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Course Review – NeuroKinetic Therapy (Level One)

By dr on January 10, 2025

This past September I took NeuroKinetic Therapy (NKT) Level One with Kathy Dooley at Catalyst S.P.O.R.T. NYC.  Several of my friends have taken this course and highly recommended it.  My philosophy is that knowing more information, having more tricks up your sleeve, and learning new perspectives can only help your patients.

This review is simply my interpretation of the NKT system and how I have tried to incorporate it into my practice.  I do not work for NKT or represent NKT.  Please visit the NKT website for the authoritative description of the approach.

Kathy Dooley

I want whatever Kathy Dooley has in the morning.  She has an insane amount of energy, is extremely knowledgeable, and was very animated during the entire course.  She not only has a deep understanding of the NKT approach, but she has mastered it clinically.  For me, the best part of the course was watching Kathy perform live demonstrations.  These not only displayed the NKT technique, but allowed for a greater understanding of how to incorporate the approach into daily use.  She gave a clear, clinical perspective of how she chooses which muscle to “Therapy Localize” and how to incorporate the results of the assessment into your patient’s care.

My favorite Kathy quote:

“I’m not busy because I’m good.  I’m busy because I empower my patients.”

Quick Definitions & Semantics

Throughout the course there seemed to be some confusion over some terms and semantics.  Hopefully this will help clear things up and make it less confusing.

Here is an oversimplification of the common terms used in the NKT approach:

  • Facilitated = On = Strong = Muscle Firing = Neural Drive = Efferent Motor Outflow
  • Inhibited = Off = Weak = Muscle Not Firing = No/Minimal Neural Drive

Try not to associate these terms with good or bad.  In certain situations you want muscles inhibited.  In certain situations you want muscles facilitated.  But in this NKT system, you do not want to find a muscle that is so inhibited that it can’t even match a light force.  This doesn’t mean inhibition is a bad thing, it just means that muscles should be able to go from an inhibited state to a facilitated state when called upon.

What is NKT?

  • “NeuroKinetic Therapy (NKT) is an application of motor control theory, neuroscience, and functional anatomy (neurobiomechanics) that will help you unravel the cause of faulty movement patterns in the brain’s motor control center.” -David Weinstock

NKT gives you another lens through which to view your patients.  It uses an innovative manual muscle test coupled with a trial and error of inputs with the goal of improving neural drive.

Here’s the basic progression:

NeuroKinetic Therapy

NeuroKinetic Therapy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The main goal is to find a muscle that does not have a Neural Lock.  A muscle that can’t even meet a light resistance (inhibited).

The next step is to find a facilitated muscle (a muscle that is already on) to Therapy Localize.  Therapy Localization is just when you apply an external input to a “facilitated” muscle while re-assessing the inhibited muscle.  It’s simply adding input to change the output, but it’s assessed instantaneously.

Which “facilitated” muscle you pick first to Therapy Localize depends on many factors.  It depends on their history, the mechanism of injury or dysfunction, their posture, their breathing pattern, their SFMA breakout, their PRI pattern, their whatever.  There are many ways to get to the same place.

The magic happens when you find a “facilitated” muscle that when you Therapy Localize, it turns the inhibited muscle on.  Once you find this, you have an input to output response that you can use for the rest of your assessment and treatment.  You have a specific muscle to “release” that will faciliate another muscle that needs more neural drive.

After you find this connection the treatment is wide open.  You can incorporate a self-release in a circuit.  Example: “inhibited” glute max (no neural lock), “facilitated” rectus femoris.  Therapy Localization of the rectus femoris results in improved glute max neural drive (neural lock).  An example circuit: foam roll rectus femoris, single leg hip thruster, RKC plank, single leg deadlift, repeat (including foam roll at every set).  This is just an example – the options depend on your creativity.

This may sound very confusing.  But in clinical practice and watching a live demonstration, it becomes much clearer and easier to use.

3 Things I Learned From NKT

1) A New Manual Muscle Test

Traditionally we use manual muscle testing that determines a “specific muscles strength”.  However, this doesn’t take into consideration of the complexity of the nervous system.  It doesn’t take into consideration the complexity of proximal stability.  It doesn’t take into consideration the global system.  It doesn’t give you that much information – it tells you if the body can match the random resistance applied from the tester.

In it’s simplest form, NKT is a way to assess the specific neural drive of the musculoskeletal system.  It looks at how the nervous system interacts with specific movement patterns.  It gives you a specific force, at a specific location, with a specific outcome that relates to the rest of the body.

This is how some people are currently manually muscle testing the biceps

This is how some people are currently manually muscle testing the biceps

2) The Importance of a Neural Lock

 

It's a light touch and the should only meet your pressure, not exceed it (picture idea from Ming Ming Su-Brown)

It’s a light touch and the should only meet your pressure, not exceed it (picture idea from Ming Ming Su-Brown)

The overall theme is the same as what some strength and conditioning coaches preach – “you can’t strengthen a muscle that you can’t activate”.  In this sense, you are simply looking to see if the muscle is ON (facilitated) or OFF (inhibited).  There are graded levels of resistance to assess strength, but the innovation lies in the light touch assessment of the nervous system.

This light touch assessment is simply checking for what they call a “Neural Lock”.  It’s the lightest manual muscle test you’ve ever done.  You’re simply putting a light force on the body to see if it can “facilitate” the necessary muscles to match the resistance.  You’re checking to see if the brain can tell the specific “muscles” to turn on (facilitatie).  You’re checking the motor neurons ability to fire from the CNS.  You’re not checking strength – you’re checking availability.

An important factor here is that the patient must only “meet your resistance”.  I’ve noticed that many go into a high-threshold strategy and over fire all the synergistic muscles to try to make up for the “inhibited” muscle.  The light touch shouldn’t be met with a life or death response.

3) A Manual Therapy Assessment

After our manual interventions we often re-assess many different outputs.  We assess:

  • Pain (depends on an immeasurable amount of variables)
  • “How it Feels” (depends on an immeasurable amount of variables)
  • Global Movement (depends on many variables)
  • Isolated ROM (few variables involved)
How is George going to know what's really happening if he's not assessed after the manual technique?

How is George going to know what’s really happening if he’s not assessed after the manual technique?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The more variables involved in an output, the more complicated the relationship.  This is why re-assessing pain or how it feels may not be the most accurate assessment of your manual skills.  It may be more of an assessment of the patients beliefs of your manual skills or your ability to prime the patient, but that’s another story.

Re-assessing a simple input-output relationship, like ROM, gives the practitioner a more accurate way to assess the manual-output relationship.

NKT suggests another simple input-output relationship we should assess – muscle strength/activation.  Simply perform manual therapy to “release” a muscle, then re-test a specific muscles strength.  You have nothing to lose and specific strength to gain.

For the Critics

I know there are many skeptics out there who will scoff at many of the NKT concepts.  I just want to address them here first.  If I can turn one pessimistic troll into an inquisitive thinker, then I will consider this a success.

Isolated Muscle Testing

We all know there is no way to truly isolate a muscle without a surgical scalpel.  And I’m sure the NKT guys agree.  But it’s much easier to say it’s the quadratus lumborium test than the supine lateral flexion with resistance at the ankle test.  The specific muscle tests are more about the intention.  It’s not meant to disregard to complexity of the connective tissue/fascia system or the nervous system.

Once it hits your lips...

Once it hits your lips…

For the global movement people that have a difficult time with non-functional assessments, just consider this as a more specific movement pattern.  It’s throwing a load into a system and checking the output.  There’s less variables involved with a muscle test compared a complex global movement.  This means the outputs measured will be more specific to the chosen inputs.  It’s further down the funnel.

If you ask someone to squat (global movement assessment) and their knee caves in it could be a million different things.  Specific NKT muscle testing is one of many things you could do that could help you narrow the infinite.  It gives more information to help answer the bigger questions.

Facilitated/Inhibiting

We all know muscles are not just off or on.  We know we’re not going from full paralysis to full tetany throughout a gait cycle.  That said, there is a constant wave of neural drive to assist with movement patterns.  We know that some muscles decrease their neural drive and some increase it to accomplish a task.  This is a very complex interaction of the body, the environment, and the task.

What NKT does is try to offer a snapshot of a specific area under reproducible constraints.  It helps display the variability of a specific, reproducable motor program.  It helps narrow the infinit.

Unless you're Bernie, you don't have any muscles that are fully off.

Unless you’re Bernie, you don’t have any muscles that are truly off.

Magic

We all know there’s no such thing as magic.  But many movement professionals have experienced a drastic change in output from a minimal change in input.  Most of the time this chalks up to a temporary neurological response.  This temporary neurological response is perceived as magic to people who don’t understand the human body or the nervous system (most of your patients).

