PT Pintcast - Physical Therapy

Marcia Darbouze is a powerlifter, black spoonie, and physical therapist. She also co-hosts on a podcast called the Disabled Girls Who Lift. Marcia highly recommends checking out episode 12 – How to Treat your Disabled Friend.

Wondering what is a spoonie? She explains it as a metaphor for how people with chronic illness feel and it changes daily.  

Marcia begins with her fears about disability as she was learning in PT school. She connected with her two co-hosts who are also disabled to discuss the meaning to be disabled. These ladies put these ideas together to launch their podcast.

Through her connections in her community and on Instagram, she now has her own practice at Just Move Therapy.

In this community, Marcia expresses why inspiration is not what they need, but increased access for all people to have the same lived experience.

QUOTES

“This is a process. This is a journey. The destination is moving forward and feeling better. Maybe things will feel the same, maybe they won’t. You’re still you. You’re still 100% the same person.” – MARCIA  

“I’m not pushing volumes and numbers. I’m just living.” – MARCIA

“Luck seems to favor people who hustle a lot.” – JIMMY

“The hardest part is making that dream... You don’t have to know anything to start something.” – MARCIA

“The only thing holding you back is you.” – JIMMY

PARTING SHOT

“Hire disabled people.” – MARCIA

Elliot Cleveland is a physical therapist who works with marching athletes and started the Marching Health. In 2016, he was also the winner of the PPS Student Business Concept Contest.

He brings us back to why he became passionate for health and wellness for marching bands, drum corps, and marching arts. Today, he has created a niche market to serve understanding his target audience as he once was.

During PT school, Elliot teamed up with a high school drumline team to improve the physical and aerobic endurance of students to handle the requirements of drumline performance.

If you are wondering how intense drum lining and marching arts is, Elliot gives us the breakdown of long duration training extending for months, weather conditions, weight requirements, competitions, and travel included in participating on a drumline team in high school or college.

Check out this performance from the Bluecoats 2016 competition.

After PT school, Elliot wrote a blog called The Two Muscles Every Marching Percussionists Needs to Develop which reached 75,000 views. Starting with an idea has now turned into a Marching Health team serving as a clinic for high schools and colleges.

QUOTES

“Our big push with Marching Health is health and wellness but 50% of it is actually student leadership development and investing in young people.” – ELLIOT

“You need to go target the people that you represent the best and the people that you are.” – ELLIOT

“Hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard.” – JIMMY

“That is what you need to instill in yourself. You are the one.” – JIMMY

“The next step when you feel you are ready to take action is do it for free.” – ELLIOT

PARTING SHOT

“Figure out who you want to serve, how you want to serve them, and make that product worth while for them.” – ELLIOT

Balancing Bicycle which gives advice about exercise, nutrition, and balancing life.

She defines intermittent fasting as the umbrella term for different types of fasting. It is more widely known for time that is restricted from eating. Cara emphasizes choosing the food you eat wisely when allowed to.  

Pros with intermittent fasting 

·        Matching fasting with circadian rhythm

·        Routine eating

·        Increase in IGF1 protein

·        Weight loss

Cons with intermittent fasting 

·        Planning

·        Scheduling

·        Consistency

Cara uses behavior change education with her patients to implement nutrition in clinical practice.

The typical intermittent fasting timeline is eating for 8 hours and fasting for 16 hours. Cara mentioned half of the fasting hours involve sleeping. Scheduling is essential to follow this plan of eating.

If interested in more information on intermittent fasting, check out Rhonda Patrick and her podcast.

QUOTES

“You cannot talk about exercise without talking about diet. They are so interrelated.” – CARA

“Unfortunately, there is never a quick fix.” – CARA

“’Life is like riding a bike. In order to maintain your balance, you must keep moving.’ – Albert Einstein” – CARA

“’The greatest failure in communication is to think it actually occurred.’ – George Bernard Shaw” – JIMMY

PARTING SHOT

“Find your balance.” – CARA

Mica Mitchell is a physical therapist with a passion for pediatric PT and is also a professor at Methodist University.

As a professor and previous PT student, Mica has discovered ineffective study strategies students used in PT school because they are considered easy to apply. Trying to change the study strategy has been found to be more effective in learning and retaining information.

Using evidenced based strategies, PT students need to have a growth mindset to maximize their learning potentials. Mica defines a growth mindset as the capacity to continue to learn. More information can be found on the Learning Scientists. Some strategies she discussed were:

·        Writing out notes of a topic then refer to the book after

·        Take more time on uncomfortable topics

·        Do not rely on your own questions or quizzes

·        Finding another purpose for highlighters

·        Teaching the topic to another person

Jimmy questioned how to become that “A” PT student? Mica believes students seek growth if they fall short of their ideal grade. She also comes up with her own strategies for those students who strive for the “A” in PT school:

·        Check studying strategies

·        Check what is important to you

·        How are you sleep and stress levels?

