227: What You Should Know About Telerehab To Improve Access And Equity With Dr. Jennifer O’Neil, PT, PhD and Dr. Alan Lee, PT, DPT, PhD
Release Date: 08/19/2024
330: Working With The "Excluded" Patient: A Case Study Using Modified CIMT After Stroke With Briana Elson, MS, OTR/L, BCPR, CBIS
I Love Neuro
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...
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329: When the System Sends Them Home: Kim Williams-Feth, BSW, On Why Neuro Patients Need An Advocate
I Love Neuro
What happens to your neuro patients after they leave your care, and who's in their corner when the discharge falls apart? In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, sits down with Kimberlie Williams-Feth, BSW, founder of Healthcare Survival Kit and a former hospital social work discharge planner who became an independent patient advocate after living the system's failures firsthand. When her husband's routine spinal fusion led to unexpected paralysis, Kimberlie navigated unsafe discharges, a "ghost network" of providers who didn't actually offer neuro care, and the months it took to...
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328: Adding Jet Fuel To Stroke Therapy With Mason Hearn, PT, DPT, NCS On Vivistim's Paired Vagus Nerve Stimulation
I Love Neuro
What if a patient who is years — even decades — out from their stroke could still make meaningful gains in their affected arm? In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, talks with Mason Hearn, PT, DPT, NCS, about Vivistim, the FDA-approved paired vagus nerve stimulation system for chronic ischemic stroke, and why the "paired" piece — stimulation delivered in the same moment as intensive, task-specific therapy — is what makes it work. Mason breaks down the triple-blinded RCT behind the device, why patients an average of three years post-stroke saw two to three times greater...
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327: Hope, Connection, And Care Coordination: Russell Meyerowitz On The Parkinson's Wellness Fund And Raya Health - Tools For Today
I Love Neuro
What happens to a family when "wellness" stops meaning saunas and cold plunges and starts meaning keeping the lights on? In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, talks with Russell Meyerowitz, founder of the Parkinson's Wellness Fund, about how the needs of families living with Parkinson's have shifted from health-and-wellness support toward urgent emergency relief — and what that means for the clinicians who serve them. Russell shares why his organization issues no-judgment relief grants for everything from walkers and ramps to groceries and utility bills, why they're now fielding...
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326: Why Standard Heart Rate Formulas Fail People With Parkinson's With Cielita Lopez-Lennon, PT, DPT, NCS
I Love Neuro
Are the heart rate formulas we've been using actually working for our patients with Parkinson's? In this episode, hosts Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, and Claire McLean, PT, DPT, NCS, discuss with Cielita Lopez-Lennon, PT, PhD candidate in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Utah, her recently published research on refining maximal heart rate estimation for people with Parkinson's disease. The conversation digs into why standard formulas like 220 minus age systematically overestimate max heart rate for people with autonomic dysfunction, what chronotropic incompetence actually means in...
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325: Falls Training For Parkinson's: Why Patients Are Demanding It With Naomi Casiro, BSc., MPT
I Love Neuro
What would it look like if your patients stopped fearing the floor? In this episode, hosts Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, and Claire McLean, PT, DPT, NCS, discuss with Naomi Casiro, physiotherapist and founder of Neuro Fit Academy, what happened when her falls training sessions at World Parkinson Congress drew over 100 attendees in a room designed for 40. They dig into why patients with Parkinson's are starting to demand falls training themselves, and how that overwhelming response reflects a massive gap in what clinicians are currently being taught. Naomi recently launched her FMF —...
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324: When Robots Amplify Mistakes To Drive Recovery: Error Augmentation In Neuro Rehab With BioXtreme
I Love Neuro
In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS interviews BioXtreme CEO Eyal Samuel Shachar and researcher Dr. James Patton, PhD about BioXtreme’s robotics-based neurorehabilitation devices, with a focus on their Plaxtream hand system. Inspired by founder Nini Bluman’s experience helping his father recover hand function after a stroke, Plaxtream combines robotic hardware, engaging game-based activities, and an AI-driven, adaptive error augmentation approach to improve grasp, release, pronation, and supination. Dr. Patton explains how error augmentation—strategically amplifying...
