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Did you know that dysfunction at your ankle can cause pain in your knee and pelvis? Or that rotator cuff impingement can come from poor control in the thorax and neck? Regions of the body all influence one another for better or for worse and are all connected!

ConnectTherapy is an evidence-based model developed by Dr. Linda-Joy Lee and is a framework designed to systematically assess and treat the whole body. This approach focuses on the need to consider all regions of the body to find the driving cause of pain or decreased performance.

In a ConnectTherapy assessment, analysis of a particular movement or a “meaningful task” takes place where the therapist determines areas of decreased alignment or “non-optimal load transfer”. Regions in the body that are poorly aligned are then temporarily corrected by the therapist during the movement/task. The culprit or “driver” is determined by finding the correction in the body that most improves the quality of movement and symptoms in that motion.

When a driver is confirmed, then that region of the body is treated with manual therapy, myofascial work or needling techniques to release the areas that are ‘pulling’ that part of the body into poor alignment. It is possible that an individual has a primary region in their body that is causing dysfunction as well as secondary or even tertiary regions depending on their history of injuries, sport/activity and years of compensation. The next step is to strengthen and train the muscles around that region (or several regions) in order to maintain proper form and control during activity or sport.

ConnectTherapy is a method to stop chasing pain around and identify the true driver by treating the whole person. This approach can applied on all clients from acute injuries, to complex back pain to recurring or chronic muscle or ligament sprains or strains.

If you are interested in this approach and want to “find your driver”, contact the clinic to put you in contact with one of our ConnectTherapy™ trained physiotherapists Charlene Copeland-Wilson or Jessie Wu.

Charlene Copeland-Wilson, MPT, CAFCI, NKT®, Clinical Pilates, IMS