236: Nick Lucius, PT, DPT, CSCS: Empowering your Patient for Lifelong Movement

On this week's episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Nick Lucius and I chat about physical therapy wellness services. Nick is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist working with Barwis Methods as an Applied Coach in Port St. Lucie, Florida. In this episode, we discuss: -How to transition from episodic care to wellness services -The role of strength and conditioning in physical therapy services -Nick's thoughts on the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist -How to develop a therapeutic alliance in a biopsychosocial model framework -Advice for #FreshPTs -And so much more!   When communicating desired outcomes to patients, it is important to stress the long-term wellness and quality of life aspects. He states, "have them understand that the goal is not to run you through the ground and to make you hurt, it's really to empower you to live the rest of your life in the most positive and healthy way possible."   In contrast to the biomedical approach to patient care, the biopsychosocial model can allow you to empower the patient and ultimately develop buy in for future wellness needs. He believes, "it really would benefit us to not look at us as a lifelong PT or lifelong clinician insinuating the mechanic, 'Oh yeah, just come back to me and I'll fix you up.' It's not like a car, you have feelings and emotions and thought processes, it muddies the water really fast, and that's what really benefits having that wide range of education from strength conditioning to pain science to traditional physical therapy and that ties it all back in together."   As a new graduate, Nick offers some advice for fresh PTs to, "Keep the hunger for knowledge and the hunger to really make substantial and life changing change for these individuals. When you get a couple of cases that might be discouraging or make you feel uncomfortable, everyone feels uncomfortable and at some point they got comfortable being uncomfortable, they got very used to having that hunger to try to keep driving to be better and better."   For more about Nick: Nick graduated from the University of Michigan with a Doctor in Physical Therapy in 2015. Previously Nick earned a Bachelors of Science from Grand Valley State University in Clinical Exercise Science in 2012. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and CPR/AED certified through the American Red Cross. Nick began at Barwis Methods as an Intern prior to starting his DPT studies and is a Barwis Methods Applied Coach.   Make sure to follow Nick on twitter and facebook and find more educational materials at Barwis Methods where Nick is offering 10% off with the code: barwismethodHWS!   Resources discussed on this show: Nick Winkelman Twitter Mike Reinold Twitter Kelly Starrett Twitter Doc and Jock Podcast Therapy Insiders Podcast Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning Neuromechanics of Human Movement   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest! Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes!   Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!   Xo Karen   P.S. Do you want to be a stand out podcast guest? Make sure to grab the tools from the FREE eBook on the home page! Check out my latest blog post on The Do's and Don'ts of Social Media!   P.S.S. Check out the inaugural Women in PT Summit here! Sign up now as space is limited!