With so much happening in the world around us, it's easy to get swept up in the chaos.  This negatively affects our ability to care for our patients & our own families.  Are you forgetting this crucial component of #OncoPT patient care?  

Ready or not, summer is here! The sun is heating up in the northern hemisphere, & heat, humidity, & sweat are upon us. So how do we try to minimize lymphedema exacerbations that are so common this time of year? Josh Levin, president of LympheDIVAs, & I discussed strategies to empower our patients to independently manage their lymphedema during the hot summer months.

Sometimes I look at research & wonder how in the world I'm supposed to implement it - well buckle up, because Dr. Bolette Rafn, Dr. Kristin Campbell, & their team are taking world-class research & making easy to use for both clinicians & their patients to measure their upper extremity circumference & monitor for developing lymphedema. They have created an amazing video resource that is helping women all over the world take charge of their self-management & surveillance - are you using it yet?

Continuing my 2 episode arc on Cash-Based Oncology PT, today's episode is my interview with Megan Bradley, PT, DPT, CLT-LANA. Megan is one of the founding members of Be Strong Therapy, a cash-based, multi-disciplinary clinic that is challenging the way we traditionally care for patients with cancer. She discusses the inspiration for Be Strong Therapy, how she & her partners got their practice up & running, & the challenges & successes they've encountered along the way.

3:12 Megan's inspiration for a different model of care for cancer patients

8:01 Logistics of opening & running Be Strong Therapy

17:18 Challenges & successes of opening Be Strong Therapy

26:06 Megan's advice for OncoPTs considering a cash-based practice

The POWER Lymphatic 2020 Conference was amazing for many reasons; most importantly, the people I met were incredible! Lisa Silvestri, MSPT, CLT-LANA is exactly one of those people. She is the owner of Oasis Physical Therapy & Wellness, a concierge, cash-based oncology & lymphedema private practice. In our interview, we dive into how she started her own practice, challenges & successes she's experienced along the way, & how she is serving patients as a whole person.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, many "elective" produces are not happening right now. For some around the United States, that includes cancer surgeries such as lumpectomies & mastectomies. Whether or not this is happening in your community currently, oncology PT has an even more important role & opportunity to serve our patients who may have their treatment delayed or altered due to these circumstances. Specifically related to prehab, now is the time more than even to be getting patients in your door for prehab evaluations.

I've had some requests over the past few months about what my favorite tools, tips, & tricks are. Today I'm starting with my favorite Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM) tools. Brief note here: in school, one of our professors was super anti-IASTM of any kind, so that largely colored how I began practicing in clinical rotations & performing STM for my patients. However, during my 4th (& oncology) rotation, I saw just how helpful these tools could actually be when working with patients. There's so many different kinds out there, so there's only one way to figure out which ones you like: explore! Try them out!

I've had exposure to various tools through different training courses, colleagues, & even my massage therapist, who is always talking to me about the continuing education she is doing - boom interdisciplinary collaboration & learning! I got to try a few techniques/tools out during clinical rotations, but most of my learning has been done observing others, talking to other practitioners, & lots of perusing through catalogs to see which fun tool to try next.

Way back before "stay-at-home" orders were a thing, I had a blast at the POWER Lymphatics conference! The speakers were incredible with lots of information that has already been changing my lymphedema practice. In today's episode, I'm recapping my time at the conference, what I've learned, & how it's already guiding me to improve my patient treatments.

Happy April everybody! April 1 marks the start of Testicular Cancer Awareness Month, & what a great way to start with an interview with Scott Capozza, a PT & testicular cancer survivor. Scott graciously agreed to share his story on TheOncoPT Podcast & how his diagnosis affected his journey through PT school (yes, you read that correctly), as an adult cancer survivor, & as a newly minted Board Certified Oncology Specialist PT.

If you're like me, your patient load right now is pretty small. This means our patients aren't getting their needed therapy, & we're going to have a lot of catch up to do once they start leaving their houses again. UNLESS, they can start doing things NOW to help ease functional decline they may be experiencing without your help.

Some of you may have access to Telehealth for your PT services, & that is AWESOME. YAS! Unfortunately, some of us don't have access (YET) to this amazing platform to serve our patients, so I've thrown together a quick episode to discuss some of the amazing resources I'm learning that can help our patients from the comfort & safety of their own homes.

I will try to update this page as I learn of more resources. Know of others? Send them my way at [email protected]!