Presenter: Emilio "Louie” Puentedura- PT, DPT, PhD, OCS, FAAOMPT

A Classification Based Approach to Evaluation and Treatment of Cervical Spine Disorders 

Speaker: Emilio "Louie” Puentedura- PT, DPT, PhD, OCS, FAAOMPT 

Course Description

Neck pain is a fairly common source of disability and a frequent reason for referral to outpatient physical therapy clinics. Often, patients with neck pain cannot be given a definitive structural diagnosis, which makes it difficult for physical therapists to determine which treatments are most likely to benefit an individual patient. An alternative approach to structural diagnosis is the classification process. Classification seeks to group patients based on clusters of history and examination findings instead of proposed structural pathology. Each group, or classification, is then associated with a particular management approach that is believed to be most effective for patients in that classification. 

This advanced 2-day, 12.5 hour course, offers a comprehensive investigation into the proposed classification-based approach to the management of patients with neck pain and dysfunction. The course is designed to provide the clinician with skills to carefully use a combination of clinical prediction rules (where available) and sound clinical reasoning in order to determine the most effective management of patients with neck pain. 

New and updated research will be presented on the 5 proposed classifications within the system, and participants will have the opportunity to explore, in detail, each of the sub-groups within the classification system. The evidence for, and appropriate use of each classification group will be presented, and the most appropriate (and evidence-based) examination and treatment interventions will be covered. Treatment interventions will include thrust manipulation techniques for the cervical and thoracic spines, non-thrust mobilization techniques for the cervical spine, motor control exercises for the cervical spine, traction, therapeutic neuroscience education and more.

Research has shown improved outcomes for patients with low back pain when treatments are based on a classification method, and therefore the development of a classification system for patients with neck pain may help to improve outcomes in these patients as well. This course will bring course participants up to date on the classification system for patients with neck pain.  

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will:

• Describe and contrast the structural diagnosis versus the classification based approach to the management of patients with neck pain.
• Demonstrate a working knowledge of the anatomical structures comprising the neck and upper quarter, including biomechanics and pain referral.
• Demonstrate a comprehensive subjective evaluation to determine the nature of the patient’s problem and to ‘stage’ the patient within the classification system, as well as determine contraindications and precautions for the physical examination and treatment.
• Successfully and safely conduct a physical examination of the neck and upper quarter, including the cervical and thoracic spines, shoulder joint and associated soft tissues and neural tissues.
• Plan a comprehensive and effective treatment progression for the patient based on the classification system and underlying sound clinical reasoning.
• Successfully and safely be able to perform the treatment techniques covered in this course.

Speaker Biography

Emilio "Louie” Puentedura- PT, DPT, PhD, OCS, FAAOMPT

Louie received his Bachelor of Physical Therapy Degree in 1980 and completed his Graduate Diploma in Manipulative Therapy in 1983 in Melbourne, Australia. He completed a Post-Professional DPT program at Northern Arizona University (NAU) 2005 (with distinction) and his PhD at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2011. He has been involved in Orthopedic Manual Therapy for over 32 years, and has lectured and presented seminars on the various approaches to Manipulative Therapy.

Louie is an Australian-trained therapist with an Australian accent!

He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas where he teaches Anatomy, Orthopedic Principles, Spine Examination and Interventions and Diagnostic Imaging to students in the entry-level Doctor of Physical Therapy program. His primary research interests are in clinical effectiveness, mechanisms and safety of spinal manipulation. He is also interested in the clinical application of neurodynamic interventions, and effects of therapeutic neuroscience education in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Louie is a senior Instructor with International Spine Pain Institute (ISPI) and teaches weekend seminars throughout the United States. See www.ispinstitute.com for further details.

