Pre-Conference Sessions (In-Person)
Building Bridges: How to Make Mentorship Meaningful
Presenter(s): Nathan Parsons, Chris Allen, Jon Umlauf, Bryan Pickens
This interactive educational session will provide a framework for the process of mentorship and the necessary skills to thrive in this role. We will explore the attributes needed to be an effective mentor and how the mentoring relationship can be harnessed to develop those skills as part of the learner’s professional development. Discussion will center on several established assessment strategies in orthopedic manual physical therapy fellowship training. We will provide insight into adapting mentorship strategies to both the entry level PT student and the post-professional learner. Additionally, participants will learn strategies to implement reflective writing in a learning environment for continued growth and to facilitate advanced clinical practice. We will discuss sponsorship as a distinct professional relationship that can help faculty and academic leaders ensure long-term professional growth for their mentees. The session will use small group discussions, group exercises, and think/pair/share exercises to help attendees learn how to integrate the tools presented during the session.
Clinical Reasoning: Where Do We Begin? Are We Teaching Best Practices as Manual Therapists?
Presenter(s): Josh Halfpap, Jon Umlauf, Chris Allen
This course will help bridge the gap between the clinical reasoning peer reviewed literature and the clinical/classroom application. In this interactive session we will discuss the background and importance of clinical reasoning concepts and established training strategies that have been utilized in entry level and advanced clinical and classroom environments. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about and use various clinical reasoning tools and approaches for the classroom and clinical settings. A majority of the session will involve small group breakouts for discussion, self-guided interaction, followed by whole group discussion for clinical reasoning topics.
Concussion Management: One Size Does Not Fit All
Presenter(s): Margaux Lojacono, Michey Shah, Brian McClenahan, Joe Lorenzetti
Attendees will acquire knowledge to recognize the different symptom profile presentations in patients following concussion. The attendee will perform screening techniques to help classify patients into the appropriate profile, differentiate between symptoms of concussion and whiplash associated disorder, and integrate OMPT and oculomotor assessment and treatment techniques into the examination and management of associated symptoms following concussion. Key management strategies will be presented in a case-based approach, with hands-on lab allowing for psychomotor skills development and application of clinical reasoning concepts upon return to the clinic.
Faculty Development Workshop
Presenter(s): Michael Bourassa, Eric Chaconas, Jodi Young, Wil Kolb, Michelle Dolphin
This course aims to provide the learner with the knowledge and skills to pursue various opportunities within academic settings. Transitioning from the clinic to an academic role is a challenge and many individuals do not know where to start. This course will focus on bridging the gap for clinically focused individuals as they look to begin the process of pursuing academic roles. Various roles of the faculty member will be discussed including, teaching, research and service. Current faculty members in various roles, program directors and hiring managers will be present to provide a current perspective on the best strategies to initiate a career in academia. The course will utilize a variety of different learning models including pre-course work, lectures, curricular development activities, and panel discussions to immerse the learner in the details entailed within a career in academics.
Inside Out or Outside In?: External Orthopaedic Evaluation and Treatment of Pelvic Floor Dysfunctions
Presenter(s): Helene Bengtsson, Jason Willarin, Kimberly McCole Durant, Dylan Ziehme
Pelvic health is often viewed as an untouchable, only internal approach. But when viewed through a much wider lens, the pelvic floor and lumbopelvic regions can become treatable by the OMPT. This course will provide an evidence-based lecture, interactive case study, and hands-on lab portion to thoroughly examine examination, evaluation, diagnostic and treatment process of lumbopelvic girdle pain and pelvic floor dysfunction. It will also examine when it is appropriate for treatment by the OMPT and when a referral to a pelvic floor training physical therapist is necessary. Lab attire is recommended for the lab portion. This course will not include internal examination techniques for the pelvic floor.
Patient Empowerment in Managing Chronic Low Back Pain
Presenter(s): Ronald Schenk, Michael Ross, Jane Borgehammer, Joe Lorenzetti
This preconference session aims to challenge clinicians in considering a systematic approach to chronic LBP classification and intervention. Through video analysis of a patient case, the session will outline a model for subgrouping patients with chronic neuromusculoskeletal and functional impairments. This interactive presentation, utilizing Poll Everywhere questions and psychomotor practice with feedback, will describe how mechanical assessment and intervention is used in concert with the previously validated Pain Mechanism Classification System (PMCS) to manage people experiencing chronic neuromusculoskeletal pain. Manual physical therapy procedures based on directional preference and the 2021 Lumbar Clinical Practice Guidelines will be practiced and analyzed in relation to the case.
Breakout Sessions (In-Person)
Master Clinician Session: Cervical Manipulation: Technique selection, performance, and therapeutic exercise integration
Master Clinician Session
Presenter(s): Kenneth Olson, Paul Lonnemann, Steven McDavitt
This breakout session will focus on an OMPT clinical reasoning approach to select specific cervical spine manipulation techniques, including thrust, non-thrust, and isometric manipulation, based on the results of key examination procedures. Lab instruction will include performance of cervical examination procedures (Part 1) and manipulation techniques (Part 2). Clinical reasoning and treatment integration of cervical manipulation with specific therapeutic exercises will be illustrated through presentation of a case report.
