Healthy Wealthy & Smart

On this week’s episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart podcast, Dr. Beth Darnall joins us to talk about the opioid epidemic and alternative treatments for patients experiencing chronic pain. Dr. Darnall is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Pain Medicine at Stanford University and treats individuals and groups at the Stanford Pain Management Center. She is an NIH-funded principal investigator for pain psychology research that is examining the mechanisms of pain catastrophizing treatment, including a novel single-session pain catastrophizing class she developed (funded by the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health). She is dedicated to empowering life beyond pain. In this episode, we discuss: -The opioid epidemic and cost effective treatment solutions that you can incorporate into your care -Tapering off opioid use, associated effects, and protocol -How opioid use and chronic pain effect brain chemistry -Pain catastrophizing defined and what patients can do if they have chronic pain -And so much more! Treatment for chronic pain with opioids alone is not sustainable and alternative treatment approaches are needed to retrain the brain. The research has shown that, “When we take opioids, it really changes brain chemistry. It actually changes the structure of the brain but so does chronic pain itself…[With alternative treatment,] you're rewiring and recovering and exercise and enjoyment and going out and getting back to doing the things you love, these are going to help facilitate your brain as it is rewiring, as you’re managing pain differently, as you’re becoming more and more active and functional.”   Evidence based healthcare providers must monitor patients who begin opioid treatment for chronic pain and how their condition evolves. “We want to ask ourselves a critical question—are people getting better? And this is where we've really fallen short, opioids will be prescribed and nobody is tracking long term to see if they are getting better or if there are new risk factors or addictive behaviors. It’s a constant process of monitoring… We need to do better at stopping what isn't working. If people aren't getting better, if their pain is only worsening, let's not add more of what isn't working. Let’s stop it and emphasize the alternatives.”   Dr. Darnall supports the biopsychosocial model for treating chronic pain because it effectively and comprehensively targets the nervous system. She states, “The nervous system leads us into this area where we’re really talking about the modulation of pain, the facilitation of pain and the exacerbation of pain… No matter where you feel pain in your body, no matter how it got started or why, the processing of it will occur in the brain and spinal cord. That's what we can target with some of these treatments and therapies, we’re able to dampen the experience of pain… The nervous system is a critically important part in helping decrease not only pain and intensity but more importantly how much a person suffers from pain. “   Dr. Darnall advocates a pain management approach that allows the patient to take more control in achieving a desirable outcome. She stresses, “The most important person on the healthcare team isn't the doctor or the psychologist or the physical therapist—it’s the patient. If you have chronic pain, you are the most important person on your healthcare team. My hope and my wish is that every person on your healthcare team will have a similar philosophy that is focused on empowering you to acquire the right information and the right skills so you can best self manage your pain and your symptoms so that you’re able to become more functional, to enjoy more of the life you have even with the health conditions you have so you’re able to live your best life possible.” For more about Dr. Darnall: Beth is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Pain Medicine at Stanford University and treats individuals and groups at the Stanford Pain Management Center. She is an NIH-funded principal investigator for pain psychology research that is examining the mechanisms of pain catastrophizing treatment, including a novel single-session pain catastrophizing class she developed (funded by the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health).   She is Co-Chair of the Pain Psychology Task Force at the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), and in 2015 received a Presidential Commendation from AAPM.   Beth is author of Less Pain, Fewer Pills ©2014 and The Opioid-Free Pain Relief Kit ©2016. Her upcoming book, The Surprising Psychology of Pain: Evidence-Based Relief from Catastrophizing and Pain is due out in 2017. As a pain psychologist, she has 15 years experience treating adults with chronic pain, and she lived through her own chronic pain experience. She enjoys helping individuals with chronic pain gain control over mind and body and live their best life possible.   Beth is a licensed clinical psychologist (CA License #25495).   