Healthcare is doubtlessly a stressful field. In the course of taking care of patients, research, and countless hours dedicated to helping others, healthcare professionals often burn out and struggle from high stress, quite often with an adverse impact on one’s mental health. In this reality, it has become evident that measures to improve the quality of conditions for healthcare professionals is vital.

Catherine Quatman-Yates, Riley Summers and Jamileh Alain of the LIFT Lab worked with a multi-disciplinary team measuring biofeedback on Mindfulness In Motion (MIM) interventions for healthcare professionals. This study, called the Buckeye Pause Bundle, aimed to measure physiological changes and perceived experience of participants in the program.

Congratulations to the LIFT Lab, the Human Performance Collaborative and the Center for Integrative Health for getting this work published. To learn more about the study, visit the article here!

Three of our LIFT Lab students have started their graduate school journey at OSU. Congratulations to Maeghan, Gideon and Ella on this wonderful accomplishment! Maeghan is studying in the Occupational Therapy program, and Gideon and Ella are studying in the Physical Therapy program.

Best wishes and may you continue to succeed in your aspiring fields!

Timothy Rethorn, PhD

On April 4^th and 5^th, 2024, Timothy Rethorn PhD, DPT, PT and Gabriel Alain PhD, DPT, PT successfully defended their dissertations.

Timothy Rethorn’s dissertation, Trauma-Informed Care: Opportunities and Challenges for Physical Therapists, addresses the gap in training of physical therapists regarding their responsibility and practice involving their patients’ psychological trauma. Tim’s Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) work involved a multi-pronged educational approach developed for use by physical therapists to give tangible tools to clinicians to implement TIC, as well as facilitate discussion around this topic. This toolkit contributes to advancing the field of musculoskeletal physical therapy by addressing the critical intersection between physical and psychological health.

Gabriel Alain, PhD

Gabriel Alain’s dissertation delves into addressing inefficiencies in delivering and improving care within healthcare systems. To do this, Gabe adapted financial principles inspired by the S&P 500 to synthesize The Agile Healthcare Performance Index (AHPI). This measurement tool seeks to increase the efficiency of healthcare systems in domains including decision making, benchmarking and evaluation, and resource allocation.

Congratulations to Dr. Alain and Dr. Rethorn!

On Friday, March 29, 2024 Tyler, Maeghan and Steven of the LIFT Lab participated in HRS Research Day. The event highlighted the work of students in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Each student gave a short oral presentation that corresponded to their poster, and then participated in a poster session.

Great work Tyler, Maeghan, and Steven!

Maeghan Williams presenting Resilience and Thriving on the 911 Frontline: Mindfulness Solutions for First Responders

Steven Joyce presenting Worksite respite spaces for hospital-based healthcare workers: A scoping review protocol

[Not pictured] Tyler Beauregard, MS, AT, ATC, CSCS,  presenting Between Uniformity and Uniqueness: Stakeholder Views on Complex Rehabilitation Technology Devices and Services

LIFT Lab participates in Chronic Brain Injury Research Day 2024:

On Thursday and Friday, March 7 and 8, 2024, the Chronic Brain Injury program held their annual CBI Research Day conference at Heminger Hall. Keynote speakers included– Drs. Conti, Abner, and Stoica – as well as 11 presentations from local speakers and selected trainees. The poster session featured 72 posters from researchers representing 12 departments and 6 colleges at Ohio State, plus 3 centers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

LIFT Lab members, Dr. Quatman-Yates and Ella Snead participated in the day. Ella participated in the undergraduate poster session sharing data from the LIFT Lab’s CBI-PLAAY project. Dr. Quatman-Yates served as a poster presentation judge. The project pictured below is focused on the impact of physical activity on CBI Recovery. Ella’s poster detailed the way in which physical activity, or the lack thereof, can have a massive impact on the recovery process from Chronic Brain Injury. She shared highlights from qualitative interviews with CBI survivors and their carepartners on the barriers and facilitators for participating in physical activity after CBI.

Participating authors on the poster included: Ella Snead, Timothy Rethorn, PT, DPT, OCS; Jamie Kronenberg, PT, DPT, SCS; Shea Brgoch, PhD; Riley Summers, BS; Christy Zwolski, PT, DPT, PhD, OCS; Leeann Lower-Hoppe, PhD; Lise Worthen-Chaudhari, PhD; Laura Schmitt, PT, PhD; Jennifer Bogner, PhD, ABPP, FACRM; Catherine Quatman-Yates, PT, DPT, PhD

Ella Snead Presenting at CBI Research Day 2024

Chronic Brain Injuries are all too common, and as such are a deeply important area to research in rehabilitation medicine. For more information on CBI Conference, including schedule, deadlines, and updates, visit https://go.osu.edu/cbiresearchday.

