Instructional Concurrent Session 2

This session will expand attendees’ knowledge and intervention toolkit for treating individuals with hypermobility spectrum disorder (HSD) and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). The complex, multisystem nature of these conditions can present challenges in treatment. The goal of this session is to provide attendees with the knowledge, perspective, and tools needed to confidently navigate these complexities to provide comprehensive and effective care. Attendees will gain practical, evidence-informed intervention strategies that can be immediately applied in clinical practice to support this population. Specifically, the speakers will discuss the value of orthoses, stability exercises, low- and high-tech adaptive aids, joint protection, pain management techniques, and strategies for fostering active coping skills. The speakers will also discuss common comorbidities and provide an overview of topics essential for working with this population which may not be familiar to therapists with a primarily orthopedic lens. This session will highlight the importance of collaborative interprofessional knowledge including physical and occupational therapy, nursing, psychology, orthotics and prosthetics, medicine, and health and wellness to support attendees in delivering holistic, patient-centered care when treating this population.

This course will cover surgical and therapy management of extensor tendon deformity, releases and reconstructions. The course will include a brief anatomy and biomechanics review, description of surgical procedures, and current postoperative rehabilitation techniques. Rehabilitation techniques will be demonstrated through case presentations and videos.

Think about “that patient.” The one who is taking off their dorsal blocking orthosis or cannot do their home exercise program correctly. Are they obstinate or simply not listening? What if they didn’t understand what you told them due to anxiety or we communicated the information unclearly? Health literacy is the degree to which individuals can understand and use the information we provide them as well as our own healthcare organizations’ capacity to empower our patients to understand and act on that health information.

In this course, attendees will learn how to support patients with understanding and acting on health information, beginning with assessing their own current knowledge of health literacy. Attendees will explore individual (intrinsic), socioeconomic/demographic and environmental (extrinsic) factors that influence a person’s ability to use and act on health information. Individual factors include a person’s reading skills, health beliefs, and psychological state, to name a few. Socioeconomic and demographic factors include social determinants of health as well as cultural views on healthcare. Environmental factors include our ability to communicate health information clearly as well as our organization’s ability to support and empower patients’ ability to understand and act on the information. Attendees will then take a deeper dive into the environmental factors–therapists’ ability to communicate clearly and workplaces’ ability to support patients in their recovery. Attendees will reflect on cultural humility and implicit biases when communicating with patients, then build skills using strategies such as shared decision making, teach-back method, and creating action plans. They will recognize their role in advocating for improved organizational health literacy. Lastly, attendees will appraise hand therapy-related patient education materials and provide suggestions for improvement.

Neurodynamic techniques are widely integrated into upper extremity rehabilitation; however, determining when and how to prescribe a slider versus a tensioner remains a nuanced clinical decision. Tensile loading is fundamental to nervous system homeostasis and adaptive remodeling, yet excessive or improperly dosed strain may provoke symptom exacerbation through ischemia, impaired intraneural blood flow, or increased nerve sensitivity. Understanding the proper approaches is necessary to the provision of excellent care.

This intermediate-level session integrates current neuroscience and clinical research to support neurodynamic management of common upper extremity peripheral conditions. Emphasis will be placed on clinical decision-making to help therapists determine when sliders versus tensioners are most appropriate considering nerve sensitivity, symptom provocation, and stage of healing. Participants will gain practical guidance for the selection, and dosing of neurodynamic interventions to modulate neural sensitivity, enhance excursion, promote adaptive remodeling, and restore function while minimizing symptom exacerbation.

By integrating foundational science and current research with clinical decision-making, this session equips hand therapists to translate current research into practice and promote professional confidence ensuring consistent, high-quality patient care associated with optimal patient outcomes. By bridging the gap between emerging neuroscience and clinical application, therapists strengthen their ability to make precise, patient-centered neurodynamic decisions. This shared commitment to evidence-informed practice amplifies the collective voice of hand therapy, reinforcing professional excellence and sustaining resilience within an evolving healthcare landscape.

Distal biceps tendon ruptures have been reported as more rare, however it is one of the most common tendon ruptures at the elbow. Distal biceps injuries, non-surgical, and surgical repairs have become increasingly more common. Understanding biceps anatomy, function, non-surgical and surgical intervention is essential for the treating upper extremity specialist to enhance return to the highest level functional independence. This session will focus on implementing a multi modal approach where attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of bicep anatomy, biomechanics of dysfunction, gain a comprehensive understanding current surgical and post operative rehab guideline/approaches, and discuss video based case studies to discuss clinical reasoning and focus on return to sport especially for athletes competing. By the end of this session, participants will be equipped with a comprehensive framework for diagnosing, treating, and successfully returning patients with distal biceps injuries to high-level activity.