Beth received her doctoral training at the University of Colorado at Boulder and her clinical residency at the Southern Arizona Veterans Affairs Health Care System (Tucson VA Hospital). She received post-doctoral training at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health (T32 Fellowship). Clinically, she provided psychological services to patients with catastrophic burn, spinal cord injury or amputation. She was an Associate Professor at Oregon Health and Science University (2005-2012) prior to joining the faculty at Stanford University in late 2012. Her desire to specialize in the management of chronic pain was inspired by her clinical experiences and by her own personal experience with chronic pain.   Make sure to grab copies of Dr. Darnall’s books The Opioid-Free Pain Relief Kit: 10 Simple Steps to Ease Your Pain and Less Pain, Fewer Pills: Avoid the Dangers of Prescription Opioids and Gain Control over Chronic Pain and follow her on twitter!   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and as always stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Check out my latest blog post on Managing Expectations: It Shouldn't be That Difficult

On today’s episode, I had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Jason Falvey PT, DPT, GCS onto the podcast to discuss how physical therapists can better treat the geriatric population. Dr. Falvey is currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Colorado Denver in the Muscle Performance Lab and is interested in optimizing rehabilitation for medically deconditioned older adults in post-acute and home care settings. In this episode, we discuss: -The push for more medically necessary research funding for the growing baby boomer population -Are fresh PT graduates prepared to manage older adults? -Jason’s top strategies to break cemented patient routines -How to properly dose exercise for the geriatric population -And so much more! Jason explains the value of understanding optimal aging and long term health management when dealing with clients of any age and in any setting. He states, “In every practice area, knowledge of successful aging will make you a better therapist. If you’re a geriatric specialist or have good knowledge in that area, I think you would be an incredible asset to any healthcare organization.”   Some of Jason’s best treatment results come from empowering patient’s on their rehabilitation journey. “These patients we see are often homebound, their often not respected or valued or heard by medical professionals… So really getting in and promoting autonomy and putting power in their hands immediately to take charge of their care. It’s surprising how refreshing that is for patients and how much they open up after the first session.”   In order to maximize patient outcomes, clinicians need to understand the foundations of movement and address their patient’s functional deficits. To better illustrate this point, Jason proposes this example, “If I gave you a book in Spanish and I tell you to read it, you read through it and you don't understand because you don’t understand the foundation of the Spanish language and then I have you do 100 repetitions of reading that book, that 100th time you’re not going to be any better at it because I didn’t fix the foundational issue that you don’t know some of the basic vocabulary you needed to understand.”   Geriatric research is now beginning to incorporate physical function into the equation and physical therapists are at the forefront for advocating its importance. Jason stresses, “Physical function is its own independent risk factor for so many adverse outcomes like hospital readmissions, all cause emergency room visits, falls, cognition and physical function often run in tandem… I think there is increased recognition that how people move and interact with their community is not just a secondary outcome but it is a primary outcome… They haven’t included physical therapists in physician trials, so there is still work to do, but we have successfully promoted the message that mobility is important, mobility is a quality of life issue, and exercise is medicine and we need to integrate those things across the spectrum. “   For more about Dr. Falvey: PhD Student Jason Falvey was awarded a Kendall Scholarship from the Foundation for Physical Therapy in 2014 and a Fellowship for Geriatric Research through the Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy in 2015 to support his research examining the role of home physical therapy in enhancing function and reducing re-hospitalizations for medically complex older adults. He is also the primary investigator on a research grant from the American Physical Therapy Association, Section of Health Policy and Administration looking at the role of physical therapists in models of transitional care for older adults after acute hospitalization. You can find more resources on Jason’s research here and follow him on twitter! Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Check out my latest blog post on Managing Expectations: It Shouldn't be That Difficult!  

