09/26/2010 Post Note:
We had a great time discovering the many hopeful and creative ways women and their families can use emerging mindbody science in their journey through cancer care.
Here are the notes/slides from my presentation: The New Science of Awareness & Movement in Cancer Care.
Hope to see you at this exciting program where I'll be presenting at 12:15 after lunch.
Please let the editorial staff at the Yoga Journal know if you share my concern re: the below referenced article.
Copyright prohibits me from scanning the referenced posture and it isn't on their website.
The subject is supine, with blocks behind her upper thoracic spine and sacrum, arms crossed over her chest with her head rotated right and cervical spine in extension and head resting on the floor. No mention of what to do if the person experiences vision changes, nausea or other symptoms.
The letter ( letters@yogajournal.com ):
September 11, 2010
Re: The October 2010 article "Soothe a Tense Neck"
Dear Editor,
Please be advised that the posture in the page 92 is dangerous and inappropriate for your audience. Speaking as an expert legal witness in yoga injuries, you should know that the position is part of what is known as the Vertebral Artery Test (http://ptjournal.apta.org/cgi/content/full/85/6/589).
This test is used by licensed manual therapists (DO, PT, DC) to screen for the rare, but possible occlusion of the vertebral arteries that supply the brain with blood. An individual performing this maneuver without screening by a professional that knows this test is at risk for stroke or death. Hence this technique requires more than a cursory physician's nod. Your disclaimer in your "Letters" section and on pg 90 within the article are fine for protecting unstable knees etc, but grossly insufficient for this potentially life threatening position.
It only takes one "harming" incident to bring down on the Yoga community regulatory over site and restrictions. Let's work together to avoid this by keeping our students and teachers safe.
I would be happy to work with you to craft an appropriate errata or update to prevent himsa.
Thank you for considering this literally life or death situation.
Sincerely,
Matthew J. Taylor • PT, PhD
Past president, International Association of Yoga Therapists
www.yogaexpertwitness.com
What if therapeutic exercise actually changed your patient's reality right now, right there in the clinic, AND they knew instinctively what to do next?
It can, it will…once we step up to claim the full power of our scope of practice to go beyond mere stength/flexibility mindsets to literally trans-form lives.
Don't believe what I am saying?
… give yourself the gift of the experience instead.
Take 65 minutes to nourish your mindbody connection this week by following along with this simple class I taught last month.
Have fun with this one!
Push the Play Button to Listen
The DSR MethodTM : What we pay attention to & How we pay attention….changes every-thing!
Let me know what your experience was….
What is the point of creating exciting new programs and products in rehabilitation if no one can find you or access more information about them?
To that end I offered the following marketing checklist to Jeff Ostrowski, PT and managing editor of the PPS's IMPACT magazine.
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Turns out there was a recurrent ad running in the issue for a web optimization company and they didn't have their website's URL anywhere on the ad!?!
So be sure everyone in your group does just like the pilot that kicks the tires on your plane before every flight….complete the checklist before any piece of paper leaves the office or you computer.
It is an exciting new world out there….don't get left on the sidelines!
What other checklists do you use in your organization?
So often in rehabilitation the activity/effort portion of exercise receives the emphasis and little attention is paid to rest/recovery.
Harder, further, faster….
What ever happened to bringing balance into the work/recovery cycle of exercise?
On first blush, in recovery nothing seems to be happening…and it doesn't make much of video or action shot!
But what if the rehab pro was trained in leading the mind to deeper levels of awareness and insight by "moving" attention? (Seriously, do you still limit movement to just gross movement of physical body after reading the literature on imagery? )
We know the homunculus would be lighting up as the inner world is explored and discovered.But what would be the experience for the patient/client? How would they feel?
Would they pay for it?
To the last question I can assure you, yes they'll pay and then go tell all of their friends about their amazing experience at your office.
Don't believe me?
Follow me on the 64 min Ther Ex x 4 audio file below. You can download to your MP3 player as well. Feel free to push it to your friends and clients too. Just link back to this page please as a credit.
Push the Play Button to Listen
Well, what do you think/feel?
That's just a small part of the DSR Method. And you can get a similar effect in less than 10 minutes!
In my research at the Courage Center in MN we discovered how many of our colleagues were "playing in pain." Pain from:
Now this month in the Physical Therapy Journal there is an important study (see below for link and summary) that examines what turns out to be a far too common phenomena:
PTs and OTs in higher than normal levels experience pain
and continue to work with it!
What's most shocking is why. For the PTs at least, branded as heroes/heroines and sages by their national association, the reasons are neither brave nor smart.
What is needed is what I blogged about last month: Rehab Burnout
As professionals that are trained and practice in a disassociated mindbody manner, we ignore, work through and press on, ignoring our own important mindbody relationship….and in the end both we and our patients suffer as a result. My colleague Matt Sanford delivers a powerful 50 min keynote here to young healthcare students…make time to listen. When the peers we worked with in MN began to tend to their own mindbody relationship, not only did they soar, but it spilled over to their patients as well.
When is this insanity going to stop?
Hard to tell. I was scheduled to be in Boston tomorrow to teach a 2-day pre-conference on Mindfulness in PT….but no one signed up and we were scratched from the docket.
Hmmmmm, and we talk about our patients being clueless???
