194: Health Coaching And PT: A Match Made In Heaven With Kathleen Olsen, PT, MS, PCES

I Love Neuro

If you’re tired of the top-down approach or hierarchical model of delivering care and want to embrace more of a biopsychosocial model into your practice, this is a great episode for you! Erin interviews Kathleen Olsen, PT, MS, PCES, a physical therapist with over 17 years of experience treating pelvic health, neurologic and orthopedic conditions. In 2018, she became certified as a women’s health coach from the Integrative Women’s Health Institute. She’s also a certified pregnancy and postpartum exercise specialist. In this episode we discuss what it looks like to approach your treatment and plan of care collaboratively with your patients and clients by incorporating principles learned in health coaching.

This can look like asking questions regarding the pillars of health in the initial assessment (and what those are). Asking readiness for change questions like, “Do you want to take action on any of these areas now? Do you need resources or support to do that?” And “What would wellness look like for you? What would living well look like for you?” in order to develop a better understanding of the goals. Inviting your patients to reflect on what they really want and all the aspects of their life can help them transform in ways you’d never be able to just tell them to do.

Another helpful way to motivate and educate patients is with the use of technology like self tracking devices. For example, the Oura ring, Whoop band, Garmin, Apple watch, Fitbit, etc. Among simple tracking like steps and HR, a person can do cycle tracking, sleep tracking, or HR variability tracking to see if they are recovering well.

Website:

https://northcountyinhomept.com/

IG:

@kathleenolsenpt

https://ouraring.com/product/rings/horizon

https://www.whoop.com/us/en/