Let’s start off by saying few courses have completely changed the way I practice. The SFMA was one of them. Training=rehab was another.
And now FDN.
I’ve never experienced a more powerful tool when used correctly. I want to praise the instructors and course developers because I’ve never felt more prepared to carry a technique into the clinic day one.
The purpose of this blog is to review this course. The next blog will be on how I can integrate this into the clinic.
The whole course has been well organized. There were no surprises, goof ups, or miscommunications.
The course was laid out and discussed theory first. I appreciate that they jumped into this model because often many courses fail to discuss the ‘why’ of what you’re learning. I love that they stressed that this is simply the means to a result and not the only way to treat- this treatment isn’t the end all, be all and must be used judiciously. And I really liked that it integrated a functional model using the SFMA to guide treatment. I think knowing why you treat and what area you treat is more important than what tool you use any day.
Things I liked that aren’t related to course content:
1. Good food and snacks provided! Apples, bananas, the good granola bars (!), fruit snacks, liquid creamer(!), good coffee, and Greek yogurt. Big tasty Greek yogurt.
2. The staff were clearly staff, well dressed, and professional and extremely knowledgable.
3. Good clinic feel and atmosphere. Welcoming. Great instructor and student and assistant rapport. Great laughs all weekend.
4. Lunch was provided. And was good. Really good.
Back to the course. It was organized in a way that got you feeling comfortable sticking needles in a stranger very quickly. I felt like we progressed quickly and appropriately. There was no down time. End of day one was quick. The theory information, while important, was tough to get through due to my lack of sitting tolerance following my exit from formal schooling.
Day two the rubber hit the road. A theory test followed by lumbar spine, shoulder, thigh, cervical spine and hamstrings.
I was somewhat interested in seeing my response to cervical needling as I have had a fair bit of dysfunction there. Surprisingly I did not get nearly as sympathetic as I expected. The sympathetic response – that loopy, out of it, endorphin nervous system stimulant isn’t uncommon when stimulating chronic tissue. What did surprise me is my nervous system overload following needling of my right hamstrings. Wow. A 30 minute latent onset of complete exhaustion and jittery. Very jittery. I suspect this was, in part, due to 7 hours worth of homonculus stroking all day. I was spent. Great insight into a potential patient reaction. A couple glasses of water and 20 minutes of quiet time resolved all issues. I felt great afterwards. And I woke up on day 3 feeling more rested than I can recall in a very Long time.
Day 3 was nerve wracking due to the practical and skills assessment starting the day off. Staff was friendly, helpful and while detailed, they did not lord over us and offered tips and tricks. It was as easy as a formal evaluation of skills can be. Easy Isn’t the right word, comfortable is.
We wrapped up the day with extremities and questions. Great course.
I feel that this was the best course I’ve attended . The information, attention, student to staff ratio, and guidance in this course was far superior to others I’ve been to. I feel, walking away that I’ve been exposed to a game changing technique but also have the support from a great team. I know that if questions arise, I have the opportunity to get in contact easily. The availability of the staff and the knowledge is a huge bonus on top of the content.
I know I will be taking phase 2 as well as the functional assessment piece in the near future.
Well done Kinetacore!
