On April 11^th, 2024, Catherine Quatman-Yates, DPT, PhD presented updates on the CBI-PLAAY Pilot [hyperlink: https://u.osu.edu/liftlab/our-work/cbi-plaay-cbi-pilot-sbir/ } program to the NeuroTrauma Research in Progress Seminar. The CBI-PLAAY program aims to empower survivors of traumatic brain injury to be physically active for all years following the injury. John Dobrea spoke about his personal experiences as a taekwondo instructor, the benefits that taekwondo can have for individuals with brain injuries, and the importance of using a trauma-informed approach when teaching taekwondo.

The team is excited to advance this work further with their partnership with SPIRIT Club – https://virtual.spiritclub.com/pages/about-us?id=about-us [hyperlink this] – a fitness platform that aims to empower people of all abilities to exercise successfully in a socially integrated setting.

Thank you to the Ohio State Chronic Brain Injury Program for their continued support of this work.

Pictured: Dr. Catherine Quatman-Yates presenting the CBI-PLAAY Pilot program.

John Dobrea and Dr. Catherine Quatman-Yates discussing facets of the trauma-informed approach and CBI-PLAAY pilot.

On November 4^th-5^th, 2023 Tyler Beauregard, MS, AT, ATC, CSCS participated at Ohio State’s Bio-Hack, directed by OSU Biomedical Engineering Society. Sponsored by the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, the 5^th annual hackathon tasked teams comprising of 60 participants to create a technology enabled solution regarding patient safety.

Tyler Beauregard’s team proposed a digital concussion assessment tool for onsite clinicians to use. This innovation would be made available offline, allowing use in sports sidelines and rural settings. Furthermore, the prototype would then forward concussion scores to local emergency departments to facilitate findings on the field.

Tyler and his team secured first place in the 5^th annual Bio-Hack thanks to this prototype which addressed current communication and accuracy gaps present in current concussion diagnostic tools. Congratulations to Tyler and his team!

For more information, the Bio-Hack’s results can be found here.

Pictured: Tyler Beauregard and his team presented with 1st place awards.

Nick Weaver and Alex Oberyszyn represented the LIFT Lab at The Ohio State University Spring Undergraduate Research Festival (SURF). We are so proud of these students for sharing some of our team’s work. Thank you to all who were involved in putting on this awesome opportunity for undergraduate students.

Great work, Nick and Alex! Get a peek at their projects down below!

Nick Weaver presenting Implementation of Respite Spaces to Support Health and Well-being of Healthcare Workers: A Scoping Review

Alex Oberyszyn presenting Understanding and Improving Doctorate of Physical Therapy Student Wellbeing and Resilience

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.

Carmen, Katie, & Mindy presenting No More Tumbles: A Quality Improvement Approach to Community Fall Prevention

The LIFT Lab team was well represented at the 2023 Institute for Healthcare Improvement Forum. Dr. Quatman-Yates, Dr. Quatman, and collaborator Mindy Gabriel delivered an oral presentation on their work with the Community-FIT program. Additionally, Riley Summers, James Crick, Gabriel Alain, Carmen Quatman, and Catherine Quatman-Yates showcased more of the team’s work via poster presentations. Details of these presentations can be found with the attached photos.

The forum provided an amazing opportunity for our team to network with and learn from leaders in the healthcare quality space. We are already looking forward to the 2024 IHI Forum.

James & Gabe presenting Optimizing Diagnostic Throughput and Mitigating Functional Decline: A Capacity Building Approach Using Health Science Students

Riley presenting The Buckeye Pause Bundle: A Healthcare Worker Resiliency Program Enhanced Through Iterative Improvement

Carmen’s poster: Towards Zero Tissue Waste: Advancing Tissue Procurement Workflows in a Learning Health System

Katie’s poster: Resilience and Thriving on the 911 Frontline: Mindfulness Solutions for First Responders

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