HOT TOPICS IN CIRM WEBINAR
09 AUGUST // 12:30 PM ET
Novel Applications of Manual Therapy Within Integrative Rehabilitation Practice
Presenter:
Cheryl Van Demark, PT, MA, C-IAYT
Associate Professor of Movement
The University of Illinois at Chicago
Navigating life as a health professional calls upon us to continually refresh our knowledge and weave it wisely and heartfully into the art of clinical practice. Guiding our integration of manual therapies into rehabilitation based on scientific evidence is both necessary and problematic when we consider the balance of what is known of its efficacy with all that is yet unknown about the influence of touch upon the experience of healing. This webinar engages the learner with simple concepts and techniques that can be immediately employed in practice to deepen the presence of clinician and patient to the experience of giving and receiving a wide range of manual therapies.
Learning Objectives
- Describe simple practices to create and sustain clinician and client presence within the therapeutic encounter.
- Identify three new ways to engage in manual therapy as a tool for guiding the client in self-regulating the nervous system to influence persistent pain.
- Reflect with an open mind and spirit of curiosity upon the non-putative aspects of manual therapy and generate one question about the potential influence of touch upon healing.
About Cheryl Van Demark
Cheryl Van Demark is a physical therapist, certified yoga therapist, and yoga teacher with a Master’s degree in physical education and exercise science. She has enjoyed over 40 years of helping people recognize the gifts of embodiment, awareness and movement to cultivate well-being of body, mind, and spirit. Cheryl is co-facilitator of a Chronic Pain Self-Care program at Dignity Health Yavapai Regional Medical Center in Prescott, Arizona that integrates pain science education with foundational training in mindfulness and self-compassion. She is co-author of a 2023 PTJ paper entitled Guiding Principles for the Practice of Integrative Physical Therapy (https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzad138), and has contributed a chapter on Reframing Manual Therapy to the book Integrative Rehabilitation Practice. Cheryl’s manual therapy training has included courses with the Cyriax, McKenzie, Maitland and Grimbsy paradigms, as well as direct teachings from Paris, Rocobado, Hartman, Gibbons and Tehan and a one year intensive with the Phoenix Manual Therapy program.