Chest Pain: Red Flags, Musculoskeletal Evaluation, and Assessment
Track: Advanced Clinical Skills and Trends
Presenter(s): Valerie Coolman, Tara Caberwal
This course provides a detailed look at the thoracic spine and associated pain referral patterns with emphasis on systems review for musculoskeletal and non-musculoskeletal causes of thoracic pain, differential diagnosis, and evaluation and assessment of a thoracic scanning exam to help guide clinical decision-making and plan of care.
Clinical Reasoning and Effective OMPT Management of Patients with Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders
Track: Advanced Clinical Skills and Trends
Presenter(s): Sarah McAuliffe, Kyle Denlinger, Alex Bengtsson
This session will focus on the evaluation and treatment of patients on the hypermobility spectrum. Specific emphasis will be placed on clinical reasoning strategies with focus on pain neurophysiology and examination of relevant systems for this population. Progression of range of motion and passive accessory testing will be highlighted to ensure thorough examination beyond what we might expect in average populations. Consideration will be given to the neurological, immunological, and cardiovascular systems as well, given the association with comorbidities such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) in this population. Furthermore, case-specific manual therapy interventions and exercise relevant to this population will be discussed, including lab components.
Conservative Management for a Painful Aunt Flo (Dysmenorrhea)
Track: Advanced Clinical Skills and Trends
Presenter(s): Kristina Koroyan, Helene Bengtsson, Raymond Butts
Visits from Aunt Flo, the Crimson Tide, “that time of the month”, and Lady Business are all euphemisms for menstruation used due to the stigmas surrounding the menstrual cycle. Historically, menstrual pain has had a significant negative connotation and impact on current society translating to a delay in diagnosis and treatment which has led to heightened pain processes and functional changes (ie., central sensitization). As physical therapists, we may need to be attentive to the psychosocial aspects of pain negatively impacting a woman’s quality of life & participation and also be well equipped to provide evidence-supported treatment interventions for women with dysmenorrhea. This course will provide an interactive, evidence-based lecture that will encompass anatomy, pathophysiology, etiology, differential diagnosis, screening for referral, evaluation approach and treatment options for dysmenorrhea. The lab portion will allow participants to demonstrate these treatment interventions that have been shown to effectively reduce pain and dysfunction through central nervous system mediated analgesia.
Directional Preference and the Cervical Spine Clinical Practice Guidelines
Track: Advanced Clinical Skills and Trends
Presenter(s): Ron Schenk, Michael Ross, Matthew Huey
This breakout session will provide an overview of the 2017 Cervical Spine Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) and where an integration of directional preference (DP) and OMPT principles may apply to the management of people with neck pain. Directional preference (DP) and centralization have been associated with favorable outcomes in managing people with low back pain, however evidence regarding DP and cervical spine outcomes is limited. Exercises and manual physical therapy procedures which support DP and centralization will be practiced, and a case study illustrating the relationships to CPG classification and intervention will be discussed and analyzed. An ongoing randomized clinical trial supporting the integration of DP and manual physical therapy will provide a framework for the session.
Get off My Nerves: Loaded Neurodynamics
Track: Advanced Clinical Skills and Trends
Presenter(s): Brandon Cruz
The purpose of this course is to teach evidence-based understanding and treatment of common and uncommon pathologies and neuropathic pain syndromes using Neurodynamics. There is a growing narrative that when using nerve mobilizations as a treatment, flossing is superior to tensioning. This belief results from the concept that greater excursion leads to decreased strain. While biomechanically different there is no clinical evidence that one type of technique is more effective or superior than the other. Each type of technique most likely has its place depending on the stages of tissue healing and aims of the intervention. How does this relate to function? Think of the pitcher who in the cocking phase; the individual is in a median nerve flossing position but those structures need to be able to tolerate the mechanical forces which will be exerted upon them. Another example is the soccer player who is kicking a ball, or a weightlifter about to perform a 700 pound straight leg deadlift. These actions place the neuraxis and sciatic nerve under tension. This course will educate and demonstrate the participants on loaded self-neural and combined joint mobilizations that can be used safely on patients. The hands-on portion of the course will allow participants to practice the techniques with guidance from the instructors.
Management of the Cervical Spine: "I've done manual therapy, now what?"
Track: Advanced Clinical Skills and Trends
Presenter(s): Nicole Baker, Caitlyn Lang, Tamara Shelton, Alexa Edwards
Orthopedic Manual Therapists are in a unique position to offer not only safe and effective manual therapy interventions but are also equipped to provide progressive therapeutic exercise to ensure adequate preparation for the demands of activity including return to sport. This session will present a phased approach to the treatment of cervical spine patients with focus on exercise progression from the table back to the field/court. Course attendees will participate in lecture and lab based learning including practicing exercises from the various phases as well as implementing progressions in case-based learning small groups.
