How Acupuncture Works
As a physiotherapist who applies acupuncture in the assessment and treatment of various injuries and health problems, I am often asked by my clients and other caregivers whether I believe in acupuncture and how acupuncture works. Coming from an evidence-based research background, and a lifelong learning approach to clinical assessment and treatment (thank-you McMaster University), I first approached acupuncture the way all clinicians should approach any modality or adjunct therapy: with scientific skepticism. Two Schools of Acupuncture My acupuncture journey began in 2014-2015 when I enrolled in McMaster University’s Contemporary Medical Acupuncture course. Here, I learned about the two basic [...]
Meaningful Goals Fuel Motivation
Motivation. What drives you. It's the reason you do something and why you care to do it. Motivation is an important key to perseverance. It is the end that justifies the means, especially when the means are sometimes not easy or pleasant. When working with a physiotherapist during your recovery from an injury, or when your physio asks you for “one more rep!”, it is important to always keep your motivations in mind. But how do you know what those motivations are? What truly motivates you? Guidance from a professional is key. In my experience, physiotherapists who helped me create [...]
What It Feels Like to Walk with LiteGait Therapy Device
I have never felt disabled. I know I am disabled and feeling it and its physical effects are not what I’m contesting. I’m not delusional. I know I have a disability. I’m not ashamed of it either. I have always felt, possibly irrationally, as a child and even now as an adult like an able-bodied person trapped in a disabled person’s body. This sentiment would absolutely make a lot more sense if my disability were acquired partway through life, before such time I was able-bodied; but that’s not the case with me. I have cerebral palsy, an acquired brain injury [...]
Preventative Physiotherapy
Physiotherapists are often the professional you seek after an injury has occurred or after a nagging pain has become too much to shrug off. From this perspective, physiotherapy is a reactive measure to taking care of one’s physical well-being. Although this is an important role that physiotherapists play within a person’s rehabilitation and recovery, preventative physiotherapy, the component of preventative care, often goes missing. Compelling evidence suggests that physiotherapy interventions demonstrate the ability to prevent future injuries from occurring¹. In other words, we could take better care of our physical well-being by avoiding injury altogether. A systematic review of [...]
Workplace Wellness Programs Increase Productivity
Workplace wellness programs are becoming increasingly important in Canada, where the population is aging and the number of people with disabilities, chronic conditions, and work-related health issues is growing. With many of us spending up to two-thirds of our day at our jobs, it can be a challenge for many to find time in our busy lives to take care of ourselves in a way that maintains our health and prevents health problems before they occur. That is why Propel Physiotherapy offers workplace wellness programs for companies that want to encourage their employees to maintain optimal health and implement [...]
My Traumatic Brain Injury Road to Recovery
Eighteen Months into Rehabilitation I am a 50-plus, professional, reasonably athletic mother of three. I am currently 18 months into recovery from a serious accident that caused me many physical injuries, including a traumatic brain injury. I am writing about my experience as part of my therapy and hopefully to provide some context or helpful information to others who have been impacted in some way by something similar. I do not remember the day of the accident itself or the month afterwards. As much as I am writing about what happened, it’s all second-hand from my husband. Further, if [...]