·        What is the test actually testing?

·        Reach out to your professors sooner rather than later

QUOTES

“A good test is going to highlight what you don’t know.” – JIMMY

“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got.” – JIMMY

“You don’t want to surprise yourself at the test about what you don’t know. You want to be testing yourself along the way.” – MICA

“Embrace the why questions.” – MICA

“As this lifelong learner in our profession, the evidence is changing.” – MICA

PARTING SHOT

“Have a growth mindset. Setting your goals are important because if you set your goals not just something you think is attainable, set your goals for something beyond your wildest expectations.” – MICA

Mark Milligan is a physical therapist who wants to challenge our profession by revolutionizing it through technology, empathy, connection, love, and even donuts! Cannot argue with that.

At CSM in Denver, Mark presented on telehealth and DEI which now are two major topics discussed in physical therapy. You could say he predicted the future, but Mark has been working into these areas even before this year’s events.

Mark is originally from Austin, Texas and describes the systemic barriers that exist in his community. Not only is acknowledging these barriers important but he questions how PTs can play a role in communicating to other healthcare providers about breaking these barriers.

Practicing in the clinic for 10 years, Mark has experienced the difficulties PTs face to treat patients without biases. He explains the importance of physical therapists to become comfortable with the uncomfortable while treating all patients.

Mark explains the power of knowing and loving yourself to create safety in conversations and decreasing defensive behavior.

QUOTES

“We need to get people on the same starting line with the same bike, the same pair of shoes, the same wind, and let’s ride together.” – MARK

“You don’t have to be responsible for other people’s thoughts about you but you do have to be responsible for your thoughts about you.” – MARK

“When you love yourself ultimately you don’t have any defensiveness.” – MARK

“A conversation is a relationship of information between two people.” – JIMMY

“Pay people enough that money is off the table.” – JIMMY

“More people should know about themselves.” – MARK

PARTING SHOT

“We are all human, we are all here together. Be patient, be loving, be kind… Love will solve things.” – MARK

Kadeem Howell is a physical therapist who has developed a growth mindset. He focuses on the positives as a furloughed PT during COVID and earns extra money with side hustles. 

His pursuit for keeping a strong mindset started at a young athlete which eventually led him to choose physical therapy as a career. His first job as a PT was with the Buffalo Bills because he maintained his mindset.

Kadeem believes there are multiple solutions for one problem. Being furloughed as a PT, he not only earned extra money but increased in a variety of skills. Look at all the possibilities you can do AS A PT to earn additional money:

·        Car flipping

·        E-bay flipping

·        Day trading

·        Dividend stocks

·        Rental real estate

·        Affiliate marketer for courses and amazon products

·        E-comm drop shipping for PT products

The theme throughout this chat is building relationships to increase trust with either people in your profession, patients, or customers.  

QUOTES

“If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere… If there is a will, there is a way.” – KADEEM

“’Don’t listen to what I say, watch what I do.’ - Gary Vee”  – JIMMY

“Empathy and sympathy are two different things but they are important to recognize the differences.” – JIMMY

“The solution will always outweigh the problems… The solutions are limitless.” – KADEEM

“If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will.” – KADEEM

PARTING SHOT

“You are not your profession. It’s up to you if you want to be.” – KADEEM

Reed Handley is a PhD student and Stacy Fritz is a professor and director of research at the University of South Carolina. Their focus is promoting physical activity for people with disabilities.

As part of the curriculum, U of SC DPT students carry out research projects. Reed gathered three students to conduct research on strength training attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge in current & future exercise professionals. Participate in the research survey here: https://redcap.healthsciencessc.org/surveys/index.php?s=8WCHFMY7XL

Reed points out that PTs will have different views on strength training depending on the type of clinical setting they work in.

With 1,300+ responses currently, Stacy and Reed hypothesize PTs and students do have sufficient education and knowledge to adequately dose strength training to different patient populations.  

QUOTES

“Strength is not owned by PTs, it is a universal thing.” – REED

“We are the movement experts. We always say that. Let’s prove it. We should know at least as much as the next healthcare professional on strength training.” – REED

“I think we underdose in education the importance of ther ex.” – STACY

“Strength is function.” – STACY

“Explore movement yourself if you are not used to someone else’s movement.” – REED

“It is not just going to be about the disease (COVID), it is going to be about the recovery.” – STACY

“Don’t under dose, these people are going to need you to make them work.” – JIMMY

Mark Ciolek and Sarah Cruser are physical therapists involved in health promotion and the investigators in the PT Health Study (https://www.pthealthstudy.org/). PT Health Study takes wearable devices (i.e. FitBit) and connect those with health care providers like physical therapists.