Ocular Manual Therapy: A Vision for Enhancing Posture and the Nervous System
Track: Advanced Clinical Skills and Trends
Presenter(s): Jane Lucas, Gregory Johnson
It is said that the eyes are the window to the soul, but they are quite literally the receptors for significant information to the brain. They are the connection of the brain to the world. For this reason, ocular dysfunction can affect posture, the autonomic nervous system, the vestibular system, headaches/ migraines, sleep, peripheral nerve tension, and neck tightness. In this session, we will educate those attending about the connection of the eyes to the rest of the body. We will practice assessments of ocular dysfunction as a group so that the participants can see and feel the role of the eyes with the other systems in the body. Lastly, there will be a demonstration of a treatment, followed by re-testing the objective measures. When patients’ eyes are no longer straining but are working together, there is a huge change in their physical and emotional state. They feel lighter, more focused, and there is a general ease to the body. Considering the importance of the eyes, they are often overlooked by physical therapists. This session will seek to help participants understand this importance and consider adding evaluation, treatment, and referrals accordingly to their clinical practice.
Sympathetic Nervous System Suppression Training (SNSST): Training Our Patient’s Executive Decision Making Alongside Their Gross & Fine Motor Skills
Track: Advanced Clinical Skills and Trends
Presenter(s): Eric Wilson, Derek Vraa
This 90-minute session will comprise a 45-minute lecture with participatory mini-labs followed by a 45-minute immersive session in which the attendees will be able to participate, to the extent of their interest and physical capabilities, to a full spectrum of Sympathetic Nervous System Suppression Training. Events in the mini-labs and immersive sessions are taken from training that USAF Special Warfare physical therapists perform with their operators.
The Abdominal Exam: Recognizing Non-Musculoskeletal Conditions that May Warrant Referral to a Physician
Track: Advanced Clinical Skills and Trends
Presenter(s): Craig Hensley, Emmanuel Yung
This session will briefly discuss the importance of screening the abdominal region for non-musculoskeletal health conditions that may warrant referral to a physician, with emphasis on visceral and cardiac conditions. Evidence will be discussed regarding the sensitivity and specificity of the abdominal exam. An inductive reasoning approach will be used in demonstrating the abdominal exam followed by a practice session. Example cases where the abdominal exam played a critical role in determining appropriate management will be discussed.
The Sacroiliac Joint: An Enigma or Just Another Link in the Chain
Track: Advanced Clinical Skills and Trends
Presenter(s): Michael Maninang
The first 45 minute session is a lecture presenting the most current evidence on sacroiliac joint dysfunction. The second 45 minute session is a hands-on demonstration of OMPT examination and intervention techniques with participant practice of the most relevant techniques.
"I Feel the Need, the Need for Speed" How to Perform an Impactful Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis in Under a Year. From Just an Idea to Being Published.
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Cody Mansfield
This session will teach the basics behind performing a systematic review, and how a clinician can lead an impactful review project. This session will cover the following: 1) The different types of reviews out there 2) How to develop your question using PICO 3) Picking your co-authorship team 4) Creating a protocol, a head of time. 5) Search strategy 6) Article selection and extraction 7) Synthesis of results 8) Meta-analysis using RevMan 9) Dissemination
“Practice Alone Does Not Make Perfect”: Applying Principles of Motor Learning and Behavior Change in Learning OMPT techniques.
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Myra Meekins, Penny Head, Trish King
Physical therapists utilize principles of motor learning to improve the performance of motor tasks in patient care. Likewise, physical therapists utilize principles from behavior change theory to address patient education and adherence. These principles can also be utilized in the teaching and learning of orthopaedic manual physical therapy skills required for competency in entry-level, residency, and fellowship physical therapy programs. This course will review motor learning theory, including the more recent OPTIMAL learning theory, and its application in teaching orthopaedic manual techniques. In addition, participants will learn evidence-based strategies to facilitate student learning and performance in orthopaedic manual therapy.
A Novel Strategy to Advance Student OMPT Skills While Advancing the Musculoskeletal Care for an Underserved Community
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Gretchen Seif, Nicholas Orton, Spencer Cowen, Courtney Mason, Megan Donaldson, Preston Miller
This session will detail the student's qualitative experience and learning outcomes on manual therapy at the CARES clinic, the professional impact of this exposure on the students, and their desire to seek residency or fellowship training. Additionally, this session will highlight ways faculty in entry-level DPT programs can utilize a student-run free clinic to foster OMPT skills. We will have case examples of student participation and projects that led to orthopedic residencies and OMPT fellowships. Finally, we will have resources available to attendees of tools utilized at the clinic.
A Script of Ice and Fire: The Use of Cold and Heat Exposure to Increase Systemic Health and Optimize Physical Recovery
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Peter Zorn
Cold immersion and sauna-bathing are an ancient traditions that have gained recent popularity in the health field due to a growing number of anecdotal reports on their improvements in the realm of physical wellness. However, there is also a growing body of medical evidence supporting the role of these modalities as a form of treatment for a range of health issues. Whether the goal is to improve cardiovascular function, reduce inflammation, promote restful sleep, increase mental resilience, or stimulate tissue repair, as physical therapists, we may utilize these techniques to impact our patient’s recovery and increase the level of care we are able to provide. As these treatment options are generally available to the public at minimal cost, and are able to demonstrate a significant impact on an individual’s physical function, it is important that we as physical therapists are well equipped to provide evidence supported treatment and education to those who can benefit from these interventions. This course will provide a lecture comprised of the most relevant evidence-based research, protocols for optimizing patient outcomes based on diagnosis, and an interactive case series to allow participants to demonstrate their understanding of these treatment interventions that have been shown to effective in improving systemic function and increasing rate of recovery.
