During the 2016 Summer Olympics, Steve Middleton, PT, DPT, MS, ATC, CSCS, CKTP, cheered on several U.S. track and field athletes he worked with as a rehabilitation professional. One in particular had been recommended for surgery, but Dr. Middleton was able to manage the symptoms with soft tissue techniques and kinesiology taping.
“Taping provides a tactile cue to the patient on how they should be moving compared with how they had been moving,” says Dr. Middleton, a 2017 graduate of the Flexible Doctor of Physical Therapy program. “It is pretty dramatic how quickly you can change someone’s movement pattern in the span of five or 10 minutes once you identify the correct tissue-specific impairment, apply manual techniques, and reinforce it with kinesiology taping.”
Patients don’t have to be elite athletes to benefit from those techniques. In the Kinesiology Taping and IASTM for Rehabilitation Professionals seminar that Dr. Middleton teaches, he demonstrates how physical and occupational therapists (including assistants) and athletic trainers can use the techniques to improve an individual’s overall function, including acute, chronic, and neurologic conditions.
“We often have physical and occupational therapists from the same office in the seminar together. We also see athletic trainers attending with physical therapists they refer patients to,” says Dr. Middleton. “This seminar is designed to be interprofessional, because the more we work with other professionals, the more we see assessment and treatment techniques we have not been exposed to in our own educations, the more our patients benefit.”
Although the daylong seminar, which offers 9 hours of .9 CEUs, emphasizes treatment, Dr. Middleton also discusses therapy assessments because he believes that interventions are only as good as evaluations are correct. He also focuses on critical thinking skills so that participants can individualize therapy to treat the patient not the symptom.
“When patients complain about a symptom, especially in chronic situations, that’s not necessarily where the problem is. It could be compensation for where the problem really is in the body,” says Dr. Middleton, who has been teaching taping and IASTM since 2010. “In this seminar, we get to play detective to isolate where the actual disfunction is so that we can address it and alleviate symptoms.”
Dr. Middleton brings nearly 20 years of patient care to the seminar, including experience with high school, college, and professional athletes in the NFL. He is the clinical director of Assess, Treat, and Condition in Fulton, Missouri, and director of the Athletic Training program at William Woods University. In addition to certifications from the National Academy of Sports Medicine, the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the International Kinesio Taping Association, and in the Graston Technique, he relies on backgrounds in creative writing and theater, which helps him keep the seminar lively.
“My job is to educate and engage,” says Dr. Middleton. “I enjoy the interaction with other clinicians and the ‘aha moments’ when they see new techniques.”
2018 Kinesiology Taping and IASTM for Rehabilitation Professionals Seminars
- Colorado
- May 4 in Colorado Springs
- May 5 in Denver
- May 6 in Collins
- Florida
- August 10 in Tampa
- August 11 in Orlando
- August 12 in Augustine
See all Continuing Professional Education options from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences.
