Knowledge Central — PhysioU

Christopher Schmidt

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NeuroRehab App Revamp! Many Exciting Changes and New Content!

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We are thrilled to announce that our NeuroRehab app has been revised and updated! This update provides contemporary teaching and learning resources in neurologic rehabilitation and enhances the user experience. 

Partnership to deliver world-class Parkinson’s disease treatment methodology (LSVT BIG®)

We are pleased to partner with Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) Global to provide an introduction to LSVT BIG®, an intensive, amplitude-focused treatment for people with Parkinson’s disease and other adult and pediatric neurological conditions. LSVT BIG® treatment is backed by over 25 years of extensive research and is used by over 40,000 physical and occupational therapists around the world who are certified in the LSVT BIG® method. Within the Evidence-Based Practice Resources section of the NeuroRehab app:

For more information about LSVT BIG® treatment or LSVT BIG® certification for students and therapists, visit LSVTGlobal.com.

 
 

MORE Real-Life Patient Examples

We’ve filmed more real-life patients with various neurologic diagnoses, including:

  • Multiple sclerosis (MS)

  • Parkinson’s disease (PD)

  • Spina bifida

  • Spinal cord injury (SCI)

  • Stroke (both Pontine and middle cerebral artery)

  • Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

 

Visual Improvements 

We’ve changed the video background from black to white for better clarity. We also removed text overlays on the videos, allowing learners to focus on the intervention techniques. Detailed information and cues are now provided below each video.

These updates are designed to provide a richer, more engaging learning experience for both educators and students. Explore the revamped NeuroRehab app today and elevate your teaching!

 

LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO ENHANCE STUDENT LEARNING

See the Power of the App in Action: Schedule a meeting NOW to discuss how we can help you implement these strategies in your classroom.

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New App: Enhance Your Curriculum with the Neurologic Case Studies App!

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Are you an educator seeking to enrich your curriculum and provide your students with real-life clinical experiences?

We are thrilled to introduce the Neurologic Case Studies app, an innovative tool designed to elevate your teaching and deepen your students' understanding of neurological conditions.

 
 

Explore the Neurologic Case Studies App

The Neurologic Case Studies app is an extensive collection of videos featuring real neurologic patients performing various functional and occupational tasks. This invaluable resource allows you to organize information by diagnosis, impairment, or outcome measure, facilitating easy navigation and comparison of different patients' conditions and treatments.

This app highlights an interdisciplinary approach to patient care, featuring Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Language Pathology clinicians working together to treat real patients. By synthesizing clinical information related to patients with neurological impairments, this resource provides your students with a comprehensive view of patient care.

 

Develop Clinical Reasoning with Customizable Worksheets

The app also includes a downloadable and fully customizable Subjective Examination Clinical Reasoning Worksheet and an Objective Examination Clinical Reasoning Worksheet. These tools are designed to enhance your students' critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills by guiding them through detailed patient assessments and treatment planning.

 

Bring Real-World Clinical Scenarios into Your Classroom

The Neurologic Case Studies app allows you to bring the complexity of real-world clinical scenarios into your classroom. By incorporating videos of real patients, you can offer your students valuable insights into the challenges and intricacies of treating neurological conditions. This app serves as a bridge between theory and practice, preparing your students for their future roles as physical therapists.

Want to Learn More? 

App Authors and Contributors - Thank You!

Grace Peek, MSOT, OTR/L

  • Occupational Therapist at Casa Colina Hospital and Centers for Healthcare

  • Ms. Peek is the head occupational therapist managing clients, providing evaluations, treatment plans, and therapy for vision, ADLs, IADLs, pain, community integration, mental health, and more.

Kristen Moore, PT, DPT

  • Neurologic Physical Therapist, Adjunct Faculty, eLearning Manager

  • Dr. Moore specializes in treating neurologic injuries, professional education, and developing e-learning and simulation modules to improve classroom learning. She has extensive experience treating in interprofessional teams, emphasizing community integration with neurologic patient populations.

