Instructional Concurrent Session 9

Do you experience concerns about the adequacy of education and training received by your clients? Many healthcare providers are troubled by this issue. In hand therapy, we provide critical information for client safety, home programming, and ultimately returning clients to preferred activities. Clients with limited health literacy struggle with autonomy, self-advocacy, and maintaining good health. Addressing the knowledge gap will enable the therapist to strengthen the therapeutic alliance and enhance health outcomes. Using inclusive communication practices and increasing our understanding of the complexity of the health literacy barrier, we can make positive change for our hand therapy clients.

Level: Entry 

The rehabilitation and safe return to sport of the hypermobile female athlete presents many challenges to even the most experienced clinician. How much mobility is "Hypermobility"? How do you load a hypermobile joint safely? How does the female physiology affect rehabilitation, exercise programming and sports performance? This session will discuss the evaluation and treatment of hypermobility throughout the upper extremity and the influence of the female athlete's physiology. Case examples will be utilized to illustrate recovery strategies, from evaluation to return to sport testing and programming.

Level: Advanced

In this session you will learn about the complexities of adolescent and pediatric medial epicondyle elbow fractures. This session will cover the surgeon’s perspective on surgical and nonsurgical care, and an overview of surgical approaches. We will discuss timeline for therapy initiation as relates to operative vs non operative care. We will discuss interventions used including addressing the ulnar nerve as a common contributor to medial elbow pain. The session will highlight both common and uncommon symptoms observed during this course of treatment from a therapist/surgeon perspective. We will highlight the close communication between the surgeon and therapy team as gaining full elbow motion is extremely important. Finally, there is a subset of patients that simply do not progress well after intervention secondary to pain and limited motion. These patients are often 10-13 year old females and we have found that many struggle due to irritation of the ulnar nerve. We have found that addressing the ulnar nerve can be a game changer.

Level: Intermediate

How do we bridge the gap between the way our clients experience pain and our understanding of their subjective experience? Pain is the sensation that shapes healing, shapes our therapy outcomes, and shapes day-to-day experiences for our clients. How do we ask about the quality of pain? Describe how pain works within our bodies and brains? How do we assure clients that pain is an important member of their rehabilitation journey? Wherever pain first arrives in the conversation with your client and their care plan, it is subjective and no two clients will feel it the exact same way. In this session, explore pain through metaphor as a way to engage your client, support their ability to control their pain, and improve clinical outcomes.

Level: Entry