LIVE Session Dates:
Part I: Monday, April 23, 2012
Part II: Monday, April 30, 2012
9:00 PM ET / 8:00 PM CT / 6:00 PM PT
Format: 45-50 minutes presentation. 10-15 minutes Q&A.
Presenters: Jan Albrecht, OTR/L and Virginia O’Brien, OTD, OTR/L, CHT
Jan Albrecht, OTR/L
Jan Albrecht, OTR/L, is an occupational therapist with over 30 years of experience, first as a generalist and, between 1991 and 2011, with a special designation in hand therapy. Jan is a 1957 graduate of the University of Minnesota Occupational Therapy program, Jan has worked in hospital, outpatient and long term care settings, and became certified as a hand therapist in 1991 after training at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Over the past 10 years she has worked on-call at Fairview Hand Center clinics in Minneapolis, MN. Working alongside therapists with a variety of treatment approaches has provided her with an opportunity to explore treatment options and has led to the publishing of a patient education handbook, titled, “Caring for the Painful Thumb – More Than a Splint.”
Virginia O’Brien, OTD, OTR/L, CHT
Virginia O’Brien, OTD, OTR/L, CHT, has been a certified hand therapist since 1997, and is a 1976 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Virginia has worked closely with orthopedic hand surgeons in acute and cumulative upper extremity trauma at the University of Minnesota Medical Center-Fairview in Minneapolis for 16 years. She completed her Occupational Therapy Doctorate from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions in 2010. She continues working as a hand therapist, and is currently the supervisor of the Hand and Physical Therapy departments at her facility.
Thumb pain is a common complaint that requires careful assessment and innovative therapy. This webinar presents a dynamic stability conservative management program which will improve the biomechanical understanding of the thumb, enhance the therapist’s therapeutic use of self to advise and consult in the biomechanical knowledge of pain-free use of the thumb, identify poor motor patterns, and facilitate proper motor patterns. Intervention instruction includes muscle inhibition, re-education, and strengthening in a prescribed pattern, with joint protection and adaptive equipment instruction.
The webinar will be split up into two different parts on two different days. The registration process is separate for both parts, and attendees have the option of attending one or both parts of the webinar.
Part I – Evaluation/Assessment of Thumb Pain
Monday, April 23, 2012
Part I of this course will enhance the therapist’s skills in the evaluation and assessment of impairment caused by thumb pain. This portion will involve a focus on anatomy, biomechanics, pathoanatomy, and evaluation/assessment of the painful thumb.
In Part I, you will learn how to:
- Assess the factors that inhibit client participation in occupational/functional activities
- Identify normal and abnormal kinematics of thumb function
- Recognize normal and abnormal motor and praxis patterns of the thumb
- Assess thumb joint mobility and strength required to perform activities
Attendees earn 1 CE hour for each webinar.
Members $25
Non-Members $35
Register Now
Part II – Innovative Intervention for Dynamic Stability
Monday, April 30, 2012
Part II of this course will enhance the therapist’s skills in fine-tuning therapeutic intervention for persons with thumb pain and instability. This portion will focus on thumb stability intervention and techniques, joint protection, and orthotics for functional or dynamic thumb stability (demonstration and discussion).
In Part II, you will learn how to:
- Recognize normal and abnormal motor and praxis patterns of the thumb and how they affect occupational/functional performance
- Introduce innovative techniques to mobilize joints and re-educate key muscles in order to reduce pain and improve thumb stability
- Emphasize patient education in proper thumb biomechanics to protect joints over the long term.
- Improve orthotic fabrication skills in order to know when an orthosis provides immobilization or when it provides dynamic thumb stability; with the goal to wean from the continuous use of an orthosis
Attendees earn 1 CE hour for each webinar.
Members $25
Non-Members $35
Register Now
