Physicourses EIM

Big Picture Considerations - The Psycho-Social Landscape by EIM

In this self-study course, learners will explore the social aspect of the integrative bio-psycho-social model for behavioral health and overall wellbeing. Topics will explore the impact of culture and roles on behavioral health, as well as the influence of generational diversity, social determinants of health, and our own implicit and cognitive biases as we interact with patients. A closer look at multidisciplinary care and group dynamics paves the way to a case-based learning module which ties many of these environmental and contextual factors together. The course culminates in a live, synchronous session which allows learners real-time interaction with faculty to discuss the nuances inherent in big picture thinking. The majority of the content is provided via recorded lectures and reading assignments, but further reflection and application opportunities are also provided via challenge journal questions.

Special Topics in Behavior Health Part 2: Treatment Paradigms by EIM

While the majority of physical therapists, physicians, nurses and other health care providers may not officially offer mental health or behavioral health services, it is important that all providers have an understanding of what types of techniques may be employed in the care of their patients who are seeking counseling and/or other directservices for their behavioral health conditions. Awareness of treatment paradigms can aide in reinforcement of key principles and strategies across disciplines, promoting optimal patient outcomes. In this self-study course, learners will get a glimpse into the world of behavioral health professionals, looking at the most common models and strategies used in the fields of psychology and occupational therapy to promote behavior change. Learners will explore the evolution of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT/DBT/ACT), and will be introduced to trauma based-therapies, motivational interviewing, and the therapeutic use of self to increase therapeutic alliance. Other pertinent topics include therapeutic boundaries, limits related to scope of practice, and how to make referrals to behavioral health professionals. The majority of the content is provided via recorded lectures and reading assignments, but further reflection and application opportunities are also provided via challenge journal questions.

Special Topics in Behavioral Health Part 1: Diagnosis by EIM

This course provides an overview of common behavioral health diagnoses seen across disciplines in the provision of health care services. These include depression, anxiety, PTSD, personality disorders, OCD and adjustment disorders. Special consideration is given to suicide and trauma, with preparedness planning guidelines and resources incorporated to equip learners for complex and/or emergency situations. The majority of the content is provided via recorded lectures and reading assignments, further reflection and application opportunities are also provided via reflection questions for self-study.

Introduction to Behavioral Health by EIM

People struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma and more routinely come to health care providers with pain, fatigue, brain fog, and a host of neurological, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal issues. This course provides learners with an understanding of the integrated biopsychosocial model for overall health and wellbeing. It examines the problem of behavioral health conditions in America, and it begins to explore how those conditions impact the progress of patients who seek help for physical health-related conditions.

Evaluating and Treating Headaches: A Pain Science Update by EIM

Headaches are very prevalent and marred with a complicated hierarchy of classification. Current best-evidence classifies headaches as cervicogenic, tension-type or migraine, with various sub-classifications. Unbeknownst to many, physical therapists are ideally suited to treat a large proportion of patients struggling with headaches with conservative, non-pharmacological treatments. To develop an updated working knowledge of headaches, clinicians need an update in pain science. Various neurophysiological processes underlie the development, maintenance and treatment of headaches, including the relay function of the trigeminal cervical nucleus, development of hyperalgesia and allodynia, photo and phono phobia, referred pain, etc. The examination portion of the lecture will discuss headache classifications, identifying subjective clusters to classify headaches and using this information to develop a comprehensive physical examination. Tests and treatments discussed include pain neuroscience education, graded motor imagery, sensory discrimination, neurodynamics, manual therapy, soft tissue treatment, trigger point therapy, sensorimotor retraining, lifestyle changes and more. Headaches affect nearly one in five people in the world and most are treated with medication, with limited success. This lecture will show how safer, effective nonpharmacological treatments can help patients suffering from various types of headaches.

Introduction to the Tactical Athlete by EIM

This course will serve as a foundational introduction, or 20,000-foot view, to theworld of the tactical athlete, focused rehabilitation and return to duty/injury screening. Each section will have certain deep dives into a topic area that serves to increase knowledge, exposure, and interest.

