APTA Michigan 2020 Fall Conference

Within Michigan and around the world, the current offer of rehabilitation services is inadequate and inequitably distributed. Per the APTA’s code of ethics, physical therapists are obliged to work towards reducing health disparities and health care inequities. Case scenarios on current issues like COVID-19 and race will be utilized in this course to explore issues related to equity and justice specific to the physical therapist. Small breakout sessions will facilitate participants to discuss difficult questions like how am I contributing to the development or maintenance of inequities within rehabilitation and what practical actions can I take to work towards justice?

Speakers:  April Gamble PT, DPT, CLT and Prisca M. Collins, PT, PhD

Opening and running a Physical Therapy business presents various challenges. Guidance on the details required from opening, through the various stages of operating and growing the business, and eventually coming up with an appropriate exit strategy; is information that can be useful, not only to business owners, but to everyone taking part in business operations on all levels.

Speakers:  Bob Budai, PT, MPT, OCS, CSCS and Brian Adams, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS

The Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) to Improve Locomotor Function Following Chronic Stroke, Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury, and Brain Injury was published early in 2020 in the Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy.  The CPG makes several recommendations for best physical therapy practice.  However, the document is 51 pages in length making it difficult to digest.  The speakers will demystify the CPG and assist clinicians in applying the action statements into their practice and addressing barriers to implementing.  Authors will use videos to assist in demonstration of knowledge translation practices audience members can take back to their clinic.

Speakers:  Amy Yorke, PT, PhD, NCS; Suzanne Trojanowski, PT, DPT, NCS; and Nora Fritz, PT, DPT, PhD, NCS

3 Hour Course  10:15 - 12:15 then 1:00 - 2:00

The evaluation and rehabilitation of hip injuries in the athlete is a complicated and often misunderstood area of sports medicine. Over the course of the past five years, significant strides have been made in adding some clarity, and in some cases adding to confusion, of diagnosis and treatment of athletic groin pain. We will take you through an evidence-based evaluation of groin injuries with an emphasis on femoroacetabular impingement syndrome and athletic pubalgia. By understanding the current literature, you will be better able to simplify your evaluation and clinical reasoning when an athlete presents with groin pain.

Speaker:  John Snyder, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS

This will review why lab values and vital signs such as hemoglobin, potassium, glucose, blood pressure, heart rate and others are essential clinical tools to determine appropriateness for rehab interventions of acutely ill patients. Normal and abnormal values, as well as steps clinicians can take to monitor the patient’s response will be discussed. Finally, patient care case studies specific to the geriatric population will be presented and are designed to help the learner problem solve and improve clinical decision making related to labs and vitals.

Speaker:  Adele Myszenski, PT, MPT

Prehabilitation is a proven strategy to maximize clinical outcomes following surgery. In this presentation, Dr. Scott Russo and Holly Lookabaugh-Deur describe the complex puzzle of utilizing an individual approach to preparing patients for a successful surgery - medically, physically, including nutritional optimization, and psychologically. The entire medical team has a role in facilitating patient engagement in managing their own health.

Speakers:  Holly Lookabaugh-Deur, PT, DSc, GCS, CEEAA and Scott Russo, MD

While traditional home health care (HHC) reimbursement models emphasize intervention after a medical or functional decline occurs, there is a role for preventative home-based physical therapy services for those at highest risk of becoming home-bound due to illness, injury, or functional limitation.  The purpose of this educational session is to describe the implementation and initial results of a primary/secondary prevention clinical practice model administered by physical therapists (PTs) in partnership with a community referral partner.  Oakland University has done substantial research and implementation to provide early preventative interventions to senior citizens at risk of being homebound by facilitating partnerships between local senior community centers and PTs. Three key aims of prevention-PT programs include: 1) Establishing partnerships between senior community centers and PTs to provide direct referrals to preventative physical therapy services, 2) Leveraging the skills and knowledge of a PT to provide a bridge between the local community and the medical system, and 3) Providing a strong body of evidence demonstrating the value of integrating prevention-PT programs into the standard of care for aging adults.

This educational program will provide supportive evidence for initiating prevention focused-PT programs for older adults, addressing common age-related risk factors using a primary/ secondary prevention approach, and funding a scalable home-based prevention program. Additionally, the program protocol, inclusive of its unique referral mechanism will be detailed.  Valid and reliable pretest- posttest outcome assessments and the associated interventions related to the individual’s health behaviors, home environment safety, and associated fall risk using will be outlined.

Speakers:  Chris Wilson, PT, DPT, DScPT and Sarah Arena, PT, DScPT

Relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S) has evolved from an issue believed to be experienced only by females with eating disorders, to one impacting any athlete on a spectrum of energy-deficient states. The combination of limited energy availability, hormonal dysfunction, and poor bone health create both short and long-term consequences on performance and health for many female athletes. These include

impairments in performance, bone stress injuries, and increased risk of fractures with aging. With young athletes facing increasing familial and societal pressure to exceed athletically, this issue is prominent and crucial to address. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the broad-spectrum RED-S, discuss recognition of risk factors and identification of the components, and provide evidence for physical therapy intervention as part of a multidisciplinary treatment approach in this population. This platform is an opportunity to provide information on the role of the physical therapist in participating in the evaluation and treatment of this population, in the hopes of improving both short and long-term outcomes for these athletes.

Speakers:  Laura Fisher PT, DPT, PhD, OCS and Stephanie Mundt PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS

The injury epidemic in throwing athletes is well known but less known are the often dismal return play to rates. Getting athletes back on the field to stay requires assessment techniques that allow clinicians to identify impairments and potential compensatory patterns that can be correlated to a motion capture biomechanical analysis to discover how and why an athlete may recruit velocity in a specific sequence. In this presentation we will use common case-based examples to demonstrate how an athlete can be progressed through a corrective exercise and motor learning progression to move towards biomechanical efficiency and full rehabilitation.

Speakers:  Max Wardell, SPT, BS, CSCS, CAFS;  Kyle Suminksi PT, DP; and Carter Kovalcik SPT, BS, PES