Happy Independence Day to the American Healthy Wealthy and Smart family! On this week’s episode, Greg Lehman and I review the evidence and rethink effective treatment strategies. Greg is both a physiotherapist and chiropractor who treats musculoskeletal disorders within a biopsychosocial model and simplifies pain science for clinicians around the world. In this episode, we discuss: -Why explaining pain leads to better treatment outcomes -The case for and against repeated spinal flexion -Does glute activation or inhibition affect pain? -Functional training and the carry-over effect -And so much more!   Greg stresses that most physical therapists should rethink what is valuable to their patients. He states, “The technical mastery is less important…It probably has more to do with how your patient feels comfortable and how you respond to them rather than you being a good robot who knows lines of drive and the biomechanics. That isn’t what is valuable and isn’t supported in all the research that we have.”   Greg also questions the effectiveness of being so specific with our interventions and takes a broader approach in his treatment philosophy. “I don't think there is any treatment that ever has to occur… It’s actually a neat, big question for therapy I would like to see addressed more. Is there ever a treatment that is absolutely necessary for a specific condition or are there a number of things that can be helpful? I tend to believe there are a number of things—I have my biases—but I think most things aren't that specific.”   Greg builds patient self-awareness with education and believes it is his most effective treatment tool. “I go right into education for low back pain. I am not too worried about getting them super active right away. I want to encourage them to getting back to doing the things that are important. If they tell me they are afraid to do a number of things that they like doing and they are meaningful activities, my go to intervention is to convince them they can start doing those things again.”   Greg suggests shifting our focus as clinicians from a purely biomedical approach to treatment and instead developing our psychosocial expertise. “I really believe it is okay to be simple. We don't really need the complexity that we try to do, especially the biomechanics. The big point of that is if you simplify your biomechanics, your physical interventions, it can allow you to develop your skills in the other areas, the psychosocial stuff and start taking more classes outside our typical training—psychologists, social workers, that type of stuff. That’s where we can build our skill set. There's not a better manipulation, there’s not that special exercise technique that you need to learn. It’s fun but it’s not necessary for patients with pain.”   For more about Greg: GREG LEHMAN BKIN, MSC, DC, MSCPT He is a physiotherapist and chiropractor treating musculoskeletal disorders within a biopsychosocial model. Prior to his clinical career he was fortunate enough to receive a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council MSc graduate scholarship that permitted me to be one of only two yearly students to train with Professor Stuart McGill in his Occupational Biomechanics Laboratory subsequently publishing more than 20 peer reviewed papers in the manual therapy and exercise biomechanics field. Greg was an assistant professor at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College teaching a graduate level course in Spine Biomechanics and Instrumentation as well conducting more than 20 research experiments while supervising more than 50 students. He has lectured on a number of topics on reconciling treatment biomechanics with pain science, running injuries, golf biomechanics, occupational low back injuries and therapeutic neuroscience. His clinical musings can be seen on Medbridge Health CE and various web based podcasts. Greg is currently an instructor with therunningclinic.ca and with Reconciling Biomechanics with Pain Science.  Both are continuing education platforms that provide clinically relevant research that helps shape and refine clinical practice. While he has a strong biomechanics background he was introduced to the field of neuroscience and the importance of psychosocial risk factors in pain and injury management almost two decades ago. Greg believes successful injury management and prevention can use simple techniques that still address the multifactorial and complex nature of musculoskeletal disorders. He is active on social media and consider the discussion and dissemination of knowledge an important component of responsible practice. Further in depth bio and history of my education, works and publications. For more information on where Greg will be lecturing next, make sure to visit his website and keep up with Greg on twitter!   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Check out my latest blog post on Managing Expectations: It Shouldn't be That Difficult!  