An Impairment-Based Guide to Clinical Reasoning for Students & Educators: Extrapolating a Regional TBC to the Body as a Whole
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Eric Wilson, Derek Vraa
While there are numerous innovative methods for assessing a student's clinical reasoning, there is a paucity of evidence on the best methods in which to guide a student’s clinical reasoning in the outpatient, orthopedic setting. This session will utilize the Treatment-Based Classification for LBP (Alrwaily, 2016 & Alrwaily, 2017) as a template and demonstrate how it can be generalized or extrapolated for musculoskeletal impairments for other regions of the body. This method can streamline a student’s thought processes, thus uncluttering their clinical decision making. Using this as a guide, we believe students can better understand where their patients fit into the model and can better visualize the path forward to progress them along the rehabilitation continuum.
Are Post Professional Program Learners Improving Their Clinical Reasoning?
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Stephanie Pascoe, Kristin Smith
This session will provide the participants with an evidence informed definition of clinical reasoning and compare this definition with definitions of clinical reasoning provided by post-professional participants. The presenters will discuss available clinical reasoning assessment tools and will share an example of how post professional learners are assessed on clinical reasoning and how the outcomes of this assessment changes throughout their post-professional structured curriculum.
Cancer: Not Always A Contraindication to Manual Therapy
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Leanna Blanchard, Morgan Zaranex, Katlin Millin Daignault
According to the National Cancer Institute, as of January 2019 there were an estimated 16.9 million cancer survivors in the United States, with the number of survivors projected to increase to 22.2 million by 2030. Based on this data, it is increasingly likely that the orthopaedic manual physical therapist will encounter patients and survivors of cancer in their practice. This session will focus on identifying the benefits, risks, and evidence surrounding the use of orthopaedic manual physical therapy in patients with and survivors of cancer. The existing literature on manual therapy in the oncology population will be highlighted, as well as evidence related to red-flag screening and pertinent oncologic emergencies. Presenters will discuss potential mechanisms of cancer-related pain and propose a clinical reasoning framework for clinicians to utilize in the context of bone metastases.
Cervicogenic Dizziness: Integrating Manual Therapy to your Dizzy Patients
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Steven Spinks, Josh Subialka
Clinical decision-making for the outpatient physical therapist treating the dizzy population can be challenging, especially when you may be unfamiliar with their presentation. In this clinical session, we will discuss the OMPT management for cervicogenic dizziness and its tie to vestibular pathologies and post-concussive symptoms seen in the clinic. We will discuss an OMPT case of cervicogenic dizziness and post-concussion symptoms with evidence-based treatments for this patient.
Entrustable Professional Activities in Clinical Practice: Making Decisions to Identify Advanced Practitioners
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Brett Windsor, Carl De Rosa
The session will begin with a brief description of the history of Competency-Based Education (CBE) and how it is beginning to integrate into pre-professional level physical therapist education. Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) will be defined and participants will be provided with a continuum of EPAs which separate pre-professional from residency from fellowship-level practice. Participants will also be presented with entrustment scales that detail how the EPAs and their associated objectives can be integrated into the workplace through 1:1 clinical mentoring sessions, including details on how to build narrative feedback designed to improve performance. Finally, participants will have the ability to 'mock grade' a mentoring session aimed at one or more specific advanced practitioner-level EPAs.
How to Make a Bad Presentation
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Cody Mansfield, Nick Gulla, Kenneth Kirby
This presentation is titled How to Make a Bad Presentation. However, our true goal, is to help you avoid death by PowerPoint at your next presentation. Seventy-five percent of people are afraid of public speaking and experience anxiety when they have to do it. Often times, PowerPoint is used as a crutch with lots of words on individual slides, rather than as a visual aide. Our presentations aim to teach you how to make an engaging PowerPoint presentation and reduce your fear of public speaking. Our presentation is broken up into 3 phases: Phase 1 (15 minutes) -Tell various unique stories about public speaking successes and failures. -Give examples of the consequences of poorly formatted PowerPoint slides. -Provide tips to reduce fear of public speaking. -Provide statistics on aspects of PowerPoint presentation that engages the audience or puts them to sleep. Phase 2 (15 minutes) -Show examples of well formatted and poorly formatted PowerPoint slides. -Demonstrate tips and tricks in PowerPoint to make the creation of an engaging PowerPoint easy. Phase 3 -Bring it all together. -How to tell a story in your presentation. -Completing an arc in the presentation with a through line. -Higher level presentation skills. -How to generate a presentation for the type of venue (i.e. conference, community, class, online). -Difference between a primer verse a PowerPoint presentation.
Managing Pain Perception through Expectancy Violations and Attention Alterations
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Carly Seethaler, Ryan Vickers, James Maggert
Alterations in expectations and pain attention influence the neuromodulatory gain control in the somatosensory cortex. Expectancy violation is a strategy used in the mental health field and can be translated to use in the physical therapy realm. By utilizing expectancy violations and alterations in pain attention through regularly provided targeted education in a patient’s plan of care, orthopaedic physical therapists are uniquely positioned to improve the patient’s subjective pain report, influence the patient’s biomechanical impairments, and improve the patient’s self-perceived functional status.