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323: Before We Left for Phoenix: Our World Parkinson Congress 2026 Preview
I Love Neuro
In this episode hosts, Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS and Claire McLean, PT, DPT, NCS share their excitement and plans for attending the 2026 World Parkinson Congress (WPC) in Phoenix, Arizona, a unique international conference that brings together people with Parkinson’s, care partners, therapists, physicians, and researchers. Drawing on their past experiences at WPC in Montreal, Portland, and Kyoto, they describe how special it is to attend this event as a full team this year, staying together in an Airbnb and connecting with colleagues and members from around the world. They highlight what...
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322: Find Work-Life Balance With Alignment, Not Productivity Tools
I Love Neuro
Is work-life balance an elusive concept you have yet to master while running your life and neuro biz? In this episode, hosts Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS and Claire McLean, PT, DPT, NCS discuss the topic with NeuroBiz Coach, Emily Duval Ledger. Many clinicians start businesses to escape traditional job burnout but then recreate the same patterns by overworking and glorifying busyness. In the show we talk about recognizing when “busy” becomes unproductive, using tools like time-blocking, planners, and realistic daily priorities to focus on high-impact tasks and reduce urgency overload, but,...
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321: How To Use AI Tools To Get Time Back Even When You’re Not Techy With Shanté “Movement Maestro” Cofield, PT, DPT, OCS
I Love Neuro
Dive into AI tools in your personal life, work life and business by learning what to use, how to use it and how NOT to use it. In this episode, hosts Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS and Claire McLean, PT, DPT, NCS talk with physical-therapist-turned-entrepreneur Dr. Shanté “Movement Maestro” Cofield, PT, DPT, OCS about what AI is and how it can practically support health and fitness professionals. Shanté explains AI in simple terms as powerful computer programs called large language models (LLMs) that use math and probability to predict the most likely next word, making it possible for us to...
info_outlineHave you ever wondered how to effectively use telehealth to provide care? Maybe you’re already using it and want to know how to improve. In this episode of the I Love Neuro Podcast, host Erin Gallardo sat down with two leading experts in the field - Dr. Jennifer O'Neil and Dr. Alan Lee - to learn the latest research about telehealth.
Dr. O'Neil, a physiotherapist and professor at the University of Ottawa, shared her passion for using telehealth to improve access to rehabilitation services. She became interested in this area after seeing how much time she spent traveling to see her patients in Canada's vast countryside. Her doctoral research focused on implementing intensive home-based telerehabilitation programs for people living with traumatic brain injuries. She also discussed her work on a telehealth falls prevention program tailored for Francophone communities, highlighting the importance of addressing health equity.
Dr. Lee, a physical therapist and professor at Mount Saint Mary's University, provided historical context on the development of telehealth in physical therapy. He talked about the contributions of the international physical therapy community, including the recent publication of a clinical practice guideline (CPG) on telehealth from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). This guideline covers everything from video conferencing to remote monitoring and asynchronous visits.
The experts shared their insights on key considerations for implementing telehealth, such as safety, patient satisfaction, and the importance of shared decision-making with patients. They emphasized the need for standardized terminology and the inclusion of qualitative research to better understand the nuances of telehealth delivery.
Erin asked about the barriers and best practices for clinicians using telehealth, how to use telehealth with people with cognitive difficulties, tips for using telehealth with groups vs individuals and how to overcome some of the common barriers that clinicians face when using telerehab. The speakers highlighted the importance of preparation, digital literacy, and adapting clinical skills for the virtual environment. They also discussed the latest changes in billing and reimbursement, as well as their opinions on whether telehealth visits should cost the same as in-person visits.
Download the CPG here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38513257/
https://www.uottawa.ca/faculty-health-sciences/rehabilitation/our-professors/jennifer-o-neil
joneil@uottawa.ca
@oneil_jenn
@alanleedpt (X)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-lee-21211314/ (Linkedin)
allee@msmu.edu (email)