Most professionals know this “magic” is not long lasting.  It will take many frequent inputs to get it to stick.  But for the anxious patient who doesn’t yet buy in to what you’re doing – this is profound.  They feel the difference immediately.  They don’t have to wait 3-6 weeks to start seeing changes.  They don’t have to depend on your manual therapy.  They don’t have to change their beliefs.  They are given hope.  They get excited.  Then they buy in and believe everything else you say.  Regional interdependence, pain science, and the bodies natural asymmetries are much easier to talk about when the patient already trusts you.

Overall

I enjoyed the NKT class and was happy to learn a new perspective on muscle testing.  I have been able to incorporate it into my practice very easily.  Similar to the SFMA, the NKT does not remove anything from your practice.  It just adds another assessment for more information.  You’ll never find what you’re not looking for

 

My funnel now and my funnel in college are very different

My funnel now and my funnel in college are very different

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Review | Leave a response

Embracing Complexity: The Mountain Stream Metaphor

By dr on April 4, 2016

  • “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong” -H.L. Menken

Keeping “it” simple is important at times.  It prevents us from becoming overwhelmed, clarifies concepts, aids in general understanding, and directs the focus towards a single goal.  Most importantly, keeping it simple is necessary when communicating new topics or concepts to others.  However, the problem occurs when keeping it simple is used a substitute for understanding the complexity. Continue reading “Embracing Complexity: The Mountain Stream Metaphor”

Posted in Patients, Professionals | Tagged assessment, Lumbar | 2 Responses

Coaching & Cueing (Part 5 – Visual Cues)

By dr on September 2, 2015

Since our species is vision dependent ( >50% of cortex dedicated to processing visual information), visual cues can be an easy way to invoke a sensory change that alters movement patterns.  This includes not only the sensory input from our external environment, but also our unique ability to create an internal vision (motor imagery). Continue reading “Coaching & Cueing (Part 5 – Visual Cues)”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Prevention / Recovery | Leave a response

Problem & Solution

By dr on August 14, 2015

Our brain is quite complicated.  It is constantly going through extremely complex processing to achieve many different outputs (movement, speech, vision, thoughts, emotion, pain, allostasis, etc.).

STRESS is one of the most influential factors on our brain’s ability to process efficiently.  And in today’s society everyone has had it, many people live in it, and some people can never escape it.

Stress an epidemic and it will Continue reading “Problem & Solution”

Posted in Patients, Professionals | Tagged assessment, Nervous System | Leave a response

Coaching & Cueing (Part 4 – Internal Verbal Cues)

By dr on August 2, 2015

Unfortunately, the rise in popularity of external cueing has led to a bad stigma of internal cueing.  After reading the last article in this series you may be thinking why would you ever internally cue someone?

Here’s why: Continue reading “Coaching & Cueing (Part 4 – Internal Verbal Cues)”

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Coaching & Cueing (Part 2 – The Categories)

By dr on June 15, 2015

We need to first clarify an important concept before we go into coaching and cueing:

  • NOT ALL MOVEMENT REQUIRES COACHING

To Coach or Not to Coach

If someone is performing a movement/exercise correctly, all you have to do is shut your mouth and smile.

If someone is performing a movement/exercise incorrectly, you should ask yourself two questions: Continue reading “Coaching & Cueing (Part 2 – The Categories)”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Biomechanics, Hip | Leave a response

Coaching & Cueing (Part 1 – Intro)

By dr on June 1, 2015

My co-worker was on vacation recently and I was seeing one of his chronic pain patients (years of pain).  She was doing very well and was becoming independent in a full exercise routine.  I did a quick evaluation and noticed one thing that she could improve on from a movement perspective.  I didn’t use any dangerous pathoanatomical language.  I just simply pointed out that she could be stronger if she kept her rib cage down when she performed certain exercises.  We went over this cue a bit more with some basic proprioceptive exercises before she started her exercise program. Continue reading “Coaching & Cueing (Part 1 – Intro)”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Core | 1 Response

Andreo Spina’s Functional Range Release

By dr on February 1, 2015

I was lucky enough to be invited to another one of Dan Park’s quality continuing education classes at Perfect Stride.  This time it was for Functional Range Release (Upper Extremity) with Andreo Spina.  I had been reading a lot about Spina’s work and was excited at the chance to learn about the FR/FRC techniques and principles. Continue reading “Andreo Spina’s Functional Range Release”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Biomechanics, Prevention / Recovery, Review | 6 Responses