On this week’s episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Chad Prince joins me to discuss his book Physical Therapy Career & Salary Guide: Avoid the Income Ceiling and Put Your Career in the FASTLANE and strategies to add side income to your physical therapy practice. After working as a physical therapist for ten years, Chad transitioned into full-time administration seven years ago. Today, he manages an orthopaedic surgery practice. In his writing, he combines his years of professional business experience, his understanding of the healthcare world at large, and his personal journey developing a physical therapy product, the UELadder.   In this episode, we chat about: -Chad's experiences with overcoming self-doubt and self-imposed limitations -Unique PT opportunities to generate income without trading your time for money -How to expand your audience globally and 10x the impact you can make -How to get in the fastlane of healthcare innovation -And much, much more!   As budding entrepreneurs, sometimes it is our mindset that is limiting us from achieving greatness. Chad suggests exploring these questions, “What do you want to give? What kind of impact do you want to have on the world? Who do you have to become to give that to the world? And you have to go ahead and believe that you are capable of that before you can become it.”   Chad addresses the limitations of the service model and the upside of taking an alternative view, “As long as we trade time for money we are limited by our amount of time…You might be able to work more but there is no way to 10x your work hours—it’s just not possible. But with online tools and with other types of businesses still inside physical therapy, it is possible to 10x your impact.”   As technology evolves in our profession, Chad stresses, “We’ve got to look ahead at changes that are coming and embrace those in a way that’s positive and healthy for the profession and our patients. That's ultimately going to be the sweet spot for us all.”   We wrap up the interview with some lessons from the memory of a legendary figure, Muhammad Ali, “He said I'm the greatest and said it over and over and over until he became the greatest… If we can have a full and complete understanding of our what, why, and how, we can say I’m the greatest at whatever it is we want to accomplish and we can go do it.”   You can find more from Chad on twitter and can follow his blog here! Get a copy of the book and check out Chad’s UELadder! Be sure to check out the FREE 5 page report on PT Income Tips on the homepage, thanks to Chad!   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Check out my latest blog post on Managing Expectations: It Shouldn't be That Difficult!

This week’s episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart podcast is a must listen if you are interested in learning more about CrossFit. Tune in, with Dr. Rick Daigle and me, to find out what CrossFit is all about and tips for choosing a box that’s right for you. Dr. Daigle is a physical therapist who is passionate about treating athletes and the Founder and President of Medical Minds In Motion which develops high quality continuing education courses for the allied health field. In this episode, we discuss: -Do you have to be in great shape to start CrossFit and is CrossFit a great way to get injured? -Does CrossFit translate into daily movement? -Must ask questions when shopping around for the perfect box for you -What you can do to decrease your chance of injury -And so much more! If you’re interested in checking out CrossFit, it is important to find a box that challenges you but also modifies the workout of the day when your body is giving you red flags. Dr. Daigle suggests, “Doing things at the level that you are capable of doing it at and understanding regression and progression. And it goes that having a coach that understands regression and progression and understands that everybody is going to move a little bit differently.” When first starting CrossFit, your box needs to understand your ability level to prevent injury. Dr. Daigle stresses, “You’ve got to earn the right to add load to a movement. You’ve got to kill the movement first, you’ve got to know it, you’ve got to own it without any load. So it’s the good box that will take that philosophy. And the not so good where they just put load on people, that's where injury happens.” It can be challenging for the CrossFit athlete but always have the humility to accept the feedback from your body. “Listen to your body. If you're body doesn't want you to do something, oh well, then modify it and figure out how you can do a quality movement in a little bit of a different manner. The biggest things for injury prevention is having a good consistent mobility program and listening to your body. Your body will tell you when it's not ready to do something.” CrossFit can be a great exercise program that incorporates variability and camaraderie. Dr. Daigle is a proponent for CrossFit and states, “It's about getting people moving. We live in a society that doesn't move enough. We live in a society that stays very, very stationary. I think CrossFit is a great avenue to get people moving and get people off their duff doing something different, doing something exciting, and improving quality of life.” About Rick: Rick Daigle, PT, DPT, FMT-C, is the Founder and President of Medical Minds In Motion, LLC™.  Dr. Daigle is a graduate of Simmons College in Boston and had the opportunity to do an extended externship at Cincinnati Sports Medicine. Dr. Daigle is an active member of the APTA and is a Credentialed APTA Clinical Instructor. His clinical expertise/philosophy is focused around a manual and movement based model. He utilizes assessment tools and techniques such as the SFMA, Trigger Point Dry Needling, Kinesiology Taping and many more.  Dr. Daigle has worked with a variety of types of patients and has consulted with numerous collegiate and professional athletes. He has a special interest in Baseball Players and has studied the mechanics of pitching and how dysfunctional movement causes breakdown, leading to severe injuries.  Dr. Daigle is the creator of “Kinesiology Taping: Movement Assessments & Corrective Exercise Strategies”, seminar series which is meant to expose clinicians to various taping techniques, movement assessments and corrective exercise strategies used to determine what taping techniques are appropriate. He created MMIM with the sole purpose of developing high quality continuing education courses for the allied health field.   If you would like to hear more from Rick, you can follow him on twitter and facebook and be a part of the facebook group Physical Therapy: Practice, Education and Networking for everything rehab related.   Check out Medical Minds In Motion’s continuing education courses and follow the blog and twitter.   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Also, check out my latest blog post on Managing Expectations: It Shouldn't be That Difficult!      