Mary Hudson-McKinney, PT, DPT, NCS

  • Professor at Western University of Health Sciences

  • With a variety of experience and board certification in neurology, Dr. Hudson-McKinney is an educator, serves on the National MS Society Professional Board, and researches novel exercise programs, fall prevention, and interprofessional education.

Sarah Green, MA, CCC-SLP, CBIS

  • Speech Language Pathologist at Casa Colina Hospital and Centers for Healthcare

Sheila Krajnik, EdD, OTR/L

  • OTu Education Lead

  • Dr. Krajnik, with extensive clinical and academic expertise in adult neurology and gerontology, has held various administrative and specialist roles, contributed to research and advocacy, and excelled in educating future practitioners.

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Are You Frustrated by Low Jurisprudence Exam Pass Rates?

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Struggling students, stressed instructors

We've all been there. Your students are pouring their heart and soul into studying for the PT/PTA state licensing exam. They’ve mastered the intricacies of the curriculum, aced the NPTE, and feel confident in their abilities. But then comes the jurisprudence exam, and suddenly, everything grinds to a halt.

Traditional resources leave students drowning in a sea of facts

Textbooks and lectures are valuable tools, but for many students, they're simply not enough.  Dense legal jargon and a lack of real-world context leave students struggling to retain information, making application during the exam a nightmare. The statistics are bleak: nationally, as many as 1 in 5 students fail the jurisprudence exam*. This translates not just to wasted study time and emotional stress, but also to a significant financial burden.

Failing the exam can cost thousands*

According to the latest data, the median salary for a physical therapist is roughly $1800 per week. Every week a graduate waits to pass the jurisprudence exam and secure their license is a week of lost income. That's a major setback, especially for recent graduates eager to begin their careers.

PhysioU: Simulation-based eLearning web app is your solution!

At PhysioU, we understand the challenges PT and PTA students face when preparing for the jurisprudence exam. That's why we developed our comprehensive Jurisprudence Exam Preparation Package, to bridge the gap between rote memorization and real-world application.

Here's what sets PhysioU apart:

  • Interactive & Engaging: Our program utilizes simulation-based e-learning modules that make learning dynamic and effective. Students are actively involved in the learning process, leading to deeper understanding and improved information retention.

  • Seamless & Efficient: We make studying convenient and accessible. Our self-paced, mobile-friendly platform allows students to learn on their own time, from anywhere. Plus, with automated testing, grading, and reporting, instructors can save valuable time managing student progress.

  • Targeted & Up-to-date: Our content is mapped directly to your state's specific licensing standards, ensuring students are learning what they actually need to know. Regular updates guarantee the information stays current, reflecting the latest laws and regulations.

PhysioU: The Solution You've Been Waiting For

A valuable resource for both traditional and online learning environments can be used as:

  • An adjunct resource to enhance existing in-person courses OR

  • The primary resource for hybrid or fully online jurisprudence coursework.

Empower Your Students for Success with PhysioU

Don't let your students become another statistic. Equip them with the tools they need to confidently tackle the jurisprudence exam and smoothly transition into successful physical therapy careers. Contact us to learn more!

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Dissecting Movement: Which Came First? Associated Impairments vs. Movement Faults

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A question recently landed in our inbox from a faculty member, sparked by a student inquiry within the Orthopaedics app. The student, curious and eager to learn, posed the question: Are associated impairments and movement faults the same thing? Let's delve deeper and untangle the cause-and-effect relationship between associated impairments and movement faults. In the realm of orthopaedics, pinpointing the root cause of a patient's limitations is crucial for effective treatment. Our Orthopaedics app tackles this by differentiating these two key concepts.

Associated Impairment:

  • Definition: An associated impairment is a measurable limitation in a physiological system, such as weakness, stiffness, or balance deficits. 

  • Think of it as: A consequence of the injury/pathology or a preexisting impairment or set of impairments that may be contributing to the cause or maintenance of non-optimal movements, leading to tissue stress and production of symptoms. It's the "what" - the measurable dysfunction.

