ANPT – Academy for Neurologic Physical Therapy Podcast Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapy

In this installment of our series on rare neurologic diseases, Ken Vinnaco talks with Megan Iammarino about physical therapy for people with Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD), an umbrella term that encompasses a varied group of disorders affecting the proximal muscles around the shoulders and hips that impacts approximately 2 in every 100,000 people. Megan covers the assessment, PT treatment and prognosis for people with this unique diagnosis that causes significant balance and gait challenges.  







The Degenerative Diseases Special Interest Group is part of the Academy of  Neurologic Physical Therapy – www.neuroPT.org

In this episode, Chris interviews Michelle Walaszek, a winner of the DDSIG platform award at CSM Boston in 2024. Michelle, a PhD candidate and research associate in the Knowledge Translation of Exercise and Activity for Symptom Management (KTEAM) lab at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, explains important qualitative research that her team completed in their local Chicagoland area. She discusses themes that arose from survey data and analysis that assessed attitudes and experience with PD rehabilitation care for the Black or African American (BAA) community. Chris and Michelle also talk about some early applications of this information for clinicians, as well as next steps in the research.  







The Degenerative Diseases Special Interest Group is part of the Academy of  Neurologic Physical Therapy – www.neuroPT.org  

Host Jennifer Burus PT, NCS is joined by Anne W. Hunt, PhD, OT Reg (Ontario) and Nick Reed, PhD, MScOT, OT Reg (Ontario) for a discussion on multidisciplinary care for pediatric patients with concussion. Dr. Hunt is an Assistant Professor Teaching Stream in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto where she teaches courses on pediatric rehabilitation and fieldwork. Her research focuses on developing interventions that enable individuals with brain injury to participate optimally in meaningful activities in everyday life. Dr. Reed is an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto where he directs the OAK (Outcomes, Advocacy and Knowledge) Concussion Lab and holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Pediatric Concussion.  His work focuses on developing, delivering and evaluating research, educational and clinical programming specific to youth and concussion.







The Vestibular Special Interest Group is a part of the Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapy. neuropt.org.

Host Maureen Clancy PT, DPT, OCS is joined by Joanna Wolfson PhD, ABPP and Emily Kostelnik PhD in a discussion on the integration of psychological care for patients with vestibular disorders. Dr. Kostelnik is a Clinical Health Psychologist who focuses on behavioral health education for the vestibular community through her company Rooted Behavioral Education and provides licensed consultation and therapy through her private practice, The Vestibular Psychologist. Dr. Wolfson is a senior psychologist at Rusk Rehabilitation, NYU Langone Health and Clinical Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She is board certified in Clinical Health Psychology and provides individual and group psychotherapy to patients with vestibular and medical conditions.

In our newest episode, we talk with physical therapist, Tori Fallgren, about complex rehab technology, and the advocacy efforts that make a huge impact in the lives of individuals with SCI. Join host, Kristen Cezat, as she and Tori discuss the recent "win" in advocacy efforts related to power wheelchair seat elevation and so much more.







APTA Advocacy Win: Power Seat Elevation:



https://www.apta.org/news/2023/05/19/power-elevation-ncd

In this episode, Chris Burke interviews Kayla Chomko who, along with Jen Canbeck, Lauren Tabor Gray, and Rania Massad, won the DDSIG Best Poster Award at APTA’s Combined Sections Meeting in February 2024.  Chris and Kayla discuss her team’s poster, “The Tinetti Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment Discriminates between Fallers and Non-Fallers in pALS: A Retrospective Study”. They delve into the impetus for and findings from their research, how Kayla utilizes data from outcome measures to facilitate patient discussions in clinic, and what direction future research may take.  







The Degenerative Diseases Special Interest Group is part of the Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapy – www.neuroPT.org 







Are you a PT who works with this population? Participate in a national survey on outcome measures for Physical Therapists and Physical Therapist Assistants working with pALS (Link active as of April 2024): https://redcap.nova.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=JKYLEC3KC9RFK7WF 







Show notes available here: https://www.neuropt.org/docs/default-source/degenerative-diseases-sig/4d-podcast-show-notes---2019/ddsig-podcast-show-notes-2023/csm-award-winners-bonus-episode-2---kayla-chomko.pdf