FREE COURSE- Pain Neuroscience, What's the Buzz About by EIM

Treating Cervical Radiculopathy: An Evidence-Based Update by EIM

Neuropathic pain is one of the most challenging clinical conditions to treat both pharmacologically and non-pharmacologically. In physical therapy, the most common neuropathic condition encountered is radiculopathy, including cervical radiculopathy. Clinical practice guidelines, using the latest evidence is used to provide clinicians with guidelines to treat various conditions, including cervical radiculopathy. This presentation, using the most recent practice guideline and evidence will systematically showcase and discuss the treatments in physical therapy that has shown benefit for patients attending physical therapy. From a neurophysiological perspective, treatments should aim to optimize space for the neuromeningeal structures; movement of the nervous system and adequate blood flow. Various physical therapy treatments are able to restore these properties and current evidence supports non-pharmacological, conservative approaches to cervical radiculopathy. Treatments from the guidelines include various forms of exercise, spinal mobilization and manipulation, traction, neural mobilization and more.

Pain Neuroscience Education 1.5 Hour: Teaching People About Pain by EIM

Pain is complex and new paradigms of pain, i.e., neuromatrix, nerve sensitivity, endocrine and immune responses to pain and neuroplasticity has opened various exciting nonpharmacological options in the treatment of pain. One such approach is altering what patients think and believe about their pain. It is well established that patients often have faulty beliefs regarding pain, which in turn may increase fear, catastrophization, pain and disability. The paradox is that patients are interested in pain; especially how pain works. Growing evidence supports that teaching patients more about the neurophysiology and biology of pain allows for decreased pain, increased movement and function, various decreased psychometric measurements, and higher compliance with therapy. This lecture, based on the latest neuroscience view of pain, aims to help healthcare providers update their knowledge of pain. Furthermore, the lecture will expose healthcare providers to a newly designed pain neuroscience education language used in various research projects and clinical practice with the aim to help patients achieve success. This session is a must for all healthcare providers dealing with people.in pain.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome by EIM

With the advent of neuroscience exploring issues associated with neuroplasticity, it has become increasingly clear that in a certain patient population, physical touch and movement, essential for recovery, could actually pose a threat. It has been suggested that the pinnacle of this clinical scenario occur in complex regional syndrome (CRPS), or the previously named reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD). With persistent input to the central nervous system and brain, various long-lasting changes occur including cell death, change in brain maps of the body, neurotransmitters, receptors and various pathways associated with pain. These changes manifest themselves with clinical issues such as neglect, allodynia, hyperalgesia, mirror pains, spreading pain, widespread sensitization and problems with laterality recognition. Physical testing of patients with pathological changes in their mapping will include two-point discrimination, pressure-pain threshold testing, nerve palpation, localization, graphesthesia, neurodynamics, laterality and mapping of body parts. The same neuroplastic events associated with pain, however, produce unique avenues to treat patients often too sensitive for physical movement. The brains perception of threat can be altered with cognitions (pain neuroscience education), but also via other senses, directly aiming at the faulty mapping of the brain in pain. Treatments discussed will include graded motor imagery, sensory discrimination, mirror therapy, graphe...

Manual Therapy of the Nervous System II by EIM

It has been stated that peripheral neuropathic pain may be one of the most challenging pain conditions seen in clinical practice, let alone suffered by a patient. In recent years there has been an explosion in the research associated with peripheral neuropathic pain. This presentation will for the most part focus on the latest thoughts associated with peripheral neuropathic pain including altered ion channel expression, double crush, the altered blood supply to the nervous system, retrograde depolarization of axons, the dorsal root ganglion, and pathways into central sensitization. Modern pain science has viewed peripheral neuropathic pain from a pharmacological perspective; however, an understanding of the latest science warrants a movement and cognitive-based approach along with pharmacology to help ease the pain experience. Upon developing a greater understanding of neuropathic pain, this course will help clinicians categorize pain mechanisms to further drive physical examinations, clinical reasoning and treatments. In light of the growing evidence for the use of neurodynamics as a test and treatment, the latest evidence for neurodynamics will be discussed. This course will also feature an important clinical how to of teaching patients about their pain, pain neuroscience education, which has shown to ease pain, decrease disability, and improve neurodynamic tests. Finally, the presentation asks clinicians to step back and view neurodynamics and peripheral neuropathic pain f...

