EVERYONE LOVES A BUFFET – CERVICOGENIC DIZZINESS STYLE
Happy 2018 everyone! This year, I am completing my first decade of work as a Physical Therapist—wow, can’t believe it. I believe I am now considered an oldie…the dinosaur…in our field!
I hope all of my colleagues and readers are continuing to enjoy the profession. Like you all, I continue to have the challenges, failures, and tribulations with clinical practice. Hopefully these get fewer and fewer between but still very normal even with experience—its the beauty of physiotherapy…of healthcare. I continue to aim high and hopefully the defeat gets buried away, hidden underneath the hours you spend beating on your craft. Continue to pursue greatness to propel yourself and our field. Always remember, have fun as we are very fortunate to change lives everyday.
Over the years, the pursuit of additional training and knowledge has led me down many paths. As you all are aware if reading this blog over the past year, professionally, I have taken the challenge of being part of a continuing education company,; specifically, teaching the Differential diagnosis & the Manual and Therapeutic Exercise Management of Cervicogenic Dizziness.
The beauty of this condition is that it is a very specific diagnosis—one of which is still controversial, yet, responds very well to multiple treatment approaches throughout the literature. Unlike treatment approaches in other fields of medicine, you would think that a specific diagnosis would lead to a specifictreatment. But, just as gray as PT can be, this just isn’t true. Cervicogenic Dizziness can improve with a taste of ALL we have to offer. Hell, we can just talk to them and give some general exercises and they improve…but can we do more? Can we achieve better results?!
This is what the Physio Blend is all about. It is my specific approach incorporating a taste of ALL we can offer that is achievable no matter your skill level and previous training; including signature soft tissue spots, upper cervical spine joint work, vestibular, pain-relieving and sensorimotor exercises—all packaged together smoothly to maximize results.
It is really our whole package of what we do as a profession. Its the whole buffet.
If you want to treat concussion, treat whiplash, treat BPPV or even the elderly with balance disturbances, AND be evidence-based in 2018, this is where it’s at. Feel more confident in your differential diagnosis and be more confident in attacking the upper neck as your resolution this year. You may push and prod on the upper neck and make change, but always know, the desserts are at the end of the buffet. You may be missing other applicable manual therapies, other applicable exercises, and other applicable confidence to give the entire experience that your patients deserve.
Cervicogenic Dizziness Course
You can learn more about the screening and treatment process of Cervicogenic Dizzinesss through Integrative Clinical Concepts, where the authors (husband–a manual therapist a wife—a vestibular specialist), teach a very unique course combining both the theory and practice of vestibular and manual principles in their 2-day course. Pertinent to this blog post, the 2nd day includes the “Physio Blend”, a multi-faceted physiotherapist approach to the management of Cervicogenic Dizziness, which includes treatments of the articular and non-articular system of manual therapy and the most updated sensorimotor exercise regimen.
If you would like to host a course for your staff (either a vestibular, neuro, sports or ortho clinic), please do not hesitate to contact me at harrisonvaughanpt@gmail.com for more information.
AUTHORS
Harrison N. Vaughan, PT, DPT, OCS, Dip. Osteopracic, FAAOMPT
Instructor: Cervicogenic Dizziness for Integrative Clinical Concepts
Danielle N. Vaughan, PT, DPT, Vestibular Specialist
Instructor: Cervicogenic Dizziness for Integrative Clinical Concepts