Case Studies Program Seeks Collaborative Solutions02:22PM / Wednesday, February 01, 2012
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A program to foster cooperation between physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists and complementary practitioners to the benefit of patients with chronic pain will be held on Thursday, Feb. 2, at Berkshire Medical Center.
"Case Studies in Physical Medicine" will be offered from 5:30 to 7 in the hospital's West Wing, ground floor, private dining rooms A-B off the cafeteria. It is open to patients in chronic pain who are seeking solutions; physicians and therapists (such as orthopedics, osteopathy, sports medicine, physiatry, physical and occupational therapy, psychiatric) and complementary practitioners (massage therapy, chiropractic, pilates, yoga, acupuncture).
There will be a chance for networking at the end.
Todd Fiorentino, owner of Energy Rising Massage Therapy on North Street, will explore ways in which physicians could collaborate with complementary practitioners to better serve patients. He believes that each specialty has something unique to offer in the common goal of treating chronic pain but a system to collaborate is missing.
Various musculo-skeletal disorders will be discussed with the future goal of presenting challenging cases to a community of specialists to receive input on treatment protocols and best practices. Participants will ultimately be allowed to present anonymous patient cases through this forum and receive comment from the group.
At this first program, Fiorentino will discuss some of the physiological effects of massage therapy and current research to explain how massage could work hand-in-hand with therapeutic exercise, manipulations, injections or drugs and surgery.
"Every discipline has its strength, but it's my feeling that what many of these patients really need is a health-care team approach," said Fiorentino. "We should capitalize on the training and scope of practice that each specialist brings to the table, share information and use it to produce the best results for our patients."
RSVP to todd@energyrising.net or call 732-595-6064 with questions.
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