So this summer I'm going to roll out a new way of being in rehab…it's going to blow past all the deadwood CEU material and address US….the rehab pros and our urgent need for creativity and change within a culture of fear and self neglect.
In the meantime, what are your thoughts/experiences around this topic of rehab pros "playing in pain"?
PHYS THER
Vol. 90, No. 6, June 2010, pp. 905-920
"The participants noted substantial effects of work-related pain at work, at home, and in their career plans. All of the therapists were concerned about their potential clinical longevity. The professional culture complicated these effects by forcing therapists into a professional ideal."
Please send this along to your network…it has to stop.
Thanks!
Be sure to sign up for the newsletter in the left margin to learn about the new training and hit the RSS to follow this blog.
I had the chance to visit with Jeff Worrell of PTTalker.com a month ago. The interview ended up running into a Part II as we had so much to discuss about how the future of physical therapy and rehabilitation in general needs to catch up with the science of movement.
Jeff did his homework ahead of time and was very professional in guiding the conversation. Part I is linked here and runs 13 min. He has the option for you to download the MP3 file for later listening as well. Part II is linked here and offers an exciting vision to the emerging possibilities for rehab professionals.
How do you use emerging science in your practice?
What do you see as the future of rehabilitation?
Do you use any mindbody techniques that are waiting for evidence "justification"?
If you have ideas you would like to share, contact Wendy at Jeff's office to have them consider interviewing you. Email: wordresults@yahoo.com
What's a clinician to do when the rules of certainty….uhmm, aren't certain?
What do we use then to know we "know" what our patients need?
Well, that's the conundrum the certainty crowd faced with this report in June 2010. Now the certainty slips even further away with this report in June 2011 on CPR's for LBP. …And now more discussion of the implications here http://www.ozpt.com/res2.html
"The current body of evidence does not enable confident direct clinical application of any of the identified CPRs."
Clinical prediction rules in the physiotherapy management of low back pain: A systematic review Robin Haskins, Darren A. Rivett, Peter G. Osmotherly
Critical Appraisal of Clinical Prediction Rules (CPR) That Aim to Optimize Treatment Selection for Musculoskeletal Conditions
Vol. 90, No. 6, June 2010, pp. 843-854.
Turns out there's no "good" evidence there is evidence that CPR's provide much direction or surety in treatment selection in PT.
Yikes!
I blogged about the shortcomings of this whole perspective back in April here in The Player Piano.
To my way of seeing this world, the whole fear-based scramble for certainty strips rehab of its vitality and creative process, short circuiting innovation and what Seth Godin describes as art in his latest book Linch Pin.
Surely we can invest more time and effort into innovation than we do in predicting? Failure to do so robs the next generations of rehab students being prepared to offer care that feeds them literally and spiritually as I wrote in May here on PT Education: A formula for craziness.
So where do you turn now that there isn't a map of surety?
I have some ideas as my mission is to return the sarcredness or artistry back to rehab, but want to hear yours…
what now?
Give Learn Share
Presents a 2-day Professional
Education Certification on Yoga & MS
A 21st Century Yoga Response to MS:
Moving beyond just asana to be in the world with an MS diagnosis
Date: Sat/Sun October 9 & 10, 2010
Time: Registration/Pre-test 8:30 a.m. Instruction begins at 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 pm
Location: Nina Mason Pulliam Conference Center in the Disability Empowerment Center 5025 E. Washington, Phoenix, AZ (map below)
CEU’s: AZAPTA and Yoga Alliance ceu’s applied for 12.0 contact hours.
Tuition: $180 (All proceeds go to the AZ MS Chapter because Dr. Taylor is donating his time.)
Intended Audience: Yoga teachers, physical therapists, licensed healthcare professionals.
Agenda: Click here.
Curriculum will include business development instruction in HIPAA compliant communications with the healthcare team, professional languaging and marketing to referral sources. The criteria for certificate will be 90% on post-test.
Read the announcement in the AZ MS Society Chapter Summer Newsletter here
His curriculum vitae is available at www.matthewjtaylor.com.
From the May 2010 issue of PT in Motion magazine [See bottom of the clipping for my response to the question on how to avoid burnout].
What went on the edit floor was the resource I linked to saying:
Just completed a two year study with exciting results when people learn very basic awareness skills. http://matthewjtaylorinstitute.com/researchprojects.php#courage
We found that over a 2-yr period we created an environment that reduced with statistical significance all of burnout parameters we measure pre, post and 12 months post in a major rehab setting during the Great Recession of 2009 and the implementation of an awkward EMR system!
It was fascinating to watch as the rehab professionals returned to sensing and feeling their fatigue and burnout, they actually began to feel better and most importantly, act differently.
They changed their self-care routines, re-organized their time commitments, and approached management about changing processes they identified as contributing to their stress. Job satisfaction soared, considering leaving the organization or profession plummeted. Patients also stopped canceling afternoon BID sessions, so revenue increased.
All from a little posture, breath awareness, movement and attention to present sensations/thoughts and emotions.
So just like our patients, our way "home" to comfort is through feeling, NOT fleeing to one more job or numbing ourselves to get through to the weekend.
Go lay down with a pillow running length wise up your spine, spread your arms, palms up and legs comfortably apart. Watch the breathing take place (leave it alone) and pay attention to what you can feel for 15 minutes. You'll have more battery bars when you roll over and stand up…I promise….we have proof.
How do you avoid burnout?