Earlier this month, we closed down for one day to enjoy a learning day between our team & community partners. We’ve got so much good stuff to unpack for you from that day.

The day started with puppy snuggles (see montage video below) & learning from Speech Therapist, Pam Coulter from Shoreline Therapy in the lake banook area.  We chatted about everything from laryngeal (basically, your throat) massage to how speech issues relate to neck pain or show up as result of neck pain. We are also seeing some voice, neck, chest & back pain issues show up long after something like a chronic cough may be remedied.

In the afternoon, we had a visit from Halifax Kids Physio Group (KPG) to talk about physiotherapy & massage for children. There is a dynamic demand for paediatric physiotherapy in Nova Scotia. Often an under serviced age group, we are treating more & more kids with massage & physiotherapy. KPG sees a variety of babies (i.e. torticollis), young athletes, disability as well as general growth & development support. Similar to our work here at Sore Spots, their group is helping to close the gap of physical therapy care needed for younger ages in our province.

Continuing on the youth care theme, we had an informative talk with our resident Acupuncturist, Veronica Tomlin about Acupuncture for Kids. Kids benefit from acupuncture much in the same way adults do & it can be a useful adjunct therapy in helping soothe the stress response, enhance mental focus & balance energy. The approach, similar to massage therapy & physio is very much adapted to the child, their attention span, interests & goals for care.

The day ended with an informative discussion led by Venus Envy Halifax that thoughtfully grew our appreciation & understanding of trauma informed care and gender journeys. As a community of practitioners here at Sore Spots, I can speak for everyone when I say when are striving to be gender sensitive & affirming for our community.

I’m so grateful to have these moments where our team can slow down & change up the working & learning dynamic. As a clinic, we try and have these types of inservice’s twice a year & host internal skill building a few times a month. The world of health care continues to evolve around us and as it does, so do we 💙.