On this week’s episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart podcast, I had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Emma Stokes onto the show to discuss leadership and advocacy in physical therapy! Emma Stokes BSc (Physio), MSc (research), MSc Mgmt, Phd is an associate professor and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. She is the deputy head of the physiotherapy programme and teaches on the entry to practice programmes in Dublin and Singapore. The focus of her research and teaching is professional practice issues that builds on her work with professional, regulatory and charitable organisations. She is the Minister for Health's nominee for physiotherapy to the Health & Social Care Professions Council & Physiotherapists Registration Board in Ireland. She is currently the President of WCPT.   In this episode, we discuss: -Practical steps that create leadership opportunities -Why self-awareness and the Power of No are integral to leadership -Thoughts on what may impact women on their path to higher goals -Dr. Stoke’s experiences with failure and building resilience -A framework for advocacy in physical therapy -How to get the most from a conference experience -And so much more!   Dr. Stokes shares great advice for those who want to get involved in higher roles that before you can lead others, you first need to be able to lead yourself. To develop that self awareness you must, “Be clear about what your values are. So learn about your values—where they’ve come from, how they serve you, how you use them in the service of others, what they bring to you as a person. And if you understand them very explicitly then you will understand when they are challenged and whether you're prepared to have them challenged or whether you need to put your hand up and walk away from a situation.”   We also discuss the importance of looking to a mentor to help cultivate leadership characteristics within ourselves. Dr. Stokes suggests that you, “Identify something that someone does that you admire and have this conversation with them. Find out how they got to where they are. Sometimes it is just looking at a behavior and saying that is a behavior that is a positive behavior that I would like to adopt. It is mimicking.”   Dr. Stokes reminds us that to have an effective therapeutic relationship with the best outcome for our patients, we need to guide them on their journey and that, “The solution is owned by the client. You unpack that solution with them and it is something they own rather than us giving them a fix.”   Being an advocate for physical therapy comes down to, “Understanding what it is you want to achieve and really drill down into that. Once you understand what the outcome is, then you need to look at context. What is the environment in which you want this change to happen, who are the key people that may be the decision makers, understand who the people will be in terms of allies, who are the people who won't be so positive about this change... Understanding the context then allows you to think about what you want to do, the strategy… find the [evidence] you need in order to [support] this.” More about Dr. Stokes: Education and work experience: Emma Stokes qualified as a physiotherapist in 1990 [BSc Physiotherapy, Trinity College Dublin]. While working as a clinical physiotherapist at St. James’s Hospital, Dublin (1990-1996), she completed a post-graduate Diploma in Statistics in 1993 and MSc (Research) in 1995 both at Trinity College Dublin. She took up an academic position at Trinity College in 1996, completed a PhD in 2005 and a Master’s degree (MSc Mgmt, Business Administration) in the School of Business in 2008. She is an associate professor at the Department of Physiotherapy, Trinity College Dublin [1996 to date]. She was elected as a Fellow of the College in 2012. She commenced a Diploma in Leadership & Professional Coaching in September 2014. Since May 2015 she has been the President of WCPT.   