APTA Annual conference. The program received high marks on the evaluations and was well attended. This initial success as summarized in this article paved the way for the following 2-day pre-conference course in Boston as detailed below and in the brochure.
Details: http://www.apta.org/am/aptaapps/programming/pt/ListDetail.cfm?mad_id=21015
This course will address mindfulness, the essence of many of the other rehabilitation approaches. Several of the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approaches sought by the general public will be discussed. The speakers will introduce the science of mindfulness, the evidence supporting it, and both the clinical applications and business promotional skills to succeed in the marketplace. Mindfulness is primarily a qualitative change to treatment and can be applied to any clinical intervention. The approach is transparent to the consumer, avoids offense, and yet it changes everything about the experience. This quality of relationship is why many patients/clients seek CAM practitioners instead of allopathic/traditional health care providers. If applied, the mindfulness approach will increase patient satisfaction and outcomes. Models for both one-on-one and group programming will be shared. Time will be split between one-on-one and experiential sessions. The programming is appropriate for business owners and administrative staff of cash-based wellness practices, and for senior level students, other practitioners, and educators.
Upon completion of this course, you’ll be able to: 1) Explain the historical background of and the science behind mindfulness approaches. 2) Justify the scientific rationale for the newfound interest in mindfulness approaches that has occurred in diverse health care settings. 3) Apply the research findings on mindfulness to the patient/client management, as well as to yourself. 4) Transform traditional therapeutic exercise and manual contact into a mindfulness-based experience to allow for immediate application in the clinic. 5) Assess case reports that are using scientific language describing mindfulness-enhanced interventions. 6) List clinical applications that might be enhanced using mindfulness-based enhancement. 7) Apply mindfulness in interactions with staff for improved outcomes and patient satisfaction.
We need your help in spreading the word so future programming is considered. Please email, tweet, FaceBook etc this page to everyone you think might have an interest or know of someone that might be able to better spread the news.
I've blogged earlier on the need for a qualitative shift in rehabilitation to complement the necessary and important process of practicing of gathering research in support of evidence-based care.
Staffan and I are open to input from all of you on what would be helpful for yourself and your patients to present in this course? Comment below please.
Stay tuned and subscribe to the RSS below for future entries here as well because I will be presenting a series titled "30-days to a More Mindful Rehabilitation Practice".
When it comes to fitness and wellness, I'm afraid most rehab professionals too easily step into the ruts of the industry rather than consider "What might be?".
I was fortunate enough to be thrust into the wellness arena the first year of my professional rehab career. The US Army was big into the new buzz word of 1982: Corporate Fitness. OUCH…some one is getting old and hopefully for those of you new to wellness you get some perspective on how "Un-new" wellness in the workplace really is!
What disappoints me is that almost every article on rehab and wellness gravitates to the same old models of flexibility assessment, posture screens, standard ergonomic assessment….YAWN! Is that the best we can do?
So what should we be doing? CREATING SOMETHING NEW & BETTER!
At the AZAPTA Fall Conference in 2009 the theme was wellness and fitness. Here is the short one page position paper I distributed articulating a call for us to step forward to LEAD a true biopsychosocial revolution in fitness. Click here to read.
Here a couple of things I am creating:
What are you doing to bring forward new programming in fitness and wellness that we weren't doing 10, 15 or 20 years ago?
Let me know…we can and MUST do better than what is out there now!
A major part of my mission is to restore dignity for both patients and clients in the rehabilitation process. This a monumental task and one that will take time. The task is also very complex. One small part of the solution is for therapists to provide services of sufficient quality that consumers will use discretionary income to purchase our service.
I understand that this only serves a very small portion of the market….but that is where change begins: shifting behaviors from an entitlement as an insurance premium payer to savvy consumers of a quality service. I'll post later about other means of delivering care at affordable rates. For now, consider my answers to this colleague's questions over what I'm doing "right now" to begin to shift consumption patterns and beliefs:
Hello Matt. I saw your article in IMPACT and was curious about your cash-based practice. I have often wondered about doing the same but was not sure exactly how to implement and, I have many fears. Would you be willing to answer some of my questions?
First let's address the fears…they are symptomatic of a normal human response to change. Acknowledge them, study their source and then study my answers below. Your fears may point to substantive issues of a need to improve you and your products, or they may just be the usual fit pitched by the amygdala and your hippocampus about having to rewire you : ) ….pay attention and use the discomfort to grown and learn, not freeze.
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Question to Ask
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The Other Clinic
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DSR Clinic
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What percentage of the time will you spend with a therapist vs. aide or trainer?
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____%
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100%
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How long will you be with the licensed therapist each session?
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___ minutes
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60 minutes
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Will you get the same therapist each session?
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Yes No
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Yes
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How many other patients will the therapist be responsible for while you are there?
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____ patients
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Only you.
