Top 5 Fridays! My 5 E's for the Eclectic Approach

Here are the 5 E's I go by for my approach and for my future courses starting next year!
I renamed all my courses just recently to the Eclectic Approach.

1) Eclectic

I spent the first several years of my career, when I was single and prior to having 3 beautiful girls with my amazing wife, travelling all over the country taking as much con ed as possible. So my current approach draws upon many sources. Giving credit where it's due, my approach is based upon assessments MDT, the SFMA, and Neurodynamics (Butler mostly). My treatments and education include those learned originally from Paris, Mulligan Concept, Butler/Moseley, The Institute of Physical Art, Dr. Rocabado, Laurie Hartman, and various other courses. I took what I found works best for me and my patients from each and created my current system.

2) Evidence lead

I try to base most of my assessments and treatments on what the evidence can tell us. I'm certainly by no means an evidence nazi, and if what you do works for you, that is great. Blogging and following the other great PTs on social media is a great way to keep current! Educating patients, especially those with fear avoidance or catastrophization always requires a healthy dose of evidence, not to mention a bonus "e" - being earnest. The evidence also tells us patient outcomes improve if we are able to classify our patients. So there will be a bit of MDT and the SFMA in each course for classification, which helps lead to treatment, cutting down on clinical decision making time.

3) Effective

Studying under so many experts can be overwhelming, especially if you take an entire series of courses/year like I did for a while. It took a while to get my own clinical algorithm, keeping what worked best, and forgetting what was excessive or unneeded - like special tests! Every treatment I will be presenting is a variation of or the original technique that I have found to be the most effective at improving motion and/or decreasing pain.

4) Educational

I once heard a course instructor say that if you take away at least one technique or assessment from a course that you can use every day, then that course would be worth it. That's the goal of the Eclectic Approach. There should be something for everyone treating most patient populations. I certainly do not claim to have all the answers, and anyone who says they can treat anything like some of the more dubious approaches are usually full of it. There is thrust for the fastest way to get someone moving (literally), neurodynamics for the original patterns/lines, MWMs for restoring movement pain free, functional release to give the patient control over normally passive techniques, IASTM for those looking to save their hands and use tools to effect tissues neurophysiologically in ways your hands cannot, with a dose of pain science education, dispelling all of the thought viruses that patients have heard from Dr. Google or their own PCP/specialist.

5) Easy!

In no particular order, and I think the last is one of the most important in terms of learning and application. When patients are amazed that simple movements and treatments can make big changes, I always say there is nothing special about what we do, it's just choosing the right movement and the right treatment, along with the right education. The more I did manual therapy with patient centered education with an emphasis on simple HEPs, the easier things became. I used to think I was cheating somehow by not emphasizing special tests, and forgetting about origins and insertions. I still know those things, but not like I used to! When most of my interns get used to how I practice in the clinic, they even say, it's so refreshingly easy. Common things happen commonly, so I strive to teach patterns in dysfunction that I have found over the years.

A few closed courses have already been scheduled next year, next on the list is to start scheduling the open courses! Here's a quick course list

The Eclectic Approach to