Graded Motor Imagery by EIM

With the advent of neuroscience exploring issues associate with neuroplasticity, it has become increasingly clear that in a certain patient population, physical touch and movement, essential for recovery, could actually pose a threat. This includes conditions such as complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) (old RSD), phantom limb pain, peripheral neuropathy, spinal cord injuries and more. With persistent input to the central nervous system and brain, various long-lasting changes occur including cell death, change in brain maps of the body, neurotransmitters, receptors and various pathways associated with pain. These changes manifest themselves with clinical issues such as neglect, allodynia, hyperalgesia, mirror pains, spreading pain, widespread sensitization and problems with laterality recognition. Physical testing of patients with pathological changes in their mapping will include two-point discrimination, pressure-pain threshold testing, nerve palpation, localization, graphesthesia, neuro- dynamics, laterality and mapping of body parts. The same neuroplastic events associated with pain, however, produce unique avenues to treat patients often too sensitive for physical movement. The brains perception of threat can be altered with cognitions (therapeutic neuroscience education), but also via other senses, directly aiming at the faulty mapping of the brain in pain. Treatments discussed, demonstrated and practiced will include graded motor imagery, sensory discrimination, mirro...

I Hurt Because I’m Old: Really? by EIM

Ever heard: I hurt because I have arthritis! Is it true? This idea that the health (and age) of our tissues is correlated to pain is fundamentally flawed. If this was the case, then only older patients should hurt and younger patients should not hurt! This misbelief and self-limiting perception powerfully impact the experience of pain and outlook for older adults. As the United States population ages, and physical therapy take its rightful place in the assessment and treatment of older adults, we must reevaluate our pain paradigms in the elderly. It is overwhelmingly shown that older patients do hurt, but not because they are old, but because they stop moving. Fear-avoidance and pain catastrophizing, powerfully driven by these misbeliefs regarding aging powerfully limits movement. Recent pain neuroscience education (PNE) research has shown that normalizing pain beliefs, including the role of aging and pain, powerfully influences movement, pain and disability even in older adults. In this lecture we will explore the myth of aging and pain, evolution and evidence for PNE and showcase how various ready-to-use metaphors can help older adults understand pain better and facilitate much-needed movement.

Pain Neuroscience Education 4 Hours: Teaching People About Pain by EIM

Pain is complex and new paradigms of pain, i.e., neuromatrix, nerve sensitivity, endocrine and immune responses to pain and neuroplasticity has opened various exciting nonpharmacological options in the treatment of pain. One such approach is altering what patients think and believe about their pain. It is well established that patients often have faulty beliefs regarding pain, which in turn may increase fear, catastrophization, pain and disability. The paradox is that patients are interested in pain; especially how pain works. Growing evidence supports that teaching patients more about the neurophysiology and biology of pain allows for decreased pain, increased movement and function, various decreased psychometric measurements, and higher compliance with therapy. This lecture, based on the latest neuroscience view of pain, aims to help healthcare providers update their knowledge of pain. Furthermore, the lecture will expose healthcare providers to a newly designed pain neuroscience education language used in various research projects and clinical practice with the aim to help patients achieve success. This session is a must for all healthcare providers dealing with people.in pain.

