One thing that we feel passionately about within our professional staff is a strong commitment to supporting our professional organizations, not only because they are our advocates for legislation that supports PT, but also because they provide great opportunities for education and growth within the profession of physical therapy. Ellen has been involved in one such organization, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists (AAOMPT), for over 20 years and she has instilled the importance of this involvement within all of us PTs here.
Recently, four of our therapists, including Ellen, were able to attend the yearly AAOMPT conference in Salt Lake City in October. Laura, Jeff, and Ted were excited to attend the conference for the first time, especially after hearing raving reviews about this conference from Ellen who has attended many conferences (including an international conference in 2016 in Scotland!) in years past. The conference offered up many benefits, including educational courses and discussions as well as the chance to network and connect with PTs from all over the nation whom are passionate about getting their patients better with manual therapy as a strong focus of their treatment.
We were able to learn about topics across the spectrum of treatment, such as preventative PT, the importance of strengthening the alliance with our patients, pain science, sleep hygiene and how it relates to pain, knee osteoarthritis, treatments for irritable nerves, and diagnosis as well as treatment for issues related to the upper ribs, shoulder and arm, core and trunk, and feet. Needless to say, our brains were very full after four days of learning from some of the best and brightest in our field, and we came back to the clinic ready to put some of our new thoughts and skills to use with our patients, present and future!
