APTA Proud Member

I have just finish attending my 16th Combined Section Meeting of APTA in San Diego and I couldn't be prouder.  I always consider it a privilege to be able to attend such an event.  The organization of content was outstanding, the exhibit hall flourishing, and the energy and enthusiasm unmatched.  I agree with our quote last week, but attending meetings like this are less about obligation and more about confirmation that we are in the best health care profession.  Your evidence in motion team was fortunate enough to present to the private practice section on integrating EBP into private practice.  The attendees, a good combination of "seasoned" and fresh PT's (including students) asked great questions, demonstrated thorough "buy in", and are great ambassadors of APTA's Vision 2020, an initiative that is based on superb leadership by our association, unprecedented "hutzpah", and comprehensive concern for the greater good of our profession.  My personal goal and our goal at EIM is to assist as best that we can in seeing the goals achieved by 2010!

Thanks to so many of you loyal EIM blog subscribers who came by were encouraging about the this blog.  Our goal at EIM is to continue to add value to the translation of best current evidence into daily practice.  To that end, we have been featured on blogs outside of medicine as we enable RSS feeds and OPML files to be integrated into "push" techniques that allow you to be kept up to date with the latest and greatest in "real time" evidence.  Please feel free to now surf the feed section as we have updated your ability to receive such push feeds.

I encourage all of our readership to attend an APTA meeting in the near future.  Top notch execution, planning, and content.  Kudos to APTA and the CSM meeting in San Diego. 

Larry

Comments

[DV]

Larry, APTA Proud Member, comments are appreciated. I was also fortunate to attend the CSM in San Diego. However, this was the first time I had attended an APTA meeting during my 30 year career as a PT. I guess life happens and some important things, like attending professional meetings and getting involved in one's profession, get put on hold. I was also very impressed by the quality of research and information that was presented at the meeting. I am equally as impressed and grateful for the communications and information that gets presented through EIM. The main message is that it is never too early or too late to get involved in one's professional passions.
There is a story about the Hundreth Monkey and social changes that can occur when each individual begins to have insight and then the collective community is positively affected. (www.lightshift.com/Inspiration/monkey.html) The CSM, EIM, EBP emphasis are all examples of how our profession is pushing for positive changes. I echo Larry's encouragement that we all get involved in our PT profession and that one of the ways we can start is by attending quality meetings like the CSM.
DV

[Louie Puentedura]

I too felt extremely fortunate to be able to attend the CSM in San Diego. There were certainly many, many highlights for me. High on that list was getting to meet face-to-face with many EIM bloggers (I was a little too shy to break out my digital camera though, sorry!), taking a good long look at Tim’s ‘product’ (nice…) and of course, the quality of the presentations was first rate. It was a shame that the organizers underestimated the drawing power of some speakers and many of us had to sit on the floors or stand up against walls in some presentations while other concurrent sessions were held in huge and comparatively empty rooms. But that was just a minor annoyance.

I felt very proud to be a physical therapist and to belong to such a dynamic profession which is making huge strides and looking upwards as in Charlotte Bronte’s great quote.

That being said, I was terribly saddened (and to be perfectly honest) downright angry to find a certain booth in the exhibitors hall. There was a physical therapist there demonstrating a 'revolutionary' and 'ground breaking' new treatment for all that ails you. I won’t mention the therapist's name, but I'm sure many of you who were there in San Diego would have no doubt come across his booth where he was hawking his ‘technique’ and his continuing education seminars and his CD ROM's, whatever. The guy had absolutely no evidence for what he was doing and when I challenged him to provide me with any peer reviewed journal articles on his "Pain Reflex Release Technique" he was slippery and glib, and mentioned something about 40 years of evidence (his clinical experience, I'm guessing). I did a PubMed search on the guy and his technique and wasn’t terribly surprised to find a big fat nothing.

I was disturbed on a number of fronts. First of all, what was the APTA thinking when it allowed such a booth? How does it fit into the APTA 2020 Vision for Physical Therapy, Hooked on Evidence and the push toward Evidence-Based Interventions? Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I was upset by the large number of student PTs and young impressionable PTs lapping this stuff up. He was laying them down on treatment tables and feeding them such tripe as he ‘worked’ on their jaw muscles or the back of their heads, and I was almost physically sick. The guy was presenting himself as the know-it-all guru and I was amazed to think I was the only one there thinking “Bull S...”

I am going to write to the APTA and express my concerns about this matter, but I doubt that there will be much they can do. I think it’s up to all of us to be bold, demand the evidence for such ‘revolutionary’ treatments, and when it’s found wanting, roundly denounce such practices of those who would call themselves “Physical Therapists”.

[Jason Silvernail]

Louie-
I agree with your thoughts here. Try looking up the post "Laser Therapy Disappointment" to find a similar situation.

I was unfortunately unable to get to CSM this year, but I agree with Larry that it really energizes me and makes me proud to belong to such a great profession doing so many wonderful things for our patients.
J

[Selena Horner]

Louie.... I saw that same exhibit that you are mentioning. I saw a big crowd around him and into both aisles and looked to see what the heck might be of interest - but when I saw two words "Pain Reflex" I didn't head any closer to that exhibit. 1) I'm short and 2) I already knew it was crap.

It also disheartened me to see a large group interested in crap. It obviously means that there is a LONG way to go in educating on the importance of evidence in clinical decision-making.

[John Childs]

Louie:

You may recall we have previously discussed this very issue. Here's one from the archives:

http://blog.evidenceinmotion.com/evidence/2005/10/john_iams_garba.html

Larry also previously blogged about a similar experience at last year's Private Practice Section meeting in Phoenix.

http://blog.evidenceinmotion.com/evidence/2005/10/where_is_all_th.html

[Louie Puentedura]

John:

Thanks for reminding me about those posts in the archives. I do remember them.

It wasn't so much 'who' was hawking the crap (beautifully put Selena!) that bothered me, as the 'where'. The APTA CSM 2006 no less! Surely, you'd think that the organizers would have done some kind of pre-screening of exhibitors, presenters, etc.?

I think Selena articulated it best when she wrote about how it disheartened her to see such a large group interested in 'crap'. And let's be honest tapping someone under the jaw with a reflex hammer or with fingers in order to alter a 'reflex' is nothing but crap. It certainly speaks to the fact that we do have "a LONG way to go in educating (others) on the importance of evidence in clinical decision-making".

[Selena Horner]

Louie, it all comes down to an English 5 letter word that begins with "M" and ends in "Y." Or for those Spanish speaking folks, a 6 letter word that begins with "D" and ends in "O."

Louie, sounds like you watched a demonstration or 2 - you should have done a little bit of heckling and created some entertainment! Is there really a pain reflex release when someone isn't in pain? How exactly is a pain reflex different than a deep tendon reflex and how exactly are pain reflexes measured? Hmmm, I don't recall seeing any bouncers walking around, I wonder if one would be promptly escorted out of the exhibit hall for heckling? I practiced self-restraint and walked away. :)