Leadership: Emma Stokes has played a number of leadership roles over the course of her career. Since the early 1990’s, she has been an active member of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP). As well as acting as a professional adviser, she has chaired the Society’s Standing Committees for International Affairs and for Finance. In 2012, she was appointed as the Director of Professional Development and has led the establishment of the ISCP’s first professional development unit, in preparation for the required organisational transformation of the ISCP when the physiotherapy regulatory board opens. Drawing on key stakeholder and member engagement as well as her international experience, she led the project that has culminated in the establishment of a unit of 3 staff and more than 40 volunteers whose chief function is to position the ISCP as a key provider of continuing professional development in the coming years. In 2010 she completed a 5-year term as a College Dean at Trinity College Dublin [15,000 students] with responsibility for student discipline. She was the first woman to be appointed to this senior academic management position.   Board membership: Her experience of eight board directorships covers the health, education, regulation and charity sectors. She recently completed a term as the chair of the board of a charity for people with Parkinson’s Disease – www.moveforparkinsons.com.   Regulation: She is currently the Minister for Health’s nominee to represent the physiotherapy profession on Ireland’s regulatory authority – the Health & Social Care Professions Council. She has been an invited speaker at the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy Regulators (USA) leadership workshop and annual conference and the International Network of Physical Therapy Regulators. She is a member of the recently established (2014) Physiotherapists Registration Board that will regulate physiotherapy in Ireland.   Research, scholarship and teaching: Dr. Stokes has had two main research interests. The first has been in the area of rehabilitation with a focus on novel ways to mediate exercise intervention and participation post stroke and in people with neurological disabilities. Her current research focus is on national and international professional issues in physiotherapy. She has published widely in these areas in international peer-reviewed journals. She co-leads the teaching modules on professional issues for the entry-level physiotherapy students at Trinity College Dublin and at the TCD Singapore programme. She spent time on sabbatical at the University of Toronto (2010). She was privileged to deliver the 2013 Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Founders’ Lecture in October 2013 - http://www.csp.org.uk/news/2013/10/11/physio13-founders-lecture-calls-physios-think-creatively In 2014, she was in receipt of a government scholarship from Taiwan as a visiting scholar and was invited to the University of Rhode Island as a Distinguished International Visiting Scholar - http://web.uri.edu/physical-therapy/2014/02/14/international-scholar-dr-emma-stokes-to-visit-uri/ She was appointed as an adjunct associate professor at the University of South Australia in August 2014.   International professional adviser: She has acted as an adviser to physiotherapy organisations advising on organisational development and capacity as well as professional issues. She was recently a member in a task force of the American Physical Therapy Association on scope of practice. She was the chair of a WCPT Working Group tasked with an organisational review of WCPT.   If you would like to hear more from Dr. Stokes, you can follow her on twitter! For more information on the IFOMPT Conference in Glasgow on July 4-8th, 2016, click here and if you’re interested in sharing your research in Cape Town in July 2017, head over to the World Confederation for Physical Therapy Congress 2017!   Make sure to connect with me on twitter to stay updated on all of the latest! If you would like to support the show, be sure to leave a rating and/or a review on iTunes!   Have a great week and as always stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page!