Data collected includes step count, quality of sleep, heart rate variability, resting heart rate, stress, and recovery PT Health Study incorporates this data by educating their participants on prevention of future chronic diseases.

For the future, Sarah hopes for improvement in wearable technology to provide a simple way for older adults to use wearables for health prevention. PT Health Study goal is to provide the whole community with information to decrease risk and improve health by using wearables.

QUOTES

This is scalable to be used by PTs across the country and really impact the health of a whole population.” – SARAH

“The future is now.” – MARK

“It looks like rain, maybe you should throw an umbrella in your bag.” – SARAH

“We are providing nudges and guidance that are pre-scope of practice.” – SARAH

“Sometimes they do get wet and that’s ok because we can also still hand them a towel.” – SARAH

“We need to find a way to better connect with our communities in a real way that starts to engage around the idea of health.” – MARK

PARTING SHOT

“This is an opportunity to drastically change the way we approach not only health and wellness but care in general.” – SARAH

“What are you doing to take a little bit more of the pie?” – MARK 

Mark Ciolek and Sarah Cruser are physical therapists involved in health promotion and the investigators in the PT Health Study (https://www.pthealthstudy.org/). PT Health Study takes wearable devices (i.e. FitBit) and connect those with health care providers like physical therapists.

Data collected includes step count, quality of sleep, heart rate variability, resting heart rate, stress, and recovery PT Health Study incorporates this data by educating their participants on prevention of future chronic diseases.

For the future, Sarah hopes for improvement in wearable technology to provide a simple way for older adults to use wearables for health prevention. PT Health Study goal is to provide the whole community with information to decrease risk and improve health by using wearables.

QUOTES

This is scalable to be used by PTs across the country and really impact the health of a whole population.” – SARAH

“The future is now.” – MARK

“It looks like rain, maybe you should throw an umbrella in your bag.” – SARAH

“We are providing nudges and guidance that are pre-scope of practice.” – SARAH

“Sometimes they do get wet and that’s ok because we can also still hand them a towel.” – SARAH

“We need to find a way to better connect with our communities in a real way that starts to engage around the idea of health.” – MARK

PARTING SHOT

“This is an opportunity to drastically change the way we approach not only health and wellness but care in general.” – SARAH

“What are you doing to take a little bit more of the pie?” – MARK

Eddie Ernst is a physical therapist assistant and Director of Rehab at a skilled nursing facility who has a passion for vestibular/balance rehab, chronic pain, and geriatrics.

On student rotations, he gained experience treating patients with vestibular disorders which led him to choose this area to practice. He became certified to treat vestibular conditions through the American Musculoskeletal Institute (AMSI) and gave a list of institutes to become certified for PTAs. Check out AMSI here: https://www.amsitraining.com/

Eddie is a co-host for the PTA Tapes podcast which is the only PTA lead and PTA specific podcast. Eddie is currently working with Steven Tijerina in the Dizzy Discussions podcast focusing on vestibular rehab.

He knew early in his career he wanted to lead and hold leadership positions. He emphasizes the difference between clinical supervision and business supervision.

Eddie puts emphasis on not only having clinical leadership as a PTA but becoming involved in the state and nationally. Check out the PTA Caucus for PTA representation in APTA governance issues https://www.apta.org/apta-and-you/leadership-and-governance/pta-caucus

QUOTES

18:40 “It’s important knowing what you know and communicating with the PT.” – EDDIE

22:37 “Make sure you know what you are prescribing.” – JIMMY

31:33 “As clinicians, our number one job is patient advocacy.” – EDDIE

37:10 “I want to move up the ladder high enough to be able to make decisions that have the biggest impact.” – EDDIE

38:37 “If your company is creating barriers to make a positive impact, time to look elsewhere.” – EDDIE

39:40 “You don’t get it unless you’re in it.” – EDDIE

 40:10 “You need to be a healthcare provider first and an admin second to actively be able to advocate for your patients accordingly and correctly.” – EDDIE

44:38 “You need to be at the table and get yourself at the table to have a say.” – EDDIE

47:18 “It is not about the credit, it is about showing that you care.” – EDDIE

50:00 “Do you want to get it right, or be right?” – JIMMY

PARTING SHOT

“Advocate for yourself and for your patients.” – EDDIE