Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/969285
Her entrepreneurial spirit complemented her self- study and inspired her to coordinate a couple of integrated workshops for massage therapists and physical therapists. One day, listening to an instructor-participant exchange, she realized there was a disconnect between practitioners learning the biopsychosocial model of pain science and actually knowing how to apply it in practice. "This was the biggest lightbulb moment in my life," Roose says. "I knew then I wanted to do a conference, and I knew instantly who I wanted to speak at the conference: people whose blogs and forums I'd been following." Roose knew her conference's inaugural keynote speaker would have to be exceptional. To many, there's no bigger name in pain science than Lorimer Moseley, PhD, from the University of South Australia. He's had a career as a clinical and research physiotherapist, and he's now a professor of clinical neurosciences and physiotherapy chair at the university's School of Health Sciences. Roose contacted Moseley right away. "I told him my idea for a conference where people could come and learn about current pain research and how could we apply that knowledge in our practices. I wanted people to be able to develop frameworks." To her delight, Moseley was keen to participate. "When I asked the other speakers, they wanted to share the stage with Moseley, so they all said yes." Being a one-woman show has its plusses and minuses. Roose excels at the role, though. She doesn't want the summit to get so large she can't handle the group; she says 200 is her maximum goal. She partners with a select number of talented people in hosting the event. Even her audio-visual manager is specialized and regularly shares his wisdom from producing several major California health- care-related events throughout the year. "He says the really big corporate health conferences he's done have all had breakout sessions with all the topics I've been covering since 2015." EVOLUTION The summit tagline is "Bridging the chasm between clinical practice and pain research," but Roose is also bridging the chasm between integrated practitioners in some ingenious ways. For instance, when crafting attendee nametags, Roose doesn't include attendees' credentials or organizations, so people have to talk to one another to learn about each other. "Otherwise, I noticed they would clique up. The physios would be in one corner and the MTs in the other corner—it automatically happened—and I don't want people cliquing by profession." The result is practitioners learn about their counterparts and connect in a personal way, and that knowledge levels the playing field and empowers dialogue. Thanks to her background, Roose knows where massage therapists are coming from and what's important to them. "As massage therapists, we have the ability to be with our clients in a way no other practitioners do." She says her knowledge of pain science has "helped me focus and helped me be more cognizant when communicating with the client. I've tried to work on becoming a better listener. Even online, you see MTs saying 'I give the client the kind of massage I would want someone to give me.' Well, the client probably doesn't want the kind of massage you want! Listening is helpful." Quality of touch and intent play into the wellness equation as well. "Research shows that if you sit with somebody and give them your full attention, it actually helps improve their health," Roose says. "So many of us just don't do that." She also encourages massage therapists to follow her lead and apply research to clinical practice: "The switch is I'm not changing what I'm doing. I'm changing how I think about what I'm doing." 82 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 8 Roose says she all too often hears massage therapists saying, "Why do I need to learn research?" Her answer is simple and direct: "It helps you stand out and you're better able to work with other practitioners like PTs and physicians."