  • Example: A patient with a knee ligament injury might demonstrate quadriceps weakness (associated impairment) on a strength test, or a patient with uncoordinated or weak scapular muscles contributing to the onset of shoulder impingement during shoulder abduction during a tennis serve.

Movement Fault:

  • Definition: A movement fault is an observable deviation from optimal movement patterns during functional activities. 

  • Think of it as:  A faulty "how" - the way the body compensates for the impairment or moves as a result of impairments. This could be due to pain avoidance, limitations in mobility or improper movement coordination.

  • Example: A patient with a weak gluteus medius might exhibit adduction of the femur and excessive valgus collapse (inward knee buckling) during squats. These movement faults may result in significant tissue stress over time, resulting in patient complaints of pain and loss of function.

Squat with femoral internal rotation and corrections

The Chicken 🐔 or the Egg 🥚?

The question of which comes first - the impairment or the fault - is often complex. Here's a breakdown:

  • Injury often leads to impairment: The initial injury (e.g., ligament tear) directly causes the impairment (e.g., quad weakness).

  • Impairment can lead to faulty movement: To compensate for the weakness, the patient might adopt a faulty squat pattern (movement fault).

Importance of the Distinction:

Understanding the difference is critical for treatment planning:

  • Addressing impairments: Techniques like strengthening exercises can target the quad weakness (impairment).

  • Correcting faulty movement: Movement re-education can address the faulty femoral adduction squat pattern (movement fault).

By effectively differentiating between associated impairments and movement faults, your students can develop a more holistic approach to patient care.

Bonus Tip: The Orthopaedics app can be a valuable tool for students to practice identifying these concepts in real-world scenarios.

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Miller's Pyramid: Building Clinical Reasoning in Physical Therapy Students

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Physical therapists rely on strong clinical reasoning skills to effectively assess and treat patients. Miller's Pyramid of Clinical Competence (1990) provides a framework for developing these skills by going beyond rote memorization of knowledge.

Here's a look at Miller's Pyramid and how it can be applied in physical therapy education:

  • Knows (Knowledge): This is the foundation of the pyramid, encompassing the factual knowledge base of physical therapy. For example, knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and therapeutic interventions.

  • Knows How (Competence): Here, students develop the ability to apply their knowledge to solve problems. This involves clinical scenarios, case studies, simulations, and other problem-based learning exercises.

  • Shows How (Performance):  Next, students demonstrate their competence in simulated settings. Learning experiences like practicing techniques in a lab or role-playing patient interactions are appropriate at this stage.

  • Does (Action): The pinnacle involves applying knowledge and skills in real-world situations during supervised clinical placements. Students become proficient and autonomous practitioners capable of making sound clinical judgments independently.

Pyramid graphic from Ramani, S., & Leinster, S. (2008). AMEE Guide no. 34: teaching in the clinical environment. Medical Teacher, 30(4), 347–364.

How to use Miller's Pyramid of Clinical Competence with PhysioU to build clinical reasoning:

  • Build the “Knows” level through video-based lectures/handouts and assess factual recall through MicroLearning.

  • Elevate students to “Knows How” with Case Studies and other problem-solving activities.

  • Allow students to “Show” their knowledge through clinical simulations found in MiniSIMS using standardized patients.

  • Provide the crucial “Does” experience through MacroSIMS to augment students’ supervised clinical placements.

By integrating Miller's Pyramid into physical therapy education, educators can create structured learning experiences that gradually build students' clinical reasoning skills from foundational knowledge (“Knows”) to advanced clinical practice (“Does”). This approach fosters a deep understanding of clinical concepts and prepares students to excel as competent and confident physical therapists.

Ready to transform your classroom? Schedule a meeting with our Education Lead, Dr. Tracy Moore, PT, DPT, ONC.

References:

  1. Miller, G. E. (1990). The assessment of clinical skills/competence/performance. Academic Medicine, 65(9 Suppl), S63-67.

  2. Ramani, S., & Leinster, S. (2008). AMEE Guide no. 34: teaching in the clinical environment. Medical Teacher, 30(4), 347–364.