This week, Dr. Tim Gabbett joins me on the Healthy Wealthy and Smart podcast to talk about how he prepares athletes to perform at high levels of competition and mitigate injury risk during critical periods of play. Tim is an applied sports scientist who consults with elite international athletes and has authored numerous research papers that benefit the sports performance community. In this episode, we discuss: -Sport specific external and internal training loads -How chronic training load history impacts training guidelines and injury prevention -The mathematical relationship between fitness and fatigue and its effect on physical performance -Why building trust with athletes supports the mental component of competition -And so much more!   Tim stresses that it is more common for players to be undertrained than over trained when it comes to injury risk. He suggests, “High chronic load is protective against injury and gives you the physical qualities that allow you to compete.”   Tim also develops strong relationships with his athletes to help facilitate the training regimen. He emphasizes, “They need to know that I have their best interest at heart. I'm looking to keep them injury free and make sure they can compete as hard as possible. They know at the end of it I'm not asking them to do anything that will put them at risk, but it will prepare them better and keep them injury free.”   Our role as coaches and physical therapists is to guide our athletes during times of difficulty within training sessions for ultimate success in competition. “Winning games comes back to how often they have learned to win the session. The more often we can put players into sessions where they either dig in or give in, they learn to find a way to fight themselves out of the dark hole and the more likely it will be a familiar place in competition.”   For more information on Dr. Gabbett: Dr Tim Gabbett has 20 years experience working as an applied sport scientist with athletes and coaches from a wide range of sports. He holds a PhD in Human Physiology (2000) and has completed a second PhD in the Applied Science of Professional Football (2011), with special reference to physical demands, injury prevention, and skill acquisition. Tim has worked with elite international athletes over several Commonwealth Games (2002 and 2006) and Olympic Games (2000, 2004, and 2008) cycles. He continues to work as a sport science and coaching consultant for several high performance teams around the world. Tim has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and has presented at over 200 national and international conferences. He is committed to performing world-leading research that can be applied in the ‘real world’ to benefit high performance coaches and athletes.   You can get in contact with Tim at his website Gabbett Performance and follow his updates on twitter!   Thank you for listening to the show and being a part of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart community!   If you would like to hear more from me, make sure to follow me on twitter and be sure to leave a rating and/or a review on iTunes to support the show!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page!  

On this week's episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart podcast, I welcomed Jason Glass to edutain, or educate through entertainment, on his rotational power training philosophy. Jason is one of the world’s top Golf Strength and Conditioning Specialists and owns and operates Tour Performance Lab and Kinetica Golf Performance in Vancouver, British Columbia. He specializes in training rotary athletes, biomechanics, physical assessments and functional strength training. In this episode, we discuss: -Does rotational power only equate to explosive movement? -Why Jason finds that his job is 80% psychological for better client-coach relationships -Is functional training dependent on individual performance demands? -Why Jason dropped his book and picked up a microphone -And much more! Coach Glass shared so many great pieces of advice especially on how developing relationships with his athletes was the difference maker in his career. Jason begins his assessment by asking the questions, “What would you like me to do for you? Why is that important to you? What are your strategies for this? Do you have the capacity or capabilities to do what you want to do? Do you have the skill set? You have the ambition; let's start with what you have.”   Jason also stresses the importance of aligning your training goals with your clients by, “Find[ing] their vulnerability, their fear. Can we take care of what we need to do and address their fears at the same time?”   Jason is a proponent for managing the psychological aspect of his training and not just focusing on his kinesiology expertise, "This is a human being that I'm training. If I can't communicate with the human being element and tell them this is why this is important… If they don't buy in, there will be no change."   Jason left us with these parting words that really resonated with me, “Dream big, over deliver, be undeniable." He reminds us to always stay true to yourself, do what makes you excited, do it well and you will be able to reach your goals! Here’s more information on Coach Jason Glass: Jason Glass is one of the world’s top Golf Strength & Conditioning Specialist. Jason owns and operates Tour Performance Lab and Kinetica Golf Performance in Vancouver BC; specializing in training rotary athletes, biomechanics, physical assessments and functional strength training. Jason is a consultant for many top professional athletes from the PGA Tour, European Tour, Nationwide Tour, LPGA to professional snowboarding. He is also the head strength and conditioning coach for the Canadian National Team. Jason is also the head of the Titleist Performance Institutes Fitness Advisory Board. Jason has been featured on the Golf Channel, Golf Canada Magazine and CBC Sports. Jason has his own TPI TV show “The Jason Glass Performance Lab”. Jason has published 3 DVD’s specializing in creating explosive rotational power in athletes. Jason graduated from University of British Columbia with a bachelor of Human Kinetics and is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist with the NSCA. Jason is a professional speaker and lead presenter for the Titleist Performance Institute. Jason has presented internationally on golf conditioning, functional training, corrective exercise progressions, and creating rotary power for all athletes. His enthusiasm, sense of humour and passion for training makes Jason a crowd favourite on the speaker’s circuit. Digest and enjoy all of the content Coach Glass provides on his website here and check out his podcast! You can find more from Jason on facebook and twitter! Make sure to connect with me on twitter to stay updated on all of the latest! If you would like to support the show, be sure to leave a rating and/or a review on iTunes! Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart! Xo Karen P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page!  

On today's episode, we pick the brain of IT band expert, Mark Alexander. Mark is the founder of BakPhysio, a Sports Physiotherapist with a background treating the Australian Olympic and Commonwealth Games Triathlon Teams, and a former lecturer/manager on the La Trobe University post-graduate Master of Sports Physiotherapy program. In this episode, we tackle: -Common misconceptions surrounding the IT band -Possible causal theories of IT Band Friction Syndrome and does the cause effect treatment -Intrinsic anatomical considerations and extrinsic effects on lateral knee pain -Mark's treatment approaches to lateral knee pain and "treat what you find" philosophy -And much more!   We cover so much in this podcast and Mark helps dispels quite a few myths. The IT band is continuous with the entire circumferential fascia and it is not something you can target and lengthen. As Mark says, "you can have an impact on the myofascial attachments, but you're not releasing the IT band. If a scalpel can't do it, you can't do it."   We also learn some new effective ways to evaluate and treat patients with lateral knee pain.  Mark recommends finding the extrinsic cause through the patient history. Mark’s key question and realization: “Ask them what their activity level has been over the preceding 3-6 months. What? How long? Intensity? Think about a graph with force or load on the y axis and x axis is just time and plot over time what the load has been like. In 80-90% of patients there is a spike! 3 weeks earlier they started to really ramp it up…Their IT band cannot handle that spike and load.”   Remember, every patient in front of you is unique! Understand the load and volume being put on their IT band and as ardently put by Mark, "treat what you find, challenge your assumptions, and compare to the other side." And for some guiding treatment principles, Mark suggests to, “Start with pyramidal foundation of stability and work up to strength.”   Thank you for listening to the podcast! You can find more from Mark on twitter and can reach him by email at mark.alexander@bakballs.com. If you want to learn more about bakballs, check out his company BakPhysio for more information!   Make sure to connect with me on twitter to stay updated on all of the latest! If you would like to support the show, be sure to leave a rating and/or a review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab all the tools for free on the home page!  

On this week's episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart podcast, Michol Dalcourt joins me to discuss how to integrate health and wellness principles to achieve individual performance outcomes. Michol is an industry leading expert in human movement, the inventor of the fitness tool "ViPR" and founder of the Institute of Motion. In this episode, we discuss: -The Institute of Motion's principles and intervention strategies -Why sympathetic workouts must be offset with parasympathetic workouts for longevity -How to effectively communicate dosage, timing, and exposure for exercise programs for clients -Has the health and wellness industry exhausted the word "functional"? -The 4 Q training model -And so much more! Michol addresses the multifaceted aspects of longevity including the physical, mental, and social considerations from the cellular level to the systems level. If you are interested in the health and performance strategies discussed, visit the Institute of Motion. If you want to discover the beauty and intricacies of the human body and apply your knowledge of anatomy to learn how to prepare tissues for performance, you can immerse yourself in the Anatomy Live Expanded course. You can sign up here for the course on June 10-12, 2016 in Boulder, Colorado! Thank you for listening to the podcast! If you would like to support the show, be sure to leave a rating and/or a review on iTunes! Connect with me on twitter to stay updated on all of the latest! Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen