I Love Neuro

How much hand function can come back after a neurologic injury, and how do you know whether to remediate or compensate? On this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, talks with Jenna Barber, MOT, OTR/L, BCPR, an occupational therapist who specializes in neurorehabilitation across acute care, inpatient, and outpatient settings. In the show you'll learn how to assess fine motor deficits through activity analysis and standardized testing, the difference between remediation and compensation and when to use either. We'll also discuss favorite tools like FES, focal vibration, and rocker knives, how to keep the non-dominant hand and shoulder involved even when it's not the primary focus, and discuss emerging tech including MusicGlove, Vivistim, Bioxtreme, VR, and other devices and their place in rehab.
Follow Jenna for tips, tricks and giveaways at @Neuro_OTPT_Nerds on Instagram

In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, talks with returning guest Rose Tilton, OTR/L, OTD, an occupational therapist at Marquette University's Neuro Recovery Clinic, and new guest Dr. Yi-Kai Lo, PhD, CEO and co-founder of ANEUVO, about transcutaneous spinal stimulation (TSS) for people with spinal cord injury. Rose shares how she discovered TSS through her own research, became a clinical trial site investigator at Marquette, and now uses ANEUVO's ExaStim® device — a multi-channel electrode array system that can be individually programmed and timed to match specific functional movements — alongside other TSS devices on the market, including ONWARD Medical's ARC-EX. Dr. Lo walks through the engineering behind ExaStim, how the device is positioned and calibrated for each patient, and the proposed mechanism of amplifying descending brain signals to the spinal cord. Together they cover who's actually a good candidate (spoiler: it's hard to predict), what a typical treatment session looks like from aerobic priming through hand-strengthening work, and real patient outcomes ranging from improved grip and transfers to unexpected anecdotal gains, like bowel and bladder function for some. Dr. Lo also shares results from ANEUVO's ASPIRE clinical trial and home-use study, including a newly designated CPT code that will make TSS billing possible starting January 2027. Whether you're new to TSS or already using it in your practice, this conversation is full of practical, clinically grounded insight into where this intervention is headed.
ANEUVO website: aneuvo.com
Contact ANEUVO here: contactus@aneuvo.com
Dr. Lo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yi-kai-lo-53531977/
Dr. Lo Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cqiyyYgAAAAJ&hl=en
ANEUVO LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aneuvo
276: Clinical Use of Spinal Stimulation for SCI Rehab with Rose Tilton, OTR/L, OTD

What if the biggest threat to your practice's growth isn't your marketing budget, but the way your team handles the very first phone call? Getting the phone to ring is necessary, but never sufficient. In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, talks with Daniel A. "Danny" Bobrow, MBA — creator of The Art of First Impressions™ and The Persuasion Blueprint, and President of AIM Dental Marketing — about the three pillars of persuasive communication: caring, connection, and collaboration. Danny reframes the moments clinicians tend to fumble, like the "do you take my insurance?" question that quietly hands control of the call to the caller, and "expert override," the well-meaning habit of finishing a patient's sentence that costs you the connection you were trying to build. For neuro clinicians, the throughline lands close to home: therapeutic alliance measurably improves outcomes, and small shifts keep the nervous system out of threat mode so real behavior change can happen. Whether you're fielding first calls in a cash-based practice or trying to get a patient to actually do their home program, it's a practical masterclass in influence as an act of caring rather than coercion. Learn more about Danny's work at dannybobrow.com.
Support Danny's foundation at: https://www.climbforacause.org
Www.Facebook.com/danielabobrow
Www.Linkedin.com/In/Danny Bobrow

What do you do when the most evidence-based intervention you have is also the one your patient is "not allowed" to receive? Constraint-induced movement therapy has decades of research behind it, yet its exclusion criteria — especially around cognitive impairment — rule out a huge share of the stroke survivors clinicians actually see. In this episode, hosts Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, and Claire McLean, PT, DPT, NCS, talk with neuro OT Briana Elson, MS, OTR/L, BCPR, CBIS, about her decision to try modified CIMT with an 86-year-old stroke patient who had significant cognitive impairment and underlying dementia — a textbook exclusion — and why his profile, a left-handed man whose affected side was his dominant hand, made forced use feel natural and salient rather than confusing. Briana walks through how she built the protocol around safety and supervision in inpatient rehab: getting a physician order for the constraint mitt, educating and enlisting his wife, keeping a consistent daily schedule, breaking the three-to-six hours into non-consecutive blocks, and removing the mitt before late-day sundowning. She shares the outcomes that surprised even her skeptics — meeting the minimal detectable change on the Box and Block Test and a standardized motor scale within roughly thirteen days, plus real gains in grooming and feeding independence — alongside the honest caveats, including that his cognition never improved and that real-world delivery never looks as clean as the published article. It's a practical, encouraging conversation about reading the research, respecting its limits, and giving more patients a shot at an intervention they're usually told they can't have.

What happens to your neuro patients after they leave your care, and who's in their corner when the discharge falls apart? In this episode, host Erin Gallardo, PT, DPT, NCS, sits down with Kimberlie Williams-Feth, BSW, founder of Healthcare Survival Kit and a former hospital social work discharge planner who became an independent patient advocate after living the system's failures firsthand. When her husband's routine spinal fusion led to unexpected paralysis, Kimberlie navigated unsafe discharges, a "ghost network" of providers who didn't actually offer neuro care, and the months it took to find neuro PT and OT all while working full time and holding her family together. She shares the green/yellow/red scripting framework she teaches families, why a rushed discharge can leave patients financially liable the moment they say "no," and the three deceptively simple questions every clinician should ask: what did life look like before, what can you do now, and what are your goals. For neuro PTs, OTs, assistants, and students, this is a candid look at the holes in the system clinicians can't fill alone and the advocates who exist to fill them. Find an advocate by state or diagnosis at GNAnow.org (Greater National Advocates).
www.healthcaresurvivalkit.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlie-williams-feth/
https://www.tiktok.com/@healthcaresurvival
https://www.facebook.com/healthcaresurvivalkit/
https://www.instagram.com/healthcaresurvivalkit/
Greater National Advocates: https://gnanow.org