An Open Letter to Crossfit: The 2 Mistakes (Part II)

By dr on November 1, 2014

Be sure to check out Part I for my thoughts on Crossfit and Mistake #1. Continue reading “An Open Letter to Crossfit: The 2 Mistakes (Part II)”

Posted in Patients, Professionals | Tagged assessment, Biomechanics, Prevention / Recovery, Shoulder | Leave a response

An Open Letter to Crossfit: The 2 Mistakes (Part I)

By dr on November 1, 2014

As many physical therapists have probably noticed, there is an increase in the amount of Crossfit athletes showing up in our clinics.  This isn’t because it injures everyone.  It’s because it’s becoming very popular and people love it.

We see the same thing happen during ski season and marathon season.  It’s not necessarily the activity, it’s the increase in participation.

However, that’s not to say that it’s only an increase in participation that leads to a higher incidence of injuries.  There are many other variables involved.  Some of which can be improved upon to decrease the risk of injury.

I’ve noticed a few trends in my experience with Crossfit athletes.  The crossfitters that tend to get hurt are the ones that seem to make the same 2 Mistakes: Continue reading “An Open Letter to Crossfit: The 2 Mistakes (Part I)”

Posted in Patients, Professionals | Tagged assessment, Biomechanics, Lumbar, Prevention / Recovery | 2 Responses

Foundational Strength Course Review

By dr on July 1, 2014

Two of my favorite things to do in my practice are to assess movement patterns and use kettlebells.  So when I heard about the amalgamation of FMS and StrongFirst I was pretty stoked.  Throw on top that Gray Cook and Brett Jones were teaching the course, and it was my most anticipated course of all time. Continue reading “Foundational Strength Course Review”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Prevention / Recovery, Review | 4 Responses

The Deep Squat (Part 1 – The Good, The Bad, & The Not So Ugly)

By dr on June 1, 2014

The deep squat (aka full squat, aka ass to grass/ATG squat) is one of the most debated, talked about exercises/assessment we have in human movement.  Some talk about the deep squat as if it’s the cure to cancer, some talk about it like it’s going to cause the apocalypse.  I have found that Continue reading “The Deep Squat (Part 1 – The Good, The Bad, & The Not So Ugly)”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Biomechanics, Knee, Review | 12 Responses

4 Mistakes People Make with the Functional Movement Systems (FMS/SFMA)

By dr on May 1, 2014

I am a big fan of the FMS (Functional Movement Screen) and SFMA (Selective Functional Movement Assessment).  Together these screens and their associated principles make up the Functional Movement Systems.

I’ve been using this system for a couple years and have had a lot of success with it.  The more efficient I become at this approach, the more my outcomes improve.

I still have much to learn and am by no means an expert, but I thought I’d share the 4 biggest mistakes I see people make with the Functional Movement Systems. Continue reading “4 Mistakes People Make with the Functional Movement Systems (FMS/SFMA)”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Biomechanics | 3 Responses

The Art of Recovery (Part 1 of 2)

By dr on March 1, 2014

One of the most difficult questions to answer in rehab is: “when will I get better?”

Coming out of grad school my response was usually mumbling some ridiculous time period with a deer in the headlights look on my face.  I had no idea.  I knew the tissue healing timetable…and that was about it.  I had little experience with specific injuries and didn’t yet understand the complex, multi-faceted factors that influence recovery.

Now I’m a little better at hiding that deer in the headlights look, I have more clinical experience, and I know more about the art of recovery. Continue reading “The Art of Recovery (Part 1 of 2)”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Prevention / Recovery | Leave a response

Everything is Moving Proximally

By dr on February 4, 2014

In the past 10-20 years there has been a trend towards stabilizing the proximal joint.  Everything seems to be going more and more proximally.  And this is a good thing!  It is providing us with better outcomes and quicker pain free rehabilitation.

If you look at the knee joint you can see the progress.  We’ve gone from isolated patella mobs and VMO strengthening to hip strengthening.  And now we are going even further up the chain and looking at lumbo-pelvic complex.

The same thing is happening with the shoulder.  We’ve gone from isolated thera band ER/IR to scapula stabiliztion.  And now we are going even further and looking at the thoracic spine and ribs.