Presenter: Carolee J. Winstein, PhD, PT, FAPTA

Infusing Motor Learning Research into Neurorehabilitation Practice: A Historical Perspective with Case Exemplar from the Accelerated Skill Acquisition Program

Speaker:  Carolee J. Winstein, PhD, PT, FAPTA

This full day course provides a historical framework with contemporary case example that traces the infusion of the science of motor learning into neurorehabilitation practice. The revolution in neuroscience provided the first evidence for learning-dependent neuroplasticity and presaged the role of motor learning--as critical for restorative therapies after stroke. The scientific underpinnings of motor learning have continued to evolve from a dominance of cognitive or information processing perspectives to a blend with neural science and contemporary social-cognitive psychological science. Further, advances in the science of behavior change have contributed insights into influences on sustainable and generalizable gains in motor skills and associated behaviors, including physical activity and other recovery-promoting habits. For neurorehabilitation, these insights have tremendous relevance to the therapist-patient interactions and relationships.  We developed a principle-based intervention for neurorehabilitation termed the Accelerated Skill Acquisition Program (ASAP). It emphasizes integration from a broad set of scientific lines of inquiry including the contemporary fields of motor learning, neuroscience, and the psychological science of behavior change.  Three overlapping essential elements--skill acquisition, impairment mitigation, motivational enhancements--are integrated. 

Speaker Biography

Dr. Winstein runs an interdisciplinary research program focused on understanding control, rehabilitation and recovery of goal-directed movements that emerge from a dynamic brain-behavior system in brain-damaged conditions. With NIH funding, she and her team are leading a multi-site phase III randomized controlled trial—ICARE (Interdisciplinary Comprehensive Arm Recovery Evaluation) stroke initiative--to improve outpatient therapy for arm paresis after stroke. With funding from the Foundation for Physical Therapy, she led the first Physical Therapy Clinical Research Network, PTClinResNet that supported clinical research on the effectiveness of task-specific/muscle-specific training to enhance muscle performance and functional activities across four disability groups including adult spinal cord injury, children with cerebral palsy, adult stroke, and low back pain. In 2008, with NIDRR/DoE funding, she and her colleagues at USC and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center established a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center focused on strategies to promote successful aging at the crossroads of longevity, disability and new technologies. Recently with funding from NICHD and in collaboration with colleagues at USC, Winstein launched a new development-of-concept trial, Optimizing the Dosage of Rehabilitation after Stroke (DOSE) to ultimately determine prospectively the dose of therapy that maximizes the efficacy of treatment—to determine the smallest effective dose for individual patients.

Presenter: Peter Bzdusek PT, ATC

Speaker: Peter Bzdusek PT, ATC

Contact Hours: 2 MN BPT Cat. 1 CEUs

Increasing co-pays, high deductibles and the drive for best practices are only a few components of the evolving healthcare system that have lead clinicians to study cost effectiveness. This presentation will summarize principles of cost effectiveness research with application to physical therapy in the treatment of low back pain. In addition, local clinicians will discuss how their healthcare system is piloting a cost effectiveness model utilizing evidence based practice.

Presenter: Kelly Roberts Lane, DPT and Joan Bohmert, PT, MS

Moving towards a Common Treatment Approach for the Orthopedic and Neurologic Patient

Speakers: Kelly Roberts Lane, DPT and Joan Bohmert, PT, MS    

Contact Hours: 2 MN BPT Cat. 1 CEUs

Course Description
This presentation will compare the treatment of patients of all ages, pediatric to middle age, with a neurological diagnoses from birth to high performance athletes with orthopedic diagnoses. Converging on the idea that both patients require resolution of the mechanical joint dysfunction followed by the increase in trunk control and power to allow desired activity. We will use videos and diagrams to illustrate this concept. 

Course Objectives

1. Conceptualize mechanical joint dysfunction and its fundamental place in treatment of movement.
2. Explain the convergence of treatment for a high level athlete with an orthopedic diagnosis and a patient with a neurological diagnosis.
3. Understand trunk control and power in decreasing mechanical vulnerability.

Presenter: Amy Samson-Burke, MPT, PYT

Contact Hours: 2 MN BPT Cat.1  CEUs

Course Description

This course is an introduction to the use of yogic principles in the practice of Physical Therapy. Adapting yoga is more than just modifying a pose. It is journey in self-discovery, subtly practicality, and the underlying nature of ability and disability. Learn how the principles of yoga apply to all bodies, regardless of ability.  Learn how utilizing the principles of yoga in your Physical Therapy practice can add depth to what you are already doing with your patients. This workshop will invite you to listen at a subtler level to what is happening in your body, recognizing that this is an integral part of healing.  In this workshop we will study several common yoga poses, examine what it is in the poses that we wish to share with our patients, and then determine how this might best be translated into a body that lives with a disability. NO yoga experience required. This course will involve moving through several simple yoga poses.  Come with an open mind and comfortable clothes.  

