ConnectTherapy is based on the framework that all regions and systems in the body are connected. Helmed by Dr. LJ Lee, it’s an assessment and treatment approach that helps understand and treat the individual as a whole.
I recently completed my education in ConnectTherapy and have been using it a lot to help my patients!
An initial assessment is usually a bit longer than average. It may also span a few short sessions. It involves a detailed and thorough history after which the entire body is evaluated in order to determine the key contributors to the current “problem”.
A “meaningful task” is often used to evaluate the relationship of different parts of the body to each other as well as relative to your center of mass over your base of support (the way you carry yourself in relation to gravity). A “meaningful task” can be anything you feel is slightly off, but important to you. For example if your neck bothers you while biking, I would look at a version of that seated position in the clinic setting. The idea is that the dysfunctional pattern will likely show up over multiple tasks, but I want to connect to the one that’s most meaningful to you.
The focus then is on finding the one or two (or few!) key areas of the body that are contributing to the dysfunctional movement which are termed the “drivers”. This is sometimes the area of pain, but can also be a non-painful area further away from the site that may or may not have been injured in the past. Treating just one of the areas will help but treating all of the “drivers” can really lead to improvements and have longer lasting results.
There are many possible connections and different presentations dependent on a person’s unique history. Clinically I find a few more common presentations. I am finding there is often a link between the thorax and the foot/ankle. For example, If there was a previous ankle sprain causing you to shift off of that foot, the way to do so can often be the thorax (it is up to 33% of your mass). Sometimes we keep this new pattern even when the ankle symptoms are no longer present. Over time this can cause increased loading of the other foot/knee/hip etc) which can lead to symptoms in these regions. Another common link I‘ve found is between the neck and the jaw. A history of neck trauma (car accident or other) may lead to pain in the jaw even when it appears the neck symptoms have mostly resolved. There have been a couple of cases now where I’ve seen the foot/ankle region impact the neck!
Once the “drivers” have been identified, the goal is really to optimize them. This is most often through manual therapy and specific exercises. ConnectTherapy really places emphasis on getting people TO their desired movement goals and not just goals around pain reduction (although that of course is important and influences movement!). It also considers beliefs, emotions and other factors that may play into movement dysfunction and/or pain.
I feel this course series has really allowed me a framework to zoom out and consider the whole body’s influence on regional pain. It has changed the way I practice from both assessment and treatment perspectives and has been very rewarding to implement into my practice!
Amy Moffat works at our Valleyview clinic location at 111 Oriole Rd.
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