Matching Manual Therapy Interventions to IASP Dominant Pain Mechanisms
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Chad Cook, Louie Puentedura
The session includes a brief lecture discussing manual therapy frameworks associated with dominant pain mechanisms and case reports that allow the audience to “vote” on the appropriate treatment framework based on the patient presentation (and subsequent IASP pain mechanism classification).
Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome: Targeted Treatment Approaches for Downregulating the Nervous System
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Sean Kennedy, Brian Duncan
The complex clinical presentation of neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (nTOS), combined with a lack of high-quality evidence for rehabilitation strategies, can prove a difficult pathology to manage for rehab professionals. The presenters in this session, physical therapists from Memorial Hermann’s Rockets Sports Medicine Institute, will highlight the pathophysiology and rehabilitation strategies for successful treatment of patients with nTOS. Functional anatomy, patient presentation, and conservative and post-operative management will be discussed. Physical Therapy management options will range from neuromuscular re-education to patient education, but for the purposes of this session will focus primarily on targeted treatments, including manual interventions, aimed at downregulating the nervous system to improve patient outcomes. Furthermore, the presenters will discuss proposed patient presentation categories to improve treatment selection. The presenters will also explore the role of the thoracic outlet in overhead athletes and its effect on clinical objective measures. This presentation will provide the participant practical knowledge and tools to maximize recognition and appropriate treatment for nTOS. Lecture, video and case studies will help the provider best select treatment strategies for this complex patient population.
Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists as Primary Spine Practitioners
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Brad Profitt
This session will introduce the clinician to the concept of the Primary Spine Practitioner and, most importantly, to the clinical framework used at the University of Pittsburgh to guide diagnosis and clinical decision making central to functioning as a PSP. Emphasis will be placed on how classification systems, manual therapy and active care are integrated within this clinical framework and are best utilized synergistically.
Pain Phenotypes and Manual Therapy – Now’s the Time
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Adriaan Louw, Louie Puentedura
It is reported globally nearly one in four people in the world experience some form of persistent pain, with musculoskeletal pain being one of the most common persistent pain states. In this case, manual therapist regularly encounters patients with persistent (back, neck, knee, shoulder, etc.) pain. A renewed focus on Louis Gifford and Keith Smart’s pain mechanisms is now driving pain phentotyping to new levels of understanding and implementation – including medicine. Pain phenotyping clearly shows three pain states – nociceptive, peripheral neuropathic and central/nociplastic. The importance is that these pain classifications should drive clinical decision making including screening tools, subjective evaluations, physical tests and treatments, including manual therapy. This session aim to update attendees on the latest developments and understanding of pain phenotyping and how it impacts daily clinical practice for the manual therapist.
Person-Centered Self-Management Support for People with Musculoskeletal Pain Conditions
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Nathan Hutting
In this session, a recently published framework to support clinicians to deliver person-centered care in musculoskeletal practice will be presented. This framework consists of three overarching key principles: 1) a biopsychosocial understanding of the person’s experience; 2) person-focused communication; and 3) supported self-management. An evidence based practical approach to providing person-centered self-management support will be presented, including examples and recently developed tools.
Rethinking the Nature of SINSS: A Modern Pain Science Approach
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Kevin L. MacPherson
The focus of this section will be to merge existing pain science research with a prevalent OMPT construct, SINSS (Severity, Irritability, Nature, Stage, Stability), in a manner that may better direct care and determine prognosis. Through the use of traditional lecture and case presentations, this session will provide the attendees a modern take on the “Nature” of pain by through the use of the current evidence and terminology established by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP).
Social Media: Meaningful Engagement for Beginners and Experts
Track: Professional and Advocacy Issues
Presenter(s): Christine Kasprisin, Jason Silvernail
Social Media is a powerful tool that can be used to reach the public, market your services, brand the profession, and establish yourself as an expert. However, many professionals feel unsure of the technology, worried about criticism for saying the wrong thing, and reluctant to risk online troll behavior and suffer brand damage This session will address those concerns and take attendees from almost zero knowledge of Social Media to being able to regularly create meaningful online content. We will review tools, techniques, and most importantly the mindset you can use to be comfortable in this space to include navigating applications and dealing with negative feedback.
Teaching Person Centered Clinical Reasoning
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Mark Shepherd, Tom Adderly
Teaching PTs clinical reasoning skills can be challenging. Modern PT care has focused on treatment-based classification and clinical practice guidelines in order to be an evidence-based clinician, but does this approach fully appreciate the person sitting across from you? This session will introduce a person-centered clinical reasoning framework that builds off guideline informed care. This session will demonstrate specific examples of how the person-centered reasoning approach is taught within fellowship training. The goal of this session is for the participant to have a better understanding of the person-centered reasoning approach and how to implement within their own training program - whether that be with DPT students, residents, and/or fellows-in-training.
The Struggle to Be Better: How to Apply Deliberate Practice within OMPT to Improve Clinical Performance & Outcomes
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Andrew Golden, Bradley Tragord
Most physical therapists naturally desire to be better – to improve their clinical skills and patient outcomes. Many believe this can be accomplished with more years of experience, more continuing education courses, more credentials, or more advanced education. However, the literature fails to support any of these approaches. Extensive research in other professions strongly supports the application of deliberate practice to promote personal development and expertise. This session will discuss how the concepts of deliberate practice can be applied to OMPT practice in order to truly improve clinical skills and patient outcomes. The session will thoroughly discuss the main components of deliberate practice and provide a roadmap for implementing these components to promote continuous, meaningful clinical development. This session will benefit OMPT clinicians looking to achieve personal growth and residency/fellowship faculty looking to guide the clinical growth of others.
