Course Overview
Physical Therapy for Older Adults
This online course is designed for rehabilitation & fitness professionals who want to elevate their skill set in the management of older adults. The size of this population is growing rapidly, unfortunately the desire to manage them with cutting edge evidence guided treatment has lagged well behind. Too often we see our older adults getting under treated, both with exercise and manual therapy, apparently as a consequence of both fear and ignorance.
Take a deep dive into exploring misconceptions and laying out a clear, current best evidence pathway to enable our older adults to not only survive but to thrive. A special emphasis is placed on progressive functional fitness in this population.
Format
- 8 weeks long - 2 hours/week commitment
- Lifetime access to course & online community
- Weekly assignments & video conference calls to discuss patient cases & student questions
- Live video conference calls take place weekly to discuss content and dive deeper into the material. These meetings take place on Wednesdays at 7 PM EST and are recorded if you cannot attend live. While live attendance is optional, you will be responsible for viewing the recording afterwards as you will be assessed on the content discussed.
- Our online courses require active participation to be awarded credit which may include reading, homework assignments, and quizzes. We do not allow students to “drop back” to preceding cohorts due to inability to complete work assigned except under extraordinary circumstances. ICE Physio faculty have the final decision in allowing a “drop back” but students are only allowed one “drop back” per course. Failure to complete the course on your 2nd attempt will not yield CEU credit. All courses allow for a 7 day grace period after course conclusion to receive CEU credit.
Schedule
Week One
Truth of aging
Week Two
Power of perspective: transforming aging through belief
Week Three
Exercise prescription 1: building the foundation for optimal outcomes
Week Four
Exercise prescription 2: applying recommended guidelines
Week Five
Exercise prescription 3: how to program
Week Six
Risk to resilience: mastering falls prevention
Week Seven
Whole-person care: addressing psychosocial needs
Week Eight
Practical approaches to promoting wellness
Objectives
- Identify Ageism in our society, our professions, & our communities based on observation.
- Describe how beliefs, expectations, and stereotypes of aging impact older adults’ lives.
- Describe physiological processes that occur during healthy aging as well as with the development of clinical geriatric syndromes such as frailty and sarcopenia.
- Design a thorough examination process for older adults that is modifiable based on patient characteristics.
- Select appropriate and effective functional measures for patients that assess occupation performance.
- Implement functional measures in order to build therapeutic alliance.
- Define evidence-based, exercise prescription principles to ensure proper dosage.
- Design appropriately-dosed exercise programs including progressions and regressions to obtain the intended outcomes that impact functional independence and occupation performance.
- Develop plans of care to address major contributors to the risk of falling in older adults.
- Design evidence-based fall prevention programs to obtain the intended outcome for clients.
- Identify how fear of falling and chronic pain can impact performance and outcomes in older adults.
- Design exercise strategies to manage, minimize, or reduce fear and persistent pain in the older adult population.
- Implement the Squat, Deadlift, and Floor Transfer activities with strategies to progress and modify.
- Design appropriately-dosed exercise programs including progressions and regressions to obtain the intended outcomes that impact functional independence and occupation performance.
- Execute effective strategies to positively influence lifestyle behaviors that promote health in older adults.
Additional Information
PREREQUISITES
- None
EDUCATION LEVEL
- Entry-level
Older Adult L1 is one of three courses required to become an ICE Physio Certified Specialist in Older Adults. Becoming an ICE Certified Specialist helps you become THE provider of choice in your community for older adults. Find out more here.
The Institute of Clinical Excellence is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development. Course approval ID# 03093. This Distance Learning-Interactive course is offered at 16 CEUs for OT Service Delivery & Foundational Knowledge. AOTA does not endorse specific course content, products, or clinical procedures.