Old Bull Athletics’ Head Physical Therapist Dr. Katie Dabrowski, PT, DPT, CSCS presents a 2-day educational course specifically designed to elevate trainers to understand their role as healthcare providers, learn the fundamentals of pain science, and actionable ways to manage pain during training sessions within the training scope of practice.
Approach training knowing you are a valued member of the healthcare team. As a personal trainer, you spend more one-on-one time – for weeks, months, even years – with your client than they spend with any other health care provider. That means you have the biggest opportunity to impact their overall health and wellness – and that’s huge.
With this elevated role in healthcare, there’s a lot of grey area trainers deal with when it comes to clients experiencing and understanding aches, pains, and injuries. It’s our goal to help create a clearer picture of how to manage these issues within a training scope of practice so you can provide the safest and most optimal experience for your clients.
With Training = Healthcare, we’ll dive into the fundamentals of pain science – like how the brain impacts our perception of pain, what is different in chronic vs. acute pain, how all pain doesn’t mean tissue damage, and how we can better educate our clients on these matters. We’ll discuss red flags that would warrant referral to another specialist or provider, how to adjust movements within a session in real time for pain that pops up, what types of pain we can train through vs. modify, and progressions/regressions to introduce clients to previously painful positions. We’ll explore myths and misconceptions of pain and injury and how to navigate misinformation. We’ll also learn how to make sure our training meets the demands of what our clients like to do – thing outside of the gym like running or playing recreational sports.
WHAT TO EXPECT OVER THIS TWO-DAY COURSE:
- A blend of lecture-based learning, open discussions, case studies, and hands-on lab activities to practice with each other
- A deep educational background of pain science to help inform our clients
- Actionable strategies to use within training sessions to manage pain, modify movements, and pivot a program
Day 1 Topics: Fundamentals and Foundations: 9am-5pm (1- hour lunch break)
- The role of trainers as healthcare providers
- Current scientific evidence on the importance of strength, plyometrics, aerobic capacity, and general movement for overall health and wellness of all populations
- Getting rid of the “disease model” of pain and injury: Biopsychosocial components of pain, injury, and the health of our clients
- Fundamentals of pain science:
- Does pain always mean injury or structural damage?
- What are the neurological, psychological, and social underpinnings of pain?
- How does pain differ in acute and chronic injuries?
- How can we work together as trainers and therapists to help with pain?
- How can we better explain pain to our clients?
Day 2: Putting it all Together: 9am-3pm (1 hour lunch break)
- Low Back Pain and Knee Pain
- Myths and misconceptions
- Pain, fear, deconditioning
- General needs for a strong and healthy low back/knees (what to assess, what to look for)
- Ruling out any red flags
- Looking at capacity and increasing tolerance
- Progressions, regressions, cueing
- Running: Preparedness, readiness, return to running
- Myths and misconceptions
- General needs for optimal running (what to assess, what to look for)
- Strength, tissue tolerance, and capacity
- Plyometric and running progressions
- Q & A Session
Course Schedule
- Previous courses:
- Nov 5-6, 2022
- May 20-21, 2023
- Upcoming courses:
- November 4-5, 2023
Pricing
- Regular Price: $399
- Early Bird Price: $349
- Student Price: $349
- Payment Plan: Payment can be split in 2 payments. Second payment will occur 1 week prior to course.
About Your Instructor
Dr. Katie Dabrowski, PT, DPT, CSCS is a physical therapist and strength coach whose passion for disrupting the traditional model of physical therapy led her to Old Bull Athletics to create a 100% individualized, one-on-one treatment model that meets patients where they fall along the spectrum of wellness: injury prevention, performance, recovery, or injury rehabilitation. With a research and university-level teaching background in neuroscience, she strives to utilize neurological principles to maximize outcomes in rehab and performance. Her passion is to promote higher quality healthcare along the spectrum of training and rehab, to dispel myths that run rampant in the health and wellness industry, and to promote a sense of resiliency rather than fragility among both clients and healthcare providers.
