Episode 77 - Kathy Hoyt, Part 2: Understanding and Persistence

Kathy Hoyt PT, Dip MDT

Kathy Hoyt, PT Dip MDT  graduated from  Douglass College, Rutgers University with a degree in Mathematics and then continued to Columbia University  in New York to earn  a certificate in Physical Therapy in 1974.  She   completed the Kaiser Hayward Orthopedic Manual Therapy Residency in 1980.  She began studying with McKenzie in 1977 and was instrumental in founding the McKenzie Institute, and served as Chairwomen for the first seven years.  She was one of the first to earn the Diploma in MDT in 1991 after training in New Zealand.  She served as senior faculty member for the McKenzie Institute for 10 years.  She is now involved with online educational training for the Institute, the MDT APTA Recognized Fellowship, faculty development and clinical examinations.  She is a member of the MDT International Education Committee.  She has worked in various clinical practice settings and currently is Senior therapist in a community outpatient orthopedic department in Long Beach California.

 

Show Notes 

Struggle 

The acute care hospital position that Kathy worked in was a time of great struggle and left her feeling aimless and unfulfilled.  Being the chairperson for the McKenzie Institute, with so many responsibilities and so much effort to advance the exposure of this system, brought many struggles.  The experiences with her patients and their positive response encouraged her to keep pressing on.

 

Greatest Challenge

Kathy believes the lack of presence we have in our greater community is a significant challenge and getting our abilities out there and the utility of what we provide, known.  She encourages us to understand “their” perspective and system and then others might be more willing to hear us.

 

Patient Analogy

Kathy feels as she’s aged she can empathize better with her patients and most importantly she agrees with Anja Franz in episode 71 that we need to use whatever resonates with the particular patient considering their education and age and interests etc.

One example she does use in southern California to describe the principles of posture correction is to encourage her patients to sit as if they were on the front row of the Academy Awards and the camera was about to span across them.  To some she has seen this more practical to get the message across rather than get technical or offer several mechanical components of correct positions in sitting.

 

Best Advice

The encouragement to do the residency and Robin’s advice to “Sort it out” have been the most impactful on her career.

 

Doing Differently Now

Kathy believes she’s become, still yet, a better listener, more empathetic with her age being able to relate to her patients, and she’s become better at getting to the most important aspect of the patients problem to help them as efficiently as possible.

 

Resources

Kathy believes the professional organizations are great places to gain in many areas.  Those include:

The McKenzie Institute

The American Physical Therapy Association

The Orthopedic Section within the APTA

The American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy

Devoted colleagues are priceless resources too.

 

Impactful Studies

Rather than citing a specific study, Kathy highlights that we can learn something from most any paper, even if it’s poorly done.  

 

Personal Habit Contributing to Success

Being a logical and analytical thinker, her ability to think “on her feet” and her persistence which comes fairly easy to her all have helped her be successful.

Parting Piece of Advice

Kathy encourages everyone to get a solid and thorough education and stick with one approach and don’t abandon it quickly.  

 

Kathy encourages all to take courses in Mechanical Diagnosis & Therapy and to certify and look into the diploma program and the fellowship programs.  

If you want to reach out to Kathy, you can contact her at khoyt@memorialcare.org

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