Transforming the Future: Implementing Competency Based Learning in Teaching
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): John Heick, Tarang Jain
This session is intended to discuss competency-based learning that has been implemented in teaching specific to differential diagnosis and manual therapy. The session is geared towards enhancing educational approaches for entry-level DPT students, residents, or fellows.
Translating Quantitative Sensory Testing Research to its Pragmatic Implications for Manual Therapy
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Scott W. Lowe
This lecture session will empower learners to better understand the use of QST for gauging potential nociplastic changes, both in research settings as well as for individuals in the clinic. Secondly, it will provide ideas for pragmatic implementation of manual treatment based on use of quantitative data, both from theory as well as from actual patient information collected by the provider. Case studies will be utilized throughout to demonstrate examples of both clinical QST data collection as well as ideas for how to use these findings in making treatment selections.
Transverse Tarsal Joint Assessment and Manipulations: Maximizing Foot Function
Track: Advanced Clinical Skills and Trends
Presenter(s): David Kempfert, Amanda Grant, Catherine Patla
This presentation explores the process of decision making through the use of anatomy and biomechanics to assess and treat the transverse tarsal joint. Lab presentations and practice will offer the participant hands on experience to facilitate learning to clinical practice. The use of case presentations shall facilitate discussions and application to clinical use. Participants will be involved in hands-on guided practice to facilitate self-appraisal of their performance to identify areas of both bias and self-improvement.
Updating Training Paradigms in Orthopaedic Manual Therapy Education: Consensus Recommendations from an International Delphi
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Damian Keter, Kenneth Learman
This learning session will outline and discuss the findings from an international Delphi which was completed on OMT education. We will discuss content areas which should be focused on and omitted from OMT education based on consensus findings, as well as what trainees should focus on when demonstrating techniques. We will furthermore discuss the consensus recommendations on how to identify candidates for OMT. We will discuss trends observed and potential application of these concepts to current and developing OMT education paradigms.
Using the Force to Enhance Orthopedic Manual Therapy Proficiency
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Samuel Howarth, David Starmer, Martha Funabashi
This session will be broken into two sections. The first section will describe the critical force-time characteristics of OMT procedures and highlight the latest evidence of connecting these characteristics to neurophysiological effects of OMT procedures. This information will provide a basis for the second section that will focus on how objective feedback in the form of force-time characteristics can be used to enhance OMT proficiency. Different active learning strategies will be used throughout to engage the audience.
Breakout Sessions (Virtual)
"I Feel the Need, the Need for Speed" How to Perform an Impactful Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis in Under a Year. From Just an Idea to Being Published.
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Cody Mansfield
This session will teach the basics behind performing a systematic review, and how a clinician can lead an impactful review project. This session will cover the following: 1) The different types of reviews out there 2) How to develop your question using PICO 3) Picking your co-authorship team 4) Creating a protocol, a head of time. 5) Search strategy 6) Article selection and extraction 7) Synthesis of results 8) Meta-analysis using RevMan 9) Dissemination
“Practice Alone Does Not Make Perfect”: Applying Principles of Motor Learning and Behavior Change in Learning OMPT Techniques
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Myra Meekins, Penny Head, Trish King
Physical therapists utilize principles of motor learning to improve the performance of motor tasks in patient care. Likewise, physical therapists utilize principles from behavior change theory to address patient education and adherence. These principles can also be utilized in the teaching and learning of orthopaedic manual physical therapy skills required for competency in entry-level, residency, and fellowship physical therapy programs. This course will review motor learning theory, including the more recent OPTIMAL learning theory, and its application in teaching orthopaedic manual techniques. In addition, participants will learn evidence-based strategies to facilitate student learning and performance in orthopaedic manual therapy.
Are Post Professional Program Learners Improving Their Clinical Reasoning?
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Stephanie Pascoe, Kristin Smith
This session will provide the participants with an evidence informed definition of clinical reasoning and compare this definition with definitions of clinical reasoning provided by post-professional participants. The presenters will discuss available clinical reasoning assessment tools and will share an example of how post professional learners are assessed on clinical reasoning and how the outcomes of this assessment changes throughout their post-professional structured curriculum.
A Novel Strategy to Advance Student OMPT Skills While Advancing the Musculoskeletal Care for an Underserved Community
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Gretchen Seif, Nicholas Orton, Spencer Cowen, Courtney Mason, Megan Donaldson, Preston Miller
This session will detail the student's qualitative experience and learning outcomes on manual therapy at the CARES clinic, the professional impact of this exposure on the students, and their desire to seek residency or fellowship training. Additionally, this session will highlight ways faculty in entry-level DPT programs can utilize a student-run free clinic to foster OMPT skills. We will have case examples of student participation and projects that led to orthopedic residencies and OMPT fellowships. Finally, we will have resources available to attendees of tools utilized at the clinic.
