Understanding the parts of the whole

Sam Berns has a really powerful TED talk: My philosophy for a happy life. He talks about his life outlook and future plans while living with Progeria, a rare disease that is normally fatal by this time in life.

The Central Sensitization Wind-up: A Metaphor for understanding

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Stephen’s post on Central Sensitization got a lot of attention, and it is well deserved.  Part of getting results in this population is explaining how the nervous system works.  The following metaphor is a nice way to get the idea across.

Central Sensitization: Researched Guidelines for the Physical Therapist

Nerd Alert! I have put together this research-based post on Central Sensitization because there is some misinformation about the ‘what, the how, the why’ and what to do about it…

A popped joint, a cerebellum and a task

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There is some talk of spinal manipulation improving motor control.  We know that pain, fatigue, joint or neurological issues affect motor control.  There seems to be evidence that manipulation can help any one of these factors.  But how?

Inference Insight

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The following insight was made by the guys at PT Podcast episode 35 and I wanted to get it down and share it with you.

Active vs Passive treatment: A metaphor.

The following is a metaphor to help understand the benefits and burdens of active and passive treatment strategies.

Which is better : Active treatment or Passive treatment? (you likely already have an opinion here…) Active treatments are things the patient does.  Passive treatments are things the patient has done to them. Let’s look at the pros and cons of each.

The goose vs the gander / case report vs systematic review: A Metaphor

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• This is not a critique of a research based practice, this post is more congruent with a quest of a provider (me. … you?) to find the best practice patterns, solutions and outcomes.

Heel-touch vs Heel-strike in runners. There is a difference

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Much of the running world is concerned with foot strike and what loads and what forces are distributed through the foot and leg.  It has been shown that many of the elite runners seem to make heel-contact (a big no-no for the minimalists/naturalists).  But this may not be the case.

“Words have meaning”

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When evaluating and interacting with patients there will inevitably come the part where they ask “So, what’s wrong with me?” or “What’s my problem?” It is our job, no, our duty to educate the patient and inform and discuss with them their condition and prognosis to the best of our knowledge.

Patient reports…

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Patient often have many ideas about themselves and their condition in their heads.  We interact with them and we learn about how they think about their body and how it heals, feels and works.  Here is a small sample of what I heard over the last few weeks: