193: Sowing The Love: Harvesting Wins, Weeding Woes, And Business Shenanigans With NeuroBiz Besties
Release Date: 12/25/2023
I Love Neuro
What does it take to get a piece of high-performance sports tech out of the soccer world and into the living rooms of people with Parkinson's? In this episode, hosts Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, and Claire McLean, PT, DPT, NCS, talk with Christoph Dressel, founder and CEO of Mimofit about the reaction-based light-pod system his team built after clinical trials in Spain showed real gains in dual-task performance, gait speed, and reaction time for people with Parkinson's. Christoph walks through the surprising finding that reaction-speed improvements only showed up once a timeout was added to...
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What if the key to helping a patient with Parkinson's find their voice again isn't more repetition, but movement? In this episode, hosts Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, and Claire McLean, PT, DPT, NCS, talk with Jessica Ackerman, MS, CCC-SLP, RYT, speech-language pathologist and founder of Speak Steady, about why the classic Parkinson's presentation so often goes untreated, and how a technique born out of a pandemic-era Zoom yoga class became a clinically validated, self-paced communication program. Jessica walks through the neuroplasticity and motor-learning principles behind pairing each spoken...
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Have you ever worked with a stroke survivor or patient with spinal cord injury who had swollen limbs and not been sure what to actually do about it? Maybe you tried something, maybe you didn’t because you didn’t realize you should. In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, talks with Rachel Walker, PT, DPT, GCS, CLWT, CBIS about why edema is so common — and so consequential — in the neuro population. Rachel walks through why unmanaged edema leads to pain, joint contracture, and long-term functional loss; how to run a full assessment (girth measurements, skin and...
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Why do two patients with what looks like the same stroke on paper walk out of rehab so differently — and why does a home exercise program built on ankle pumps and heel slides so often fail the people who need it most? In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, talks with returning guest Dr. Jennifaye V. Brown, PT, MSPT, PhD, NCS, CAPS, a four-time ten-year board-certified neurologic clinical specialist and author of Brace Yourself: Everything You Need to Know About AFOs After Stroke, about why going back to foundational neuroanatomy — knowing exactly where a lesion sits, how large...
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What tasks do you keep doing in your business that you secretly hate? In this episode, hosts Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, and Claire McLean, PT, DPT, NCS, talk with returning guest and favorite NeuroBiz coach Emily Duval Ledger about the reflective milestones of her 20-year entrepreneurial journey — from leaving her full-time job, to closing her brick-and-mortar gym during COVID, to running a leaner, more sustainable solo practice today. The conversation moves through the martyrdom trap so many clinician-business-owners fall into, how to actually trust a virtual assistant or new hire with...
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What if the biggest gains in your patients' outcomes came from four small, free shifts you could start using tomorrow? In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, talks with Jamie Haines, PT, DScPT, NCS, who recently left a long career as an associate professor at Central Michigan University for mobile concierge PT in Florida, where she treats patients with a wide range of neurologic conditions in their own environments. Jamie and Erin preview the "amplify your practice" framework, covering aerobic priming to get the nervous system ready to learn, rhythmic auditory stimulation and...
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How much hand function can come back after a neurologic injury, and how do you know whether to remediate or compensate? On this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, talks with Jenna Barber, MOT, OTR/L, BCPR, an occupational therapist who specializes in neurorehabilitation across acute care, inpatient, and outpatient settings. In the show you’ll learn how to assess fine motor deficits through activity analysis and standardized testing, the difference between remediation and compensation and when to use either. We’ll also discuss favorite tools like FES, focal vibration, and rocker...
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In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, talks with returning guest Rose Tilton, OTR/L, OTD, an occupational therapist at Marquette University's Neuro Recovery Clinic, and new guest Dr. Yi-Kai Lo, PhD, CEO and co-founder of ANEUVO, about transcutaneous spinal stimulation (TSS) for people with spinal cord injury. Rose shares how she discovered TSS through her own research, became a clinical trial site investigator at Marquette, and now uses ANEUVO's ExaStim® device — a multi-channel electrode array system that can be individually programmed and timed to match specific functional...
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What if the biggest threat to your practice's growth isn't your marketing budget, but the way your team handles the very first phone call? Getting the phone to ring is necessary, but never sufficient. In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, talks with Daniel A. "Danny" Bobrow, MBA — creator of The Art of First Impressions™ and The Persuasion Blueprint, and President of AIM Dental Marketing — about the three pillars of persuasive communication: caring, connection, and collaboration. Danny reframes the moments clinicians tend to fumble, like the "do you take my insurance?"...
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What do you do when the most evidence-based intervention you have is also the one your patient is "not allowed" to receive? Constraint-induced movement therapy has decades of research behind it, yet its exclusion criteria — especially around cognitive impairment — rule out a huge share of the stroke survivors clinicians actually see. In this episode, hosts Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, and Claire McLean, PT, DPT, NCS, talk with neuro OT Briana Elson, MS, OTR/L, BCPR, CBIS, about her decision to try modified CIMT with an 86-year-old stroke patient who had significant cognitive impairment and...
info_outlineAs we approach the end of year / new year it’s a great time to think about where you’re going and where you’ve been. Follow along as we discuss what seeds we’ve sown over the past months, what we are celebrating, and what we are removing from our hypothetical gardens with Emily Duval Ledger, Neuro Biz coach. Erin is working to implement the Profit First formula into business and found a company that works as a fractional CFO (aka part time for different companies) for cash based medical companies owned by PTs, OTs, MDs, NDs, etc. Claire is working to implement support groups at Rogue and shares the disappointment of not being selected for a Parkinson Foundation grant. Emily is pausing on her goal of writing the business book she always wanted to have and shares her process for that.
Celebrating the fruits of your labor is always a MUST, so we also share our wins. How are you celebrating your harvest? Erin is celebrating the work put into building collaborative partnerships and how it is a win-win for all of us. Claire is celebrating a new funding collaboration, which may end up being even more abundant. She has partnered with a local non-profit so she can offer scholarships to Rogue members. Emily is celebrating the accomplishments of her coaching clients. Many initially came with specific issues and problems and now have crossed those bridges and are finding more stability and happiness in their businesses.
What are you removing from your life in the next year? Erin is a constant gardener who is always in weeding mode. Claire is building better boundaries around her time and energy. Emily is challenging and removing the limiting beliefs that keep her from growing the way she knows she’s capable.
We’d love to hear your own reflections! We want to celebrate with you as well and hope you take the time to think about the past year and year ahead.
If you have a neuro business and want to join our NeuroBiz Besties free Slack group, fill out this form so we can learn more about you and see if it’s a good fit!
Links mentioned in today’s episode: