Episode 38 – Mr. Jon Weinberg, Part 1: Overcoming Struggles, Collecting Outcomes and a Promising Outlook

Jon Weinberg

USA | PT, Dip. MDT

Episode 38 - Mr. Jon Weinberg
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Mr. Jon Weinberg graduated the Physiotherapy program at the Royal London School of Physiotherapy (UEL) with Honors in 1994. He has practiced in an Outpatient Orthopedic environment since 1996. After completing the Diploma program in 2005 Jon entered the Faculty training program and has been teaching since 2008 both in Israel and the US. He is currently actively involved in research and is in full time clinical practice at Team Care Physical Therapy a Certified McKenzie Clinic.

 

Show Notes

Personal Background

Jon is originally from London and soon after finishing school he moved to the US first to Tennessee then to North Carolina where he’s been for the last 17 years.  He has one son.

 

Professional Background

Trained in England in physiotherapy school with a strong emphasis in manual therapy especially the Maitland approach.  Jon spent two years applying what he’d learned but found himself frustrated to the point where he considered getting out of the profession.  He stumbled on to the lumbar  texts (blue books) written by Robin McKenzie which interested him and soon after he attended a part A MDT course.  Jon said on that course it was like a light went on.  He pursued credentialing and then the diploma program.  Jon has collaborated under the leadership of Mark Werneke and has been involved in several published papers.

Quote

“It’s better to ask and be wrong then to not ask and be wrong.”
~ Robin McKenzie

 

Time When Struggled

Jon remembers while doing rotations very early in his career when the application of what he’d been taught just wasn’t effective and wasn’t making sense.

 

When Patient Care Improved

Things became much more clear and made good sense right from the start on that part A McKenzie course.  The simplicity of thinking mechanically has just worked for Jon.

 

Greatest Challenges/Obstacles

The healthcare system itself is a great challenge but Jon believes those clinicians who are using the MDT method are in a very exciting time and will be much more likely to deliver exactly what healthcare reform is needing and wanting.

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Episode 37 – Allan Besselink, Part 2: A Blogger’s View on Needed Changes In Our Industry

ALLAN BESSELINK

USA | PT, DPT, PhD, Dip. MDT

Episode 37 - Allan Besselink Continued
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SHOW NOTES

Greatest Challenges

  Allan feels we’re limited by our own perceptions in general. One of them is the mentality that patients need to be fixed, another, that abnormal is a problem.  There are problems with evidence based practice because it is affected by emotions and our own beliefs. A system or model that pays for mediocrity in that it pays more to those that are less efficient is also another challenge.

  He believes that paying for quality and paying more when it is clear that patients behavior is changed is part of the answer.  Allan has built his own practice delivering care for a flat fee paid by the patient, not reimbursed by insurance.

Greatest Strength

  Our strength truly lies in our ability to change patients behavior especially in the chronic pain patient.  And the benefit in changing the behavior will far outweigh the benefit of reduce the cost of care during that episode or in doing so in fewer visits. Those things help but not as much as changing a patient’s behavior.

A Memorable Story

  Allan shares lessons he learned of a patient with heel/foot pain.  He highlights that the lesson of this patient was that the resolution of the problem was counterintuitive to prior and commonly accepted beliefs but he was successful because he listened to the patients description of what was an aggravator and what was a symptom reliever.

A Patient Analogy

He explains to the patient the idea that, “We are in a 24 hour, 7 day a week, battle against gravity.”

Best Advice

Allan remembers being told, “If not you then who, and if not now then when.”  He heard this from his Diploma instructor and the longer it’s been since he was told that the more it’s meant to him regarding conservative care for musculoskeletal disorder patients.

What He’s Doing Differently Now

A lot less “stuff”.  Listening more.  Using his hands less.  He also is focusing on how adults learn best.  He also has fun doing this even now, after all these years.  Finding out what is meaningful to the patient and what their motivations are or what drives them.

Valuable Resources

Allan finds more interesting the non-physical therapy-type content lately that he feels sheds light on the fundamentals that relate to conservative care of orthopedic/musculoskeletal patients.  A book in particular is The Innovator’s Prescription by Clayton Christiensen.

Impactful Studies

Many studies that are more interesting to Allan are those studying asymptomatic patients and the prevalence of abnormalities found on imaging.

To see just a few click on these:

Jarvik

Jensen

Boden

A Personal Habit

Being no nonsense and straight forward.  Having a sense of humor within the patient encounter also contributes to his success.

Where You Can Find Allan

Find his blog at www.allanbesselink.com

His book RunSmart is available on his website and on amazon.

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Episode 36 – Allan Besselink, Part 1: Smart Practices with the Athletic Population

Allan Besselink

USA | PT, DPT, PhD, Dip. MDT

Episode 36 - Allan Besselink
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Allan Besselink is a physical therapist in Austin, TX USA.  He’s an endurance sports coach, educator, and the author of “RunSmart: A Comprehensive Approach To Injury-Free Running”.  Allan is the founder of the Smart Life Project, a health initiative that provides sports science solutions for training, rehab, and life.  Allan completed the Diploma in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy in 1998.  He served as the Chief Editor of the McKenzie Institute USA Journal from 1998 – 2005 and the inaugural year of the McKenzie Institute International Journal in 2006.  In his 26 years as a physical therapist, he has lectured extensively on a variety of topics including MDT, functional anatomy, clinical reasoning, and sports medicine.  He has presented at the APTA national conference, TPTA annual conference, the McKenzie Institute International conference, and the NATA national conference.  Allan will be presenting a pre-conference workshop (with Greg Lynch and Ole Meyer) entitled “MDT And The Athlete” at the 2015 MII International Conference in Copenhagen.

SHOW NOTES

Personal Background

Originally from Canada but moved to Austin, TX after competing physical therapy school.  As an avid musician, the music scene was one of the greater draws to attract him to Austin. 

Professional Background

He emphasized much of his practice treating athletes especially runners and triathletes, some professionals and olympians.  Allan originally was trained at Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario Canada with a strong emphasis in manual therapy.  Allan remembers being quite resistant to going to part A but he had to allow himself to compare it to the literature.  He completed his Diploma in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy in 1998.  He also was the editor of the USA MDT journal from 1998 through 2006.  Allan has been coaching athletes, particularly runners and has for several years owned his own practice and has been teaching PTA and PT students, teaching anatomy and therapeutic exercise. In 2008 he successfully published his first book called RunSmart: A comprehensive approach to injury-free running.  And finally he’s been actively involved in legislative efforts to obtain direct access in Texas.

Allan has learned great lessons from his involvement in teaching anatomy.  He recalls one of his co-instructor’s comments, “The body doesn’t read the atlases.”  Allan has gained the first-hand observation that anomalies are more common than we typical appreciate much like the many papers on abnormalities in asymptomatic populations. 

Quote

“It is within the interest of our patients and ourselves to prescribe simple and inexpensive methods in which the known clinical, biological and mechanical factors can serve as guides.”  Alf Nachemson

Early Struggles or Obstacles with Patient Care

Allan first thinks of when he was stuck with the mindset of doing “stuff” to his patients.  He believes part of it relates to his limited ability to think or clinically reason. 

When He Arrived at Better Outcomes

Allan thinks about when he learned that being mechanically inconclusive is okay.  In spite of not having a particular classification to put the patient in doesn’t mean he can’t effectively care for that patient and achieve a good outcome.

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