And if we go just 1 step further at both joints we end up where it all began in the first place…the core. Continue reading “Everything is Moving Proximally”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Core, Hip, Lumbar, Pelvis / Sacroiliac, Prevention / Recovery, Shoulder | Leave a response

23 Things I Learned From McKenzie Part A

By dr on December 1, 2013

I have been following Erson Religioso, a PT and blogger, for quite some time now.  He has repeatedly (no pun intended) discussed the effectiveness of Mechanical Diagnosis & Therapy (The McKenzie Method or MDT).  He’s a very knowledgable clinician and runs his social media with integrity.  Over the years he has provided a great deal of clinically applicable information and I have seen results in my practice using some of his methods.

I decided I had to check out MDT first hand and learn about their method.  This past July I took McKenzie Part A – The Lumbar Spine with Dave Oliver. Continue reading “23 Things I Learned From McKenzie Part A”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Lumbar, Pelvis / Sacroiliac, Review | 2 Responses

The New Overhead Concept (Part II)

By dr on November 1, 2013

In Part I you learned the concepts behind upward rotation and the overhead shoulder.  This article builds off of these concepts and will show you how to properly assess and treat for the overhead shoulder.

I cannot emphasize enough how important a thorough assessment is before prescribing overhead shoulder exercises.  Without an assessment to determine any impairments or movement dysfunctions you will not be able to properly prescribe the correct exercises.  Before someone starts overhead movements you should make sure they’re clear in all of the overhead shoulder characteristics (Part I).  Failure to do so could result in injury. Continue reading “The New Overhead Concept (Part II)”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Shoulder | 5 Responses

Lumbar Extension Dysfunction

By dr on August 1, 2013

Low back pain is one of the most common injuries we see.  Traditionally you always hear a lot of information regarding excessive lumbar flexion.  And with the amount of information readily available in our society, many patients already know this as well.  This has caused some therapists and patients to walk around terrified that the next time they bend over their L5-S1 disc will splatter against the wall behind them.  But what about the other direction?  What about the potential problems in extension patterns?

We’ve concerned ourselves so much about “blowing out a disc” with flexion that we’ve completely overlooked extension problems. Continue reading “Lumbar Extension Dysfunction”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Hip, Lumbar, Pelvis / Sacroiliac, Prevention / Recovery | 1 Response

Low vs. High Threshold Strategy

By dr on July 1, 2013

Understanding the difference between low and high threshold strategy is a very important part of rehab and training.  If a patient is using the wrong strategy for the task they will not only be inefficient, but they can make the injury worse and cause more harm. Continue reading “Low vs. High Threshold Strategy”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Prevention / Recovery | 4 Responses

Quadruped

By dr on June 1, 2013

The quadruped position is a very important developmental posture.  From this posture we learn to crawl and transition to half-kneeling (which then transitions into standing).  Through this posture we develop core, shoulder, and hip stability, learn reciprocal UE/LE motion, and begin to control our spine through our weight-bearing extremities.  The quadruped position has many details that are often lost or forgotten when training.  Mastering these subtleties and progressing within the edge of your ability will lead to a great effect on your stability. Continue reading “Quadruped”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Cervical / Neck, Core, Hip, Lumbar, Pelvis / Sacroiliac, Prevention / Recovery, Shoulder | Leave a response

Hip Hinge

By dr on May 3, 2013

The hip hinge is a basic movement pattern that everyone must have.  When people have atrophy of this movement pattern they end up compensating in all sorts of ways (trendenlenberg, dynamic valgus, knee dominant movements, lumbar flexion).  This leads to decreased performance and increased risk for injury. Continue reading “Hip Hinge”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Hip, Lumbar, Pelvis / Sacroiliac | Leave a response

Pathomechanics of the Foot

By dr on April 2, 2013

Separating foot types into supinators or pronators may provide adequate assessment for treatment.  However, for a more specific treatment plan it would be advantageous to understand the possible abnormalities and pathomechanics of the forefoot and rearfoot (calcaneus).  More importantly, knowledge of these abnomalities/pathomechanics will also prevent deleterious treatment.

