Course curriculum

    1. It seems like the two key components of the protocol are high intensity (75-85% HRmax) and maximizing step counts. If both are not able to be achieved, which focus would be more important?

    2. How is a session structured best in terms of intervals, duration, etc?

    3. When moving towards variable practice and error augmentation should intensity (RPE and HR) still be the focus?

    4. Do you typically schedule an aide with you for the entire session to assist with transitions between activities and safety on stairs?

    5. Is is appropriate to use assistive devices such as hemi walkers or quad canes with this intervention?

    6. How do you determine if a client is suitable for HIT?

    7. Would you prioritize forward walking at a higher speed/HRR or multi-directional walking at a lower speed/HRR?

    8. Our site has space limitations (i.e., 90 or 180 degree turns are required every 100-150 feet). Do you have recommendations on managing these space constraints?

    9. Do you ever take patients out in the community to practice high-intensity walking in an open environment?

    10. Do you think a gait belt is sufficient support for clinics that do not have harness systems?

    11. How long is a typical bout on a treadmill for a very low level patient prior to needing to rest? How do you select the starting speed?

    12. When is HIT an inappropriate intervention for a patient?

    13. Do you ease into the high-intensity vital parameters over a specific number of sessions?

    14. Could you please provide some tips on how to manage hypotension during body weight support treadmill training?

    1. How is HIT utilized in acute care? If utilized, then do many patients get disqualified by insurance from going to inpatient rehab by getting too many steps in?

    2. Does the "pie slice" analogy apply in acute care? How do I balance the goals of HIT with the need for patient/family education and training, discharge planning, transfer training with staff so the patient can toilet, sit up to eat, etc.?

    1. Do you have any recommendation for safely attempting walking in inpatient rehab if trunk and head control is severely impacted?

    2. How much time should we be spending on HIT in an IRF setting?

    3. How do we incorporate OT and assist with carryover to other disciplines? What should OT be focusing on?

    4. During inpatient rehab, should gait training be split up between supported gait training in a harness on a treadmill and overground for assistive device training?

    5. How early can I start HIT with my patients in inpatient stroke rehabilitation?

    6. For patients requiring maxA for ambulation, is it ok to have high levels of body weight support (~50%) to attain a safe stepping pattern for therapist and patient?

    7. What interventions are suggested for very low level, non-ambulatory patients?

    8. As many of my patients are very dependent, I am exhausted and would love to hear any suggestions on how to make this sustainable.

    9. When completing more intensive training in therapist assisted treadmill training where more than one person is required to assist, do you recommend having more than 1 skilled therapists in assisting or do you use support staff such as technicians?

    10. How would you recommend doing HIT with patients that are max/total assist in a facility with limited bodyweight support resources?

    11. With requirements at IPR facility for the patient to get 3 hours/day of therapy, what do you do if HIT fatigues the patient to the point that they cannot complete all of their sessions?

    12. Is there a guideline for % of time split between overground and treadmill training in patient who are ambulatory early in their rehab stay?

    13. The average LOS in inpatient for patients post-stroke is 8 days. Would you still recommend performing HIT with patient's with little to no movement in the leg if our LOS is that short?

    14. Do you recommend providing any specific information related to HIT at team conference in IRF?

    15. For an IRF, what would be the ideal number of HR monitors, treadmills and overground systems to provide HIT? What would you prioritize if you had limited resources?

    16. Medical and therapy leadership at my acute rehab facility are hesitant to approve implementation of high intensity. Do you have more resources for how to gain approval?

    17. In the inpatient setting we see some patients for 90 minute sessions. Is there any upper limit for dose (60 vs 90) for a HIT session? Or does it depend on patient tolerance?

    18. In an inpatient setting when a patient may have multiple therapy sessions per day would you focus on high intensity gait training for all sessions or just one and other interventions for other sessions?

    1. How do I do HIT in the home PT setting?

    1. In higher level patients, does running/jogging on the treadmill have the same application to improving walking?

    2. In an outpatient setting where it is often not possible to see a patient 4x/week, do we adjust the frequency to 2-3x/week? Or, should we continue with 4-5x/week and risk using up their visits very quickly?

    3. In outpatient, is BWS still recommended instead of overground practice for more impaired ambulators despite the increased setup time?

    4. In an outpatient setting where you can’t have patients for 1:1 treatments, what are other ways we can still get some high intensity in safely?

    5. If we only see patients once a week or even once every other week, would HIT still be a valuable intervention to perform?

    6. How do you know when a patient has plateaued in their recovery of walking, especially in an outpatient setting with a chronic patient?

    7. For the OP setting, when would you expect the outcome measures you're using (6MWT, BBS, etc) to surpass the MDC and make significant gains when implementing the HIT protocol? 4 weeks? 8 weeks?

    1. Since the pedometers available at our facility are not accurate, would increasing the time performing high intensity gait training be a good alternative?

    2. What additional treatment interventions do you use in combination with high intensity gait training?

    3. How do you set specific, realistic, and attainable stepping goals for a patient? Does it come with time and experience you start to see what a good number of steps are?

    4. Do you measure patient steps in a session?

    5. Do you have any tips/tricks for the most useful/efficient set-up for sessions for collecting metrics and maximizing time spent on gait?

    6. When you discuss total walking time in a session at a vigorous intensity, does that include warm up and cool down? Is it important to incorporate a cool down during HIT?

    7. Some of the research to support elevating high intensity training used 20-to-30-minute sessions. How long is appropriate for high intensity training sessions? Is there a point of diminishing returns?

    8. Can you review the ideal parameters for length of treatment for HIT?

    9. Do you have suggestions when fatigue limits further gait training during the session?

    10. As the patient gets more functional, can you decrease frequency of sessions and still get the same results, or do you have to keep up the higher frequency?

About this course

  • $400.00
  • 300 lessons
  • 0 hours of video content