The Neuroscience of pain, the brain, athletes and sports performance by EIM

Pain is common in athletes. Most therapeutic interventions focus on structural tissue-based issues in terms of tests and treatment. Pain, however, is far more complex. It is now well understood that the brain is extremely busy during a pain experience the same brain that controlssports performance. This lecture will update attendees on the latest neuroscience of pain, with an emphasis on structural and functional changes in the brain during a pain experience. Then, taking the knowledge of brain activation during a pain experience into consideration, various aspects of sports performance will be analyzed based on compelling new research: The brain activation between a novice and professional athlete is vastly different and how does pain impact this? Can the brain multitask? A brain processing pain puts increase demand on the energy supply of the brain; motor learning is strengthened during sleep; modulating vision enhances sports performance; what is optimal arousal for the brain? This session is a MUST for anyone interested in the advances in sports performance and the brain. This session will also provide attendees evidence-based strategies to influence the brain in immediate take-home tests and treatments including laterality training, sensory discrimination, neuroscience education, graded motor imagery, mirror therapy, etc.

Social Determinants of Pain by EIM

Social determinants of health (SDOH) have shown to have a major impact on peoples health, well-being and quality of life. Physical therapy as a profession has acknowledged this and now educational content and sessions aim to teach therapist about SDOH as well as strategies to positively impact these SDOH. What about pain specifically? Pain is an individualized, unique human experience. This experience is what brings someone to physical therapy seeking care. What social determents impact pain specifically? What can be done for it? Do current physical therapy-led interventions lean itself to issues with safety, transportation, education, income, discrimination, violence, literacy and more? Sure, a combination of education, exercise and strategies to calm the nervous system is current best-evidence for pain management, but how do we deliver it when the playing field is not even? This session will delve into various complexities about pain including social support, employment, gender roles, culture and ethnicity, nature versus nurture, socioeconomic factors and more. Apart from recognizing these factors and how they impact a pain experience, this session will take current best-evidence strategies for pain management by physical therapy and showcase strategies to implement these in the face of social determinants of health, or pain.

Pain Science: Hands On or Hands Off by EIM

With the increasing interest in pain neuroscience education (PNE) there has developed a potential clinical crossroad. PNE is a cognitive intervention, purposefully shifted away from the biomedical and anatomical model. In fact, current PNE research deliberately avoids biomedical education as means to undo traditional pain models. With this purposeful shift, many clinicians are left with the question: Is pain science hands-on or hands-off? This session will delve into the cohabitation of PNE and various physical treatments such as mobilization, manipulation, soft tissue treatments, dry needling and exercise. This session will showcase how PNE and physical treatments, especially manual therapy, can and should co-exist. Advances in the understanding of functional and structural changes in the brain shows manual treatments should cohabit with PNE as means to remap cortical maps, alter nociceptive input into the central nervous system, facilitating descending inhibitory mechanisms, etc. Furthermore, emerging PNE research has shown that a combination of physical treatment and PNE is superior to PNE-only approaches and furthermore, PNE can in essence decrease sensitization, thus providing a window of opportunity to introduce physical treatments. This session will additionally showcase the emerging models for choosing PNE and/or manual therapy in patients presenting to physical therapy.

Preventing and Treating Burnout in Physical Therapy by EIM

Burnout is a very well-described phenomenon in healthcare, including physical therapy. It is estimated one in four therapists experience burnout, characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal and professional accomplishment. Even though granular issues are tied to burnout, i.e., time pressure, documentation, etc., factors associated to professional burnout occur at three main levels: healthcare system-at-large, organizational level and personal level. In this lecture, the presenters will showcase the most up-to-date content associated with burnout in order to protect the professions most valuable resource: the clinician. Burnout has been shown to spill over to patient care, productivity, low morale, absenteeism and turnover. The good news is that there are numerous ways, organizationally and personally, to prevent and treat burnout. This presentation will feature an extensive series of immediately-applicable strategies to help with burnout, based on the latest evidence. For clinic owners, managers or directors, organizational changes and strategies will be discussed to support clinicians. On a personal level, strategies such as mindfulness, gratitude journals, personality trait checks, work schedules, documentation-assistance, time-management, relationship management, sleep, exercise and more will be discussed to prevent and help with burnout. This session is a must for all physical therapists.

