Use a holistic approach to empower your clients and provide holistic care treatment for chronic LBP.
Evidence suggests that adapting an integrative lifestyle medicine approach to low back pain management is the most effective approach to take. In this new series of courses Z Altug takes you through all you need to know to use this approach during your clinical practice.
The integrative lifestyle medicine approach to low back pain management involves holistic whole person treatment interventions beyond those of traditional physiotherapy practice. Integrative medicine supplements conventional exercises and therapeutic interventions with sustainable physical activities and mind-body exercises.
It also addresses healthy lifestyle changes such as whole food and plant-based diet, restorative sleep, stress management, issues surrounding substance abuse and addiction, establishing meaningful social networks, and healthy self care strategies. All these strategies can be a part of therapeutic interventions used for persons with chronic low back pain by clinicians including physiotherapists.
Course Instructor
A physical therapist with a passion for integrative and lifestyle medicine
Z Altug is a board-certified doctor of physical therapy with clinical experience treating musculoskeletal conditions. Z uses integrative and lifestyle medicine to help his patients and clients recover and heal. He is the author of the book Integrative Healing (Cedar Fort, Inc, 2018). He treats patients privately in Los Angeles and serves as a lecturer for several universities.
The Courses
The complex nature of chronic low back pain requires clinicians to be able to assess and treat a patient in a holistic manner. Integrative lifestyle medicine is a treatment option that combines the modern western practice of medicine with evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic approaches to prevent and reverse lifestyle-related chronic illness. This course, the first in a five-part series, provides an introduction to lifestyle medicine and how it can be applied to the treatment of chronic low back pain by physiotherapists.
Approximately 50% of office workers complain of work-related low back pain (LBP). Building on what was presented in the previous introductory course from Z Altug, learn how lifestyle medicine can use ergonomics to address LBP related to the office setting. This course, the second in a five-part series, provides an overview of ergonomics and how it can be a part of whole-person health. It also introduces the common sources of LBP in office workers and prevention strategies.
The management of chronic low back pain (LBP) often requires a lifestyle change for a long-lasting effect. Research shows that altering diet and increasing activity levels through exercise can help improve subjective complaints of chronic LBP. Physiotherapists can utilise the principles of lifestyle medicine to provide holistic treatments to clients with chronic LBP. This course, the third in a five-part series, compares the use and effectiveness of conventional and integrative exercises in the management of chronic LBP and provides an introduction to using food as medicine.
Sleep disturbances and disruptions in well-being are common complaints, and both can increase pain symptoms in individuals with chronic low back pain (LBP). These comorbidities are more prevalent in the midst of the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic and place greater demand on physiotherapists to offer effective treatment. This course, the fourth in a five-part series, discusses the relationship between sleep, psychological well-being and chronic LBP, as well as integrative exercises to effectively treat and empower patients to decrease their pain symptoms.
Chronic low back pain (LBP) management often requires a complete lifestyle change for effective, long-lasting pain relief. For some persons with LBP, unhealthy behaviours such as substance abuse, lack of social connectedness, and poor self-care can contribute to the chronicity of LBP. This course, the fifth and final in a five-part series, considers how lifestyle behavioural factors can influence the severity and longevity of LBP. This course also includes a required case study that will review all integrative lifestyle medicine topics discussed in this series, allowing the participant to practise providing holistic whole-person care.