Pre-Conference Institutes (ticketed events)

Your new patient sits before you with a heavily contracted hand. You learn that the trauma and surgery occurred over 6 months ago, and you begin to feel overwhelmed. Experience has taught you that standard hand therapy treatment and custom orthotics are not always effective in regaining function in the stiff hand. This pre-conference course will introduce the technique of Casting Motion to Mobilize Stiffness (CMMS) as an innovative treatment option for these tough cases. The CMMS technique integrates principles of neuroplasticity, therapeutic exercise and the art of plaster casting to simultaneously address poor CNS movement patterning, fibrotic edema, tissue tightness and joint contractures. Participants will learn to analyze abnormal movement patterns of the stiff hand and will collaborate with fellow attendees to choose the most appropriate CMMS cast position. Opportunities to become familiar with Plaster of Paris material via application of simple finger or hand based casts will be offered, as will CMMS case examples and live demonstrations of CMMS cast application and removal. This course will change the way you approach the treatment of the stiff hand and will expand your clinical skills while providing your patients with improved outcomes.

Level: Entry 

Shoulder pain is a common musculoskeletal condition with a high prevalence in isolation, and/or concomitantly, with other distal symptomologies affecting the elbow and the wrist/hand complex. As upper extremity specialists, it becomes imperative that we screen, assess and treat the entire upper quadrant, taking into consideration the significance of the kinetic chain, and help facilitate an optimal outcome. This lab-based course will provide the discerning hand therapist recent evidence and the necessary tools to critically identify and evaluate the patho-anatomical structures of the shoulder complex, and based on the findings and clinical reasoning, formulate an algorithm of treatment. The hands-on component of the course will include surface anatomy, provocative testing based assessment and manual therapy techniques. We will conclude with thought provoking and interactive case studies to tie in the various elements of the course.

Level: Intermediate