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Will the therapist have more than 20 years of experience?
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Yes No
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Yes
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Will you be in a private room or curtained/open booth/gym?
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Yes No
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Private Room
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Your time cost: How often will you have to travel, wait and return?
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Usually once/wk
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Your direct cost per hour of therapist contact time? ie, $30 co-pay for 15 min = $120/hour.
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$125/hr for the full hour
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Do they guarantee your satisfaction on the first visit?
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The December 2009 PT in Motion magazine has the cover story: "Rooting Out Genetic Links" by Eric Ries. A beautiful cover, but once again a reactionary perspective with little vision of our role in rehab affecting genetics…why are we always so passive?
"It's only a matter of time—some people say less than 5 years—before human stem cells and other progenitor cells start being produced that can change the way in which a pathological gene is expressed," he says. "These things are happening. We must be prepared to deal with them."
Don't just imagine rehab altering genetic expression….empower your clients today! …and we got excited when we started moving facet joints!!!
Isn't this amazing???!!
Now…do we "flex" or "extend" the genes?…the next great debate!
Anytime you introduce something new that doesn't have an easy historical example, communicating the "what" is a challenge.
So it is with the DSR Method™.
One description I use is the computer analogy. We're all familiar with the PC vs Mac dialog and the great Mac commercials.
I think there is a good analogy between what I lovingly call "20th Century Rehabilitation" and the "DSR Method™"
As operating systems they both deliver rehabilitation services (i.e., word process, surf the Net, manage images and music, etc.)…It's just that one is cumbersome, frustrating and awkward while the DSR Method™ is fun, intuitive, effective and encourages creativity in the users (both provider and client).
To celebrate, we've posted a fun T-shirt for getting the word out. Take a peak and if
nothing else, use the service to promote your own passion!
How do you get your brand message out to the world?
In the past rehabilitation professionals have focused on the "parts" of workplace safety and comfort. We made equipment changes, ergonomic assessments and prescribed compensatory exercises.
Our job was to winnow down to the finest "parts" and then apply fixes to those parts. We did this even as we knew the most important predictor to recovery from work-related injury or pain was job satisfaction and a feeling as though one was making a useful contribution at work.
We now realize that was short sighted and simplistic. If we are going to be more than "band-aid" therapists, then it is incumbent that our lens broaden and we address the "whole" person…not just the body, but mind, heart and soul!
This is where ErgoPresence enters the picture.
Quite simply how the person relates to their "work" generates postural habits and dominant breathing patterns.
If those individuals find work stressful or spiritless, the systems collapse through an absence of presence and awareness at the worksite.
No amount of stretching or strengthening or even taping will sustain such a powerful systems effect. Remember at 12 breaths/min that is 720/hr or 5760 dysfunctional movements per 8 hours.
If this person sits dis-spirited and dis-interested at her clerical position for 8-9 hrs/day, can you see the collapse toward the mouse and phone in her structure? If she never breathes from her diaphragm because she's bored/frustrated or chatting online, when will her pelvis return to a more functional balance so the tape for the knee pains can be discontinued?
We need to help our clients see how the soul connection provides heart to power the seat…it is all connected and only the competent therapist of the 21st century will broaden their skill set to generate ErgoPresence.
For more on ErgoPresence visit this page.
What do you do to generate ErgoPresence for yourself and for your clients?
Sometimes when I am pausing to be grateful, I overlook the obvious.
Take for example the nick on my chin from shaving yesterday…it is already nearly healed….how did that happen? And it happens all day and night long in the amazing system I find myself dwelling in!
So add to your list, the awe and gratitude of being human….both the foibles and the miracles.
And it is happening now….now and, now.
That same wisdom and emergence is also happening on larger systems scales…witness the beauty and friendship of the state dinner with our friends from India last night: touching/merging/creating anew…..much to be hopeful for in the everyday miracles.
Wow…..thanks.
A special welcome to those of you that are presently studying to become licensed rehabilitation professionals!
Please know that your faculty has many constraints on what and how it can teach…after all schools are part of the larger systems of regulation and accreditation. So be patient…you are garnering amazing tools for being of service to others in the future. But, if you find things a little dry or mechanistic in approach to what you know from your "real" world, hang on.
There is a growing number of we "old" pro's quietly working to bring our methods up to date with the basic science discoveries of movement, neuroscience and the entire biopsychosocial model.
If I can be of any assistance to you in locating resources for special projects/papers, etc. let me know. This is what I do as part of a larger effort to expand our professions in being more comprehensive and compassionate.
Research, clinicians specializing in integrative approaches or just some encouraging words…you've found a place to drop in for any or all of that.
Here's an oasis of "different" thinking from my doctoral days…it was a website I built to galvanize some of my integral thinking at the time: A Fork In the Road
Send your classmates and your faculty here to generate great discussions and good luck with your studies!