For example, providing medial calcaneal mobilizations/releases for the overpronator would be great if the patient has a compensated calcaneal varus.  But if the patient has a compensated forefoot varus the medial mobilization/release would likely worsen their injury. It may sound complicated, but once you understand these 3 foot abnormalities and pathomechanics it will make sense. Continue reading “Pathomechanics of the Foot”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Biomechanics, Foot/Ankle | 3 Responses

NOI – Mobilisation of the Nervous System

By dr on December 3, 2012

On November 3rd & 4th I had the pleasure of taking the NeuroOrthopedic Institue course – Mobilisation of the Nervous System.  I was lucky to have Adriaan Louw as the course instructor.  I learned a tremendous amount over the weekend and returned to the clinic on Monday with an additional approach to treat patients with.  The NOI provides a paradigm shift in the way we view the nervous system and pain.  While it is impossible to cram a weekends worth of great information and techniques into a post, I’ll try to provide some key points I learned from the course. Continue reading “NOI – Mobilisation of the Nervous System”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Review | 2 Responses

Functional Hip Strengthening

By dr on September 29, 2012

It is widely known that hip strenthening plays a significant role in the rehabilitation of knee pain.  When it comes to our sagittal-plane loving runners the hips become even more of an issue.  However, in 2011 Wiley and Davis published an article in JOSPT that found hip strengthening alone was not enough to alter running mechanics.  This gave movement hipsters and research snobs more fuel to trash talk exercises that aren’t “functional” or that “research shows” it doesn’t elicit some desired EMG number.  While I find remedial exercises to be an important step in rehab, I do agree that there needs to be a better transition between rehab and sport specific training. Continue reading “Functional Hip Strengthening”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Hip, Prevention / Recovery | 2 Responses

Why You Should Use the Half-Kneeling Position

By dr on May 12, 2012

The half-kneeling position is a great way to assess and treat your patients hip and core stability.  While it seems like an easy exercise, it has many subtleties that can make or break the position.  Having a greater understanding of the half-kneeling position will help ensure that your patient achieves the maximal benefit. Continue reading “Why You Should Use the Half-Kneeling Position”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Core, Hip, Lumbar, Pelvis / Sacroiliac | Leave a response

Shoulder Stability – Static Stabilizers (2 of 3)

By dr on November 14, 2011

Static stabilizers are the non-contractile tissue of the glenohumeral joint.  They are very important in shoulder stability at end-range ROM and/or when there is a dysfunction of the dynamic stabilizers.  These static stabilizers set the base of support for the shoulder joint. Continue reading “Shoulder Stability – Static Stabilizers (2 of 3)”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Shoulder | Leave a response

Sensitivity and Specificity

By dr on August 21, 2011

Sensitivity and Specificity

Often when reading peer-reviewed articles I feel like I need an advanced degree in statistics to understand how the hell they analyzed the information and quantified the results.  There is an amazing amount of jargon when looking at the objective measurements.  This is rarely a clinical problem since understanding the statistical analysis is not applicable to the patient.  I’ve never been mobilizing a patients shoulder and been concerned of whether it was a pearsons analysis or t-something in the article I just read.

However, the one part of statistics that is very important clinically is understanding specificity and sensitivity.  Continue reading “Sensitivity and Specificity”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment | 3 Responses

Treatment-Based Classification System for LBP

By dr on June 20, 2011

Low back pain patients are not a homogeneous group, but unfortunately they are often times treated like one.  There is an overwhelming amount of causes of pain (disc, ligaments, facet joint capsules, muscle strain/spasm, stress fracture, etc.) and possible diagnosis for low back pain.  However, research has shown that the specific “diagnosis”  of low back pain rarely correlates with Continue reading “Treatment-Based Classification System for LBP”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment, Lumbar | Leave a response

The Trio of a Simple Assessment

By dr on May 29, 2011

When examining and assessing patients it’s easy to get caught up in all of the esoteric and minute details.  With the overwhelming amount objective measurements (joint mobility, AROM, PROM, MMT, DTR, etc.) and the endless list of special tests, it can be difficulty to obtain a clear clinical picture.  While a full examination is necessary to prevent overlooking any possible impairments/pathologies; it is also just as important to make sure you come away with a strong simple assessment and clear clinical picture of your patient.  I have found that focusing on 3 simple assessments helps to maintain clinical clarity throughout the plan of care.

Continue reading “The Trio of a Simple Assessment”

Posted in Professionals | Tagged assessment | Leave a response

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What I do

Aaron works with individuals to help them rehab from injuries and achieve their physical goals.

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Phone: 865-414-0572

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History

Aaron's life-long passion for athletics lead him to study Exercise Science and Athletic Training at the University of Tennessee before obtaining his Doctorate of Physical Therapy at NYU.