I had never really planned on walking away from the guitar, not that I ever did so completely anyway. With that said, getting back on stage, guitar in hand, really wasn't on my radar for the immediate future.
That was until my friend Tad Hillin mentioned that he would be playing a gig at Strange Brew in Austin on August 31. As it was also his birthday, he was planning on having an open jam after the gig with fellow musician friends. About 6 weeks out from the gig, he suggested I bring my guitar and play.
Six weeks away. Minimal callouses on my fingers. Dexterity a little rusty. And the guitar chops faded from a time that seemed like eons ago.
Of course I would.
There are certainly worse places to visit in October in Texas. A trip to Galveston for the Texas Physical Therapy Association's Annual Conference would be a nice break from preparing Anatomy practical exams for PT students, right? A little rest and relaxation - with a side order of walking along the Gulf Coast with the ocean and sand between my toes - would be welcomed.
Hold on, come back to the real world Allan. We're here for a conference, right?
Oh yes. The conference.
2014 was the 6th consecutive year that I have been invited to present at our Annual Conference. This year was the first time that I had a doubleheader: one session for the professional track ("The Role Of Social Media In Physical Therapy"), and one for the student track ("Form Follows Function: A Framework For Anatomy").
Without further adieu, here are a few thoughts from the experience.
It's all in the spin I suppose.
The headline was simple: "7 Myths About Physical Therapy". The press release from the American Physical Therapy Association was going to debunk some myths about physical therapy. How exciting, I thought.
Maybe this would set the record straight on any number of issues and misconceptions about our profession that exist in the public eye. Surely this would be a great opportunity for us to "Move Forward", yes?
And then, I read myth number one. It was, admittedly, hard for me to overlook.
Life. Love. The pursuit of happiness. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
It's a journey that takes us on a moment-to-moment adventure driven by countless motivating factors. Some are positive. Others are negative. We find ourselves either moving towards something good or away from something bad.
I don't think that many people would ever expend the time and effort to differentiate between the two. But how we view these motivators, at the most basic level, can directly impact our lives, our relationships, and our happiness.
Are you focusing on the presence of positives or the absence of negatives? The differences can be subtle but substantial.
The world of musculoskeletal care is a strange animal if ever there was one. It is a world of imbalances and mal-alignments, asymmetry and inflexibility. Or so we are taught, and have been for decades.
The world of musculoskeletal care is is also the same realm that would benefit most from an understanding of clinical anatomy, statistics, and logic.
Diagnosticians are always seeking some relationship between a patient's signs, symptoms, and some particular patho-anatomical entity. But the problem lies in the realm of normalcy. You see, abnormal is, without question, the new normal.
It was a solitary musical moment that would be forever etched in my mind. What it became was a life-changing event of epic proportions.
August 16, 1984. Thirty years ago. It was an early 15th birthday present - a show at the National Arts Center in Ottawa featuring none other than Stevie Ray Vaughan.
The first notes fired out from the worn-down Fender Strat that night can still be heard echoing in the back of my mind. My jaw dropped and I sat there mesmerized. I remember the moment like it was yesterday.
Stevie Ray spoke to me in a language that I understood. Direct. Heartfelt. Raw. And it changed my life.
The concept of periodization has been around for quite some time in the sports world. Coaches build training schedules around "periods" of training and recovery in a cyclical fashion.
However, the more perspectives you read on periodization in the training world, the more you realize that certain elements of it have been a little bent and twisted out of shape. More on that later.
But at least periodization actually exists in the world of sport training. We know that the timing of training sessions is important. Recovery is critical as training adaptations require time without subsequently "de-training". So what makes injury recovery any different?
Absolutely nothing.
Up to 60% of runners will sustain an injury within any given year. Poor running mechanics, in conjunction with poor, ineffective and outdated training methods, can pose a significant injury risk. "RunSmart" was written to address these issues in the running community.
"Running Injuries: Etiology And Recovery- Based Treatment" (co-author Bridget Clark, PT) appears in the third edition and fourth editions of "Clinical Orthopaedic Rehabilitation: A Team Approach" by Charles Giangarra, MD and Robert C. Manske, PT.
Allan Besselink, PT, DPT, Ph.D., Dip.MDT has a unique voice in the world of sports, education, and health care. Read more about Allan here.
Top 5 finalist in three categories: "Best Overall Blog", "Best PT Blog" and "Best Advocacy Blog".
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