Evidence-Based Advances in Lower Extremity Rehabilitation

Andy Parsons PT, DPT, OCS

Online Course

Includes all course content in digital format

Prerequisites Required
6 hours - Provided by Summit Professional Education

Item: physi-ONDEMANDPLERAP1

Description

Evidence-based practice continues to push physical therapy forward in lower extremity (LE) evaluation and treatment. LE conditions are among the most prevalent in orthopedic physical therapy. The prevalence rates of common conditions include anterior knee pain 25%, patellar tendinopathy ranges from 5.8% - 22.8%, and achilles tendinopathy ranges from 7-9% in runners. As the population ages, osteoarthritis (OA) becomes even more important with 40% of people over age 65 having symptoms related to OA. Advancements related to conditions like tendinopathy, arthritis, femoral acetabular impingement, plantar fasciosis, patellofemoral pain, and bursitis dictate that today's rehabclinician stay abreast to latest research in order to optimize outcomes with their patients.

This hands-on course aims to advance a clinician's understanding of the guidelines related to the hip, knee, and foot/ankle to facilitate differential diagnosis/medical screening for a hierarchical approach to intervention prescription producing more efficient and valuable care. Hands-on instruction and interactive presentation will allow attendees to analyze and implement LE evaluation and intervention strategies that can be utilized immediately in the clinic.

Highlights

  • Develop advanced examination strategies for differential diagnosis for the most common lower extremity conditions
  • Improve your ability to properly load and progress lower extremity exercise programs
  • Immediately improve clinical reasoning and examination of lower extremity conditions
  • Classify interventions that can potentially be reduced or eliminated from practice
  • Interactive, hands-on labs for LE functional tests and measures, manual treatment, and prescription of progressive loading

Learning Objectives

  1. Define loading paradigms in order to progress lower extremity exercise programs using objective measures.
  2. Classify tendinopathy, tendinitis, and tendinosis to aide in application of therapeutic interventions.
  3. Develop advanced examination strategies for differential diagnosis of the most common lower extremity conditions.
  4. Analyze important patient history points/criteria to improve differential diagnosis of LE Conditions.
  5. Implement specific interventions with an evidence-based hierarchical model based on evaluation/diagnosis.
  6. Discuss interventions that can potentially be reduced or eliminated from practice to improve value and efficiency of care.

Course Content

Evidence-Based Advances in Lower Extremity Rehabilitation
SCORM Package
Next Steps
Module
  1. Core Concepts for the Lower Extremity
    1. What is evidence-based practice?
    2. Therapeutic exercise loading and dosage
    3. Staging tissue - Severity, irritability, nature, stage, and stability
    4. Tendinopathy, tendinitis, and tendinosis
    5. Biopsychosocial model of pain
    6. Shared goal setting
    7. Gait examination: Low cost video analysis options
    8. Maximizing prescription of progressive loading exercise
  2. Best Practices for the Hip
    1. Patient history and examination
    2. Differential diagnosis and medical screening
    3. Select diagnoses:
      1. Femoroacetabular impingement
      2. Hip OA
      3. Greater trochanteric pain syndrome
      4. Nonarthritic hip pain
    4. Time to rethink “bursitis”
    5. Targeted interventions
  3. Best Practices for the Knee
    1. Patient history and examination
    2. Differential diagnosis and medical screening
    3. Select diagnoses:
      1. Osteoarthritis
      2. Patellar tendinopathy
      3. Patellofemoral pain syndrome
      4. Ligament sprains
      5. Conservative ACL tear management
    4. Targeted interventions
  4. Best Practices for the Foot and Ankle
    1. Patient history and examination
    2. Differential diagnosis and medical screening
    3. Select diagnoses:
      1. Achilles tendinopathy
      2. Plantar fasciitis/fasciopathy Sever's Disease
      3. Morton’s Neuroma
      4. Ankle ligament sprains
    4. Targeted interventions
  5. Lower Extremity Rehabilitation Using Manual Therapy
    1. Functional tests and measures for LE
    2. Select manual techniques for hip/knee/ankle
Andy Parsons, PT, DPT, OCS is a board-certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist. He completed his Doctor of Physical Therapy at the University of Toledo and his Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology from The Ohio State University. He has extensive clinical experience in outpatient physical therapy. His practice is based in Defiance, OH at a regional medical center with special interests in manual therapy, low back pain, hip pain, knee pain, tendinopathies, and vestibular therapy. Dr. Parsons has presented on topics including lower extremity rehabilitation, low back pain, vestibular rehab, and implementation of evidence-based practice for clinicians in day-to-day practice.

Currently, Dr. Parsons serves ProMedica Total Rehab on the evidence-based practice implementation team which helps guide evidence translation to rehab clinicians. This team has implemented guidelines on many topics including ACL rehab, low back pain, neck pain, DVT management, adhesive capsulitis, and achilles tendinopathy. The group's evidence implementation efforts were featured by PTinMotion magazine. Dr. Parsons has also been a guest lecturer for the University of Toledo speaking about low back pain best practice. Dr. Parsons enjoys blogging for several institutions encouraging advancement of musculoskeletal rehabilitation and research. Dr. Parsons is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association as well as APTA's Sports Section. You can find him at AndyParsonsDPT.com.


DISCLOSURES

FINANCIAL: Andy Parsons is compensated by Summit as an instructor.

NONFINANCIAL: Andy Parsons has no non-financial relationships to disclose.

Click here to check accreditation for this course.

Share This Course