A Script of Ice and Fire: The Use of Cold and Heat Exposure to Increase Systemic Health and Optimize Physical Recovery
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Peter Zorn
Cold immersion and sauna-bathing are an ancient traditions that have gained recent popularity in the health field due to a growing number of anecdotal reports on their improvements in the realm of physical wellness. However, there is also a growing body of medical evidence supporting the role of these modalities as a form of treatment for a range of health issues. Whether the goal is to improve cardiovascular function, reduce inflammation, promote restful sleep, increase mental resilience, or stimulate tissue repair, as physical therapists, we may utilize these techniques to impact our patient’s recovery and increase the level of care we are able to provide. As these treatment options are generally available to the public at minimal cost, and are able to demonstrate a significant impact on an individual’s physical function, it is important that we as physical therapists are well equipped to provide evidence supported treatment and education to those who can benefit from these interventions. This course will provide a lecture comprised of the most relevant evidence-based research, protocols for optimizing patient outcomes based on diagnosis, and an interactive case series to allow participants to demonstrate their understanding of these treatment interventions that have been shown to effective in improving systemic function and increasing rate of recovery.
Cancer: Not Always a Contraindication to Manual Therapy
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Leanna Blanchard, Morgan Zaranec, Katlin Millin Daignault
According to the National Cancer Institute, as of January 2019 there were an estimated 16.9 million cancer survivors in the United States, with the number of survivors projected to increase to 22.2 million by 2030. Based on this data, it is increasingly likely that the orthopaedic manual physical therapist will encounter patients and survivors of cancer in their practice. This session will focus on identifying the benefits, risks, and evidence surrounding the use of orthopaedic manual physical therapy in patients with and survivors of cancer. The existing literature on manual therapy in the oncology population will be highlighted, as well as evidence related to red-flag screening and pertinent oncologic emergencies. Presenters will discuss potential mechanisms of cancer-related pain and propose a clinical reasoning framework for clinicians to utilize in the context of bone metastases.
Cervicogenic Dizziness: Integrating Manual Therapy to your Dizzy Patients
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Steven Spinks, Josh Subialka
Clinical decision-making for the outpatient physical therapist treating the dizzy population can be challenging, especially when you may be unfamiliar with their presentation. In this clinical session, we will discuss the OMPT management for cervicogenic dizziness and its tie to vestibular pathologies and post-concussive symptoms seen in the clinic. We will discuss an OMPT case of cervicogenic dizziness and post-concussion symptoms with evidence-based treatments for this patient.
Entrustable Professional Activities in Clinical Practice: Making Decisions Decisions to Identify Advanced Practitioners
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Brett Windsor, Carl De Rosa
The session will begin with a brief description of the history of Competency-Based Education (CBE) and how it is beginning to integrate into pre-professional level physical therapist education. Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) will be defined and participants will be provided with a continuum of EPAs which separate pre-professional from residency from fellowship-level practice. Participants will also be presented with entrustment scales that detail how the EPAs and their associated objectives can be integrated into the workplace through 1:1 clinical mentoring sessions, including details on how to build narrative feedback designed to improve performance. Finally, participants will have the ability to 'mock grade' a mentoring session aimed at one or more specific advanced practitioner-level EPAs.
How to Make a Bad Presentation
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Cody Mansfield, Nick Gulla, Kenneth Kirby
This presentation is titled How to Make a Bad Presentation. However, our true goal, is to help you avoid death by PowerPoint at your next presentation. Seventy-five percent of people are afraid of public speaking and experience anxiety when they have to do it. Often times, PowerPoint is used as a crutch with lots of words on individual slides, rather than as a visual aide. Our presentations aim to teach you how to make an engaging PowerPoint presentation and reduce your fear of public speaking. Our presentation is broken up into 3 phases: Phase 1 (15 minutes) -Tell various unique stories about public speaking successes and failures. -Give examples of the consequences of poorly formatted PowerPoint slides. -Provide tips to reduce fear of public speaking. -Provide statistics on aspects of PowerPoint presentation that engages the audience or puts them to sleep. Phase 2 (15 minutes) -Show examples of well formatted and poorly formatted PowerPoint slides. -Demonstrate tips and tricks in PowerPoint to make the creation of an engaging PowerPoint easy. Phase 3 -Bring it all together. -How to tell a story in your presentation. -Completing an arc in the presentation with a through line. -Higher level presentation skills. -How to generate a presentation for the type of venue (i.e. conference, community, class, online). -Difference between a primer verse a PowerPoint presentation.
Managing Pain Perception through Expectancy Violations and Attention Alterations
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Carly Seethaler, Ryan Vickers, James Maggert
Alterations in expectations and pain attention influence the neuromodulatory gain control in the somatosensory cortex. Expectancy violation is a strategy used in the mental health field and can be translated to use in the physical therapy realm. By utilizing expectancy violations and alterations in pain attention through regularly provided targeted education in a patient’s plan of care, orthopaedic physical therapists are uniquely positioned to improve the patient’s subjective pain report, influence the patient’s biomechanical impairments, and improve the patient’s self-perceived functional status.
Matching Manual Therapy Interventions to IASP Dominant Pain Mechanisms
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Chad Cook, Louie Puentedura
The session includes a brief lecture discussing manual therapy frameworks associated with dominant pain mechanisms and case reports that allow the audience to “vote” on the appropriate treatment framework based on the patient presentation (and subsequent IASP pain mechanism classification).
Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome: Targeted Treatment Approaches for Downregulating the Nervous System
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Sean Kennedy, Brian Duncan
The complex clinical presentation of neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (nTOS), combined with a lack of high-quality evidence for rehabilitation strategies, can prove a difficult pathology to manage for rehab professionals. The presenters in this session, physical therapists from Memorial Hermann’s Rockets Sports Medicine Institute, will highlight the pathophysiology and rehabilitation strategies for successful treatment of patients with nTOS. Functional anatomy, patient presentation, and conservative and post-operative management will be discussed. Physical Therapy management options will range from neuromuscular re-education to patient education, but for the purposes of this session will focus primarily on targeted treatments, including manual interventions, aimed at downregulating the nervous system to improve patient outcomes. Furthermore, the presenters will discuss proposed patient presentation categories to improve treatment selection. The presenters will also explore the role of the thoracic outlet in overhead athletes and its effect on clinical objective measures. This presentation will provide the participant practical knowledge and tools to maximize recognition and appropriate treatment for nTOS. Lecture, video and case studies will help the provider best select treatment strategies for this complex patient population.
Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists as Primary Spine Practitioners
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Brad Profitt
This session will introduce the clinician to the concept of the Primary Spine Practitioner and, most importantly, to the clinical framework used at the University of Pittsburgh to guide diagnosis and clinical decision making central to functioning as a PSP. Emphasis will be placed on how classification systems, manual therapy and active care are integrated within this clinical framework and are best utilized synergistically.
Pain Phenotypes and Manual Therapy – Now’s the Time
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Adriaan Louw, Louie Puentedura
It is reported globally nearly one in four people in the world experience some form of persistent pain, with musculoskeletal pain being one of the most common persistent pain states. In this case, manual therapist regularly encounters patients with persistent (back, neck, knee, shoulder, etc.) pain. A renewed focus on Louis Gifford and Keith Smart’s pain mechanisms is now driving pain phentotyping to new levels of understanding and implementation – including medicine. Pain phenotyping clearly shows three pain states – nociceptive, peripheral neuropathic and central/nociplastic. The importance is that these pain classifications should drive clinical decision making including screening tools, subjective evaluations, physical tests and treatments, including manual therapy. This session aim to update attendees on the latest developments and understanding of pain phenotyping and how it impacts daily clinical practice for the manual therapist.
Person-Centered Self-Management Support for People with Musculoskeletal Pain Conditions
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Nathan Hutting
In this session, a recently published framework to support clinicians to deliver person-centered care in musculoskeletal practice will be presented. This framework consists of three overarching key principles: 1) a biopsychosocial understanding of the person’s experience; 2) person-focused communication; and 3) supported self-management. An evidence based practical approach to providing person-centered self-management support will be presented, including examples and recently developed tools.
Rethinking the Nature of SINSS: A modern Pain Science Approach
Track: Translational Knowledge Strategies
Presenter(s): Kevin L. MacPherson
The focus of this section will be to merge existing pain science research with a prevalent OMPT construct, SINSS (Severity, Irritability, Nature, Stage, Stability), in a manner that may better direct care and determine prognosis. Through the use of traditional lecture and case presentations, this session will provide the attendees a modern take on the “Nature” of pain by through the use of the current evidence and terminology established by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP).
Social Media: Meaningful Engagement for Beginners and Experts
Track: Professional and Advocacy Issues
Presenter(s): Christine Kasprisin, Jason Silvernail
Social Media is a powerful tool that can be used to reach the public, market your services, brand the profession, and establish yourself as an expert. However, many professionals feel unsure of the technology, worried about criticism for saying the wrong thing, and reluctant to risk online troll behavior and suffer brand damage This session will address those concerns and take attendees from almost zero knowledge of Social Media to being able to regularly create meaningful online content. We will review tools, techniques, and most importantly the mindset you can use to be comfortable in this space to include navigating applications and dealing with negative feedback.
The Struggle to Be Better: How to Apply Deliberate Practice within OMPT to Improve Clinical Performance & Outcomes
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Andrew Golden, Bradley Tragord
Most physical therapists naturally desire to be better – to improve their clinical skills and patient outcomes. Many believe this can be accomplished with more years of experience, more continuing education courses, more credentials, or more advanced education. However, the literature fails to support any of these approaches. Extensive research in other professions strongly supports the application of deliberate practice to promote personal development and expertise. This session will discuss how the concepts of deliberate practice can be applied to OMPT practice in order to truly improve clinical skills and patient outcomes. The session will thoroughly discuss the main components of deliberate practice and provide a roadmap for implementing these components to promote continuous, meaningful clinical development. This session will benefit OMPT clinicians looking to achieve personal growth and residency/fellowship faculty looking to guide the clinical growth of others.
Using the Force to Enhance Orthopedic Manual Therapy Proficiency
Track: Teaching, Mentoring, Education Trends
Presenter(s): Samuel Howarth, David Starmer, Martha Funabashi
This session will be broken into two sections. The first section will describe the critical force-time characteristics of OMT procedures and highlight the latest evidence of connecting these characteristics to neurophysiological effects of OMT procedures. This information will provide a basis for the second section that will focus on how objective feedback in the form of force-time characteristics can be used to enhance OMT proficiency. Different active learning strategies will be used throughout to engage the audience.