Tarina van der Stockt, PT, DPT

Tarina graduated as a Physiotherapist from the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 2005 and completed her transitional Doctorate of Physical Therapy at the University of St Augustine in 2021, with a Specialisation in Education. She is the Education Director at Physioplus and is responsible for the managing of all course creation, content and team members.

Tarina also completed post-graduate training in Orthopaedic Manual Physiotherapy, Sports Physiotherapy, and Dry Needling. She has clinical experience in musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction, manual therapy, sports injuries, amputee rehabilitation, and reintegration into sport for people with disabilities. She also lectured part-time on some of these topics at various South African universities, post-graduate courses and Baylor University's DPT program.

Throughout her career, Tarina has worked as a physiotherapist for Team South Africa during large international sporting events, which includes 2 Paralympic Games and 2 Commonwealth Games. She has worked with different sporting codes including athletics, weight lifting, cycling, triathlon, swimming, and rowing. She is passionate about helping other people continue or return to doing what they love doing. She is also on the Para Rowing Classification Advisory Committee for World Rowing.

My AAOMPT 2018 Experience

November 16, 2018October 12, 2022 by Tarina van der Stockt, PT, DPT

AAOMPT 2018 was the first manual therapy conference I attended. Going to a conference without colleagues or friends is a daunting experience, especially as a foreign trained physio. From the start the AAOMPT experience was different.

I got an email a few weeks prior to the conference to register as a first time attendee and was introduced to the Xperience program. This made all the difference! The focus of the program was to get to know other ‘first timers’ but also to have someone introduce you to long-standing AAOMPT members and fellows. I was warmly welcomed by the most amazing PTs. Whenever I stood alone or started feeling like an outsider, someone would pull me back in with a friendly handshake and warm conversation.

After this conference I have an even greater appreciation for all the amazing OMT mentors and teachers I had in South Africa. I take home an eagerness to learn more, new friendships, a MyoTool, a signed copy of Ken Olsen’s Manual Therapy book (that I won from IFOMPT), as well as the knowledge shared by amazing speakers.

I have pages and pages of notes and slides, but here is a list of key messages that was repeated over the weekend by different speakers:

- Patient expectations play a major part in outcome. Always consider what the patient expects should happen in a treatment, patient preferences, and the outcomes important to the patient
- Try to solicit the patient’s agenda, do not redirect the patient before hearing the primary complaint
- Be alert to the patient’s non-verbal communication
- Communication is not a soft skill it is critical!
- Precision intervention is the tailoring of our intervention to the individual’s characteristics, biopsychosocial aspects, injury characteristics, genetics, pain etc. For LBP pain we are moving from stratified care to precision intervention
- Manual therapy should not be considered a passive modality. The patient should be engaged in what they feel, the depth of the technique, and the education you provide.
- Explain to the patient what you are doing and how it works to modulate pain, influence the nervous system and help them to feel better
- We should be excited to be manual therapists. We make a difference not just in how we treat and treatment techniques, but the examination, patient interaction etc.
- People tend to forget the the bio of biopsychosocial
- Research has shown that patients get 30%+ better after just an examination
- Brain maps can be enhanced by manual therapy as the patient’s body representation of pain shrinks with 33% after manual therapy
- Pain science cannot be an afterthought. It should be integrated into our treatment

#justkeeplearning #justkeepmoving

Tarina van der Stockt, PT, DPT

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