Examination and Treatment of Cervical Radiculopathy and Neuropathic Arm Pain by EIM

Neuropathic pain is one of the most challenging clinical conditions encountered by physical therapists. Old, mechanical compression models of nerve injury are now superseded by a neuroscience understanding of neuroinflammation, vascular and immune changes, cytokine signaling, demyelination, and ion channel expression. Clinically, advances have been made into the examination of neuropathic pain with advanced sensory testing, neurodynamics, and clinical cluster-recognition. This newfound understanding of nerve pain has shown how movement-based professions such as physical therapy can effectively treat neuropathic pain. Using cervical radiculopathy and arm pain as an example, speakers will update attendees' knowledge of neuropathic pain, including double-crush phenomenon; how to test and screen for it; and how to build a comprehensive treatment plan. Treatment discussed will include manual therapy, exercise, neurodynamics, pain neuroscience education, graded motor imagery, and more.

Manual Therapy for the Nervous System Part 1 by EIM

Neurodynamics is the physical ability of the nervous system allowing it to move, slide, glide and accommodate human movement and function. Compared to more traditional manual therapy models focusing on joints and muscles, neurodynamics is new and vitally important in restoring normal movement and function. To understand the physical movement of nerves, neuroscience knowledge is explored to understand how pain works from a neurobiological and neurophysiological perspective.

Chronic Whiplash Associated Disorders and Pain Science by EIM

Chronic pain after a motor vehicle collision (MVC) is very common with an estimated 30% of patients developing persistent pain and disability. New emerging science show that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms of hyperarousal, re-experiencing the accident, avoidance and numbing is very common in chronic whiplash-associated disorders. The addition of PTSD symptoms, along with well-described comorbid depression and anxiety may indicate why traditional, tissue-only focused physical therapy treatments struggle to produce successful outcomes. Newly designed psychologically informed treatments aiming at fear-avoidance, pain catastrophizing, trauma, depression, anxiety, and PTSD-symptoms have shown some potential benefits alongside physical treatments offered by physical therapists. The use of these psychologically informed treatments, along with movement-based treatments of exercise and manual therapy may hold the key to a more successful outcome. New research shows that patients in MVCs prefer psychologically informed treatments delivered by physical therapists, versus psychologists and overall prefer it over a pharmaceutical approach to their pain. This session will discuss the various factors associated with poor outcomes, screening tools that should be used by clinicians and various treatments to help decrease pain and disability.

Words That Harm and Words That Heal by EIM

More than 100 million Americans are currently experiencing some form of persistent pain. Persistent pain is associated with increased utilization of healthcare dollars, added burden on healthcare providers and ancillary staff. It is now well established that pain is produced by a persons brain when it perceives there is a threat. Threats come in different forms including injury, surgery, emotional distress and more. New research has shown that by altering the threat the brain perceives, pain can be influenced significantly. One powerful way to alter threat is the information we provide patients. The choice of words used by clinicians, support staff and even office personnel truly have the ability to harm or heal, and that includes the context, tone, and other factors involving the interactions with patients. This lecture, using the latest neuroscience research, provides attendees with the latest understanding of how pain works and showcases current front-office and medical interactions that can harm patients, sometimes unknowingly. On the flip side, the presentation features various strategies that can help patients along their recovery path, starting with the first phone call.

Sports Across the Ages by EIM

This course provides current best evidence for the young, the aging, and the master or senior athlete including basic science (physiology) of growth/maturation, implications for sports participation and performance, rehabilitation, and the relationship to common injuries in each of these populations.

The Overhead Throwing Athlete by EIM

The goal of this online course is to provide a deeper understanding of the unique characteristics and needs of the overhead throwing athlete for integration of these unique features and sports medicine knowledge base resulting in the best, evidence-based management of these athletes. This course will cover the foundational anatomical demands, common adaptations, sports biomechanics, and kinematics for integration of these principles into the evidence-based management of these athletes from injury prevention through return to competition and performance enhancement.

The Tactical / Occupational Athlete by EIM

EIMs Tactical Athlete course improves the understanding of what a tactical athlete is and their similarities and differences to traditional athlete. Participants will gain a better understanding of how those similarities and differences affect the testing, rehabilitation and performance conditioning of these specialized athletes.