Why Exercise Matters: 5 questions, 5 answers with Daniel Lord, DC, Crossover Health Physical Medicine Sr Program Manager
Why should exercise be one of the cornerstones of a successful care plan or rehab strategy? How to other providers approach this topic? What can we learn from each other to help our patients succeeding? Over the next few weeks we want to get insights from successful practitioners on why and how exercise matters.
This week we are excited to feature Daniel Lord, DC CCSP. He works as the Physical Medicine Sr Program Manager with the integrated primary care medical group Crossover Health. Prior to that he was Physical Medicine Lead at the Facebook Health Center and before that he worked as a Sportschiropractor at Oracle and the Chiro Medical Group.
WebExercises: Dan, what is the typical patient you see?
Dan Lord: This is a tough one since there are a wide variety of patients at corporate health centers. We see weekend warriors who want to continue to perform at a high level and there are sedentary and deconditioned. It’s important to have a sports medicine background since at the end of the day everyone is an athlete. We want to empower our patients to move better and often no matter what level they are starting from.
WebExercises: What are the top 3 conditions/dysfunctions that people are seeking help for?
Dan Lord: Upper Crossed and Lower Crossed Postural Syndromes, Neck and Lower back pain with associated radiation into the extremities, Thoracic Outlet and RSI.
WebExercises: Why do you believe exercise is a critical component of your care?
Dan Lord: Crossover’s spine care pathway includes a passive to active care continuum where PM providers move patients from passive modalities (e.g. manual therapy, manipulation, and modalities) to active care (e.g. exercise rehabilitation, self-maintenance, cognitive behavior therapy and our back school series). We also prescribe rehabilitation exercises which do not require expensive training or machines. Patients should be able to replicate their therapy exercises at home and ultimately become independent of our care.
WebExercises: Do you prescribe exercises patients can do at home? How important is that to achieve your desired outcomes?
Dan Lord: The goal of care is for patients to be empowered to help themselves. Simply put, we view the patients we don’t need to see after their care episode are the most successful. Leveraging technology to deliver a comprehensive rehab and self-maintenance plan is key to creating patient independence.
WebExercises: What is your advice for everybody that wants to integrate exercises into their treatment plans?
Dan Lord: Set expectations. Empowering patient to take control of their health is the most important thing. Showing them how their pain or symptoms improves within the treatment session is helpful.
Interested in joining the discussion? Do you have an approach to share or a story to tell? Email us your opinion to rikeaprea@webexercises.com. We love to hear from you! #WhyExerciseMatters