Riley Summers, Catherine Quatman-Yates, and Gabriel Alain’s collaborative work titled Physical Therapy Management of Dysmenorrhea-Associated Pelvic Pain in Adolescent and Young Adult Females: A Scoping Review was recently published in the Journal of Women’s & Pelvic Health Physical Therapy.

Dysmenorrhea-related pelvic pain is common among young females and can negatively impact their quality of life. This scoping review aimed to identify and synthesize interventions, outcomes, and gaps that fall within the physical therapy scope of practice for adolescent girls with dysmenorrhea-related pelvic pain. The combined search yielded 16,000 articles, of which 58 articles were ultimately included. Physical therapy interventions studied in the identified articles included varying approaches to alleviating the associated pain and discomfort of dysmenorrhea.

The results of this study demonstrated that various physical therapy interventions may be effective in decreasing dysmenorrhea-related pelvic pain and improving the quality of life among young females.

Congrats to the entire team who made this project possible! Read the full article here!

James Crick, a LIFT Lab PhD student, recently led a scoping review regarding the use of Quality Improvement (QI) in the field of Physical Therapy (PT) which was published in the Journal for Healthcare Quality. Co-authored by Timothy Rethorn, Tyler Beauregard, Riley Summers, Zachary Rethorn, Catherine Quatman-Yates, the review characterized the breadth and quality of published QI literature pertaining to PT.

70 studies were include in the review, and the quality of each publication was assessed using the 16-point QI Minimum Quality Criteria Set (QI-MQCS) appraisal tool.

The results of the study demonstrated that, while QI publications have been steadily increasing, there is limited research for certain PT settings and the methodologic rigor and quality of reporting need improvement.

Congrats to James and the rest of the team! You can read the full article here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37428943/

John performing a Side Kick

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art which can be effective for both exercise and self-improvement, as well as self-defense. Developed during the 1940s and 1950s to make for a dynamic striking martial art involving a wide variety of versatile kicking techniques, it can be incredibly fun and practical to train.

John in a Fighting Stance

With the help of LIFT Lab and several martial artists among the LIFT Lab ranks, Taekwondo has recently been incorporated into SPIRIT Club’s programs. Spearheading these efforts is John Fox Dobrea, who has over 14 years of experience in Taekwondo, and is now teaching SPIRIT Club’s online Taekwondo program.

John demonstrating how to move for a Front Kick

The first lesson will be on October the 21^st via SPIRIT Club’s services. Read more about SPIRIT Club in the “Our Work” tab!

Hello! This is John Fox Dobrea, a LIFT Lab Technician. Outside of the LIFT Lab, I am a martial artist, and have been practicing Taekwondo since 2009. In my experience, martial arts are incredibly useful for improving quality of life – beyond being useful for self-defense (an arguable benefit), the martial arts can also be a great source of both exercise and meditation [1,4], depending on what type of practice session you are holding.

For instance, practicing Forms – each of which are a long series of movements designed to improve balance, power, footwork, endurance, and precision – can be done at a swift pace, or a slow pace, emphasizing either the aforementioned athletic skills [1,2], or emphasizing a meditative approach, when the Form is performed slowly and fluidly, turning into a sort of dance. This, paired with controlling one’s breath, can make the activity highly meditative and mindful. This can also improve mental and emotional state, as practitioners can become more attuned to their bodies and minds as they practice, centering and balancing themselves while sharpening their focus [1,2,4].

Another great area of training is Sparring, during which two opponents will fight in a controlled setting and practice techniques in real time. Here again, there are multiple ways of practicing that can benefit the practitioner in varying ways. Sparring can include drills to improve agility and quicken up one’s reaction time, Hard Sparring to improve strength, intensity and aggression, and Tech-Sparring to improve precision and tactical ability. These methods can each benefit a martial artist in many ways outside of the art also [3] – building situational awareness [2], physical control [1], stamina [1], and the ability to maintain calm under intense pressure [3,4].

I would implore any athlete, regardless of sport or form of exercise, to try a martial art. The positive effects and direct benefits of martial arts can be profound for one’s health, and can build a person up to being one’s very best self.

The LIFT Lab is currently in the process of mapping out several potential projects to further understand and apply the benefits of martial arts in sports medicine! Stay tuned!

Sources

1. Fong, S. et. al (2010) Does Taekwondo training improve physical fitness? Physical Therapy in Sport 

2. Miller, I. et. al (2022) Functional Benefits of Hard Martial Arts for Older Adults: A Scoping Review International Journal of Exercise Science

3. Limpo, T et. al (2022) Examining karate and football perceptions and their links with athlete engagement and quality of life Frontiers

4. Toskovic, N. et. al (2001) ALTERATIONS IN SELECTED MEASURES OF MOOD WITH A SINGLE BOUT OF DYNAMIC TAEKWONDO EXERCISE IN COLLEGE-AGE STUDENTS Perceptual and Motor Skills