Learning Objectives

1.Participants will explain how the principles of yoga can be integrated into a physical therapy session.

2.  Participants will recognize that incorporating yogic principles into healthcare benefits both the patient and the caregiver.

3.  Participants will be able to demonstrate two techniques that will be immediately applicable to the healthcare setting.

Presenter: Carolee Winstein PhD, PT, FAPTA

A Transformative Subfield of in Rehabilitation Science at the Nexus of New Technologies, Aging and Disability Research 

Speaker: Carolee Winstein, PhD, PT, FAPTA 
Contact Hours: 1.5 MN BPT Cat. 1 CEUs

Course Description

We argue that a silo research and training approach is no longer sufficient to provide real solutions to the complex humanitarian, social, and financial problems brought about by global trends in aging and the increased prevalence of multiple chronic conditions that limit independence and activities of daily living. This 1.5 hour session points to the exponential advances across myriad technological fields that are conspiring to user in an era of profound change. The futurist Ray Kurzweil calls it the Law of Accelerating Returns in which we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21dt century—it will be more like 20,000 years of progress at today’s rate. The recent proliferation of eHealth technologies offers opportunities for development of low-cost, simple, interactive media prevention, health maintenance, and continued functional recovery programs using a chronic care model designed to promote engagement and participation. As these new technologies are developed for promotion of an active lifestyle and rehabilitation purposes, they will need to be tested to determine efficacy but also to better understand the mechanism of action. We report new findings pertaining to the attentional demands and game engagement for healthy elders participating in a dynamic balance task under virtual and real target conditions. 

Course Objectives

The participant will:

1. Describe the Law of Accelerating Returns with reference to technological advances

2. Summarize the global aging crisis by choosing the projected number of people over the age of 65 who will be living in the year 2050.

3. Describe the key result pertaining to the interaction between attentional demand and game engagement found for older adults who practiced a dynamic balance task under virtual and real target conditions.

Presenter: Paula Ludewig, PhD, PT

Speaker: Paula Ludewig, PhD, PT

Contact Hours: 1.5 MN BPT Cat 1 CEUs

Course Description

Recent advances in 3-dimensional motion analysis and biomechanical modeling have provided greater insights into normal shoulder function, and how movement alterations may contribute to development of shoulder pain and pathology. This session will address how biomechanical knowledge can be integrated into movement impairment assessment for the shoulder, including subgrouping of patients who would traditionally be treated based on the broad diagnostic classification of shoulder impingement or rotator cuff disease.

Course Objectives: 

1. Understand current biomechanical knowledge regarding the physiological condition of mechanical impingement.

2. Understand the latest biomechanical findings related to healthy shoulder function.

3. Recognize alternative shoulder diagnostic labels for physical therapists based in the movement system.

Presenter: Minnesota Board of Physical Therapy

Speaker: Minnesota Board of Physical Therapy

Contact Hours: 1.5 MN BPT Cat. 1 CEUs

The mission of the Board of Physical Therapy is public protection.  Are you curious, or concerned, about complaints, investigations, and discipline?  This session is designed to answer the following questions:

1.       When and how do I file a complaint report about a PT or PTA?

2.       What happens when I file a report about the practice of another licensee?

3.       What happens when a complaint or report is filed about my practice of PT? 

4.       Are there trends in complaints and discipline?

This session will include a presentation by Board members and staff, small group discussions about scenarios, and opportunities for questions. 

Presenter: Audrey Quanrud

Speakers: Audrey Quanrud, MPT  

CEUs: 1.5 MN BPT Cat. 1 CEUs

Description

This course will be an introduction to the topic of Pediatric Incontinence, meant to spark the interest of the attendee through discussion of common causes, impact on the child and his/her family, some anatomy and physiology review, dietary considerations, and basic evaluation and treatment approaches. 

Objectives

1. Gain a basic knowledge of the normal development of continence in the pediatric population

2. Understand common causes of incontinence in children

3. Understand what is needed in the evaluation and which treatment approaches work best for this population

4. Have a greater interest in pursuing this specialty area.