A clinician carefully works on applying a serial cast to a seated participant's lower leg during the Conservative Management of Pediatric Equinus Deformity: Part 2 Labs with Serial Casting course. Supplies and instructions are visible, emphasizing the detailed, hands-on nature of the training.

Touro University in New York City In-Person Course with Billi Cusick

Touro University's Pediatric Foot and Ankle Deformity Management with Serial Casting

5 Days — Regular $1999

ONE SPOT REMAINS FOR TOURO UNIVERSITY FEBRUARY 2023 COHORT

(Does not include NYC travel and hotel expenses)

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Five days, 12 Colleagues, World-Class Instruction

And hours of hands-on practice — all leading to new understanding and new skills to add to your toolbox.

In this practice-changing live course, your instructor, Billi Cusick, will identify and describe common developmental foot deformities in terms of plane-based anatomical components.

She'll also review musculoskeletal assessment procedures, as the findings you generate will equip you with a systematic clinical decision-making process regarding orthotic design. You'll learn to consider factors such as:

→ desired load-bearing foot and limb joint alignment,

→ magnitude of segment enclosure,

→ degrees of freedom provided or restrained, and

→ a wide range of posting options.

You'll learn how soft-tissue extensibility findings are also used in the documentation of the effects of assorted orthotic intervention strategies.

You'll discuss and gain an understanding of orthotic options, including Elaine Owen’s Tuned AFO/Footwear Combinations, heel lifting and weight-line training, orthotic posting and foot packaging principles and strategies, positioning, resting splints, stretching, and serial casting.

Extensive Hands-On Lab Sessions

Lab sessions feature closely-supervised trials of several ankle and foot assessment procedures, with findings applied to orthotic posting and design. Materials will be provided for an introductory practice lab on undertaking on-site posting trials to preview effects of proposed orthotic modifications, and for a day of training in fabrication of three types of below-knee cast: plaster and SoftCast combination, FlexCast, and a removable footboard-Flexcast combination.

Special Note: All three casts are made to be removed without a motorized cutter, even when reinforced with fiberglass cast tape.

Review Sample Schedule

The content covered in this in-person course and hands-on lab includes the following topics:

👉 The emerging sciences of postural control acquisition and maintenance, including the role of the somatosensory system as it is currently understood in relation to the load-bearing alignment of the torso, lower limbs, and feet.

👉 Postural control deficits and body weight distribution on the foot in standing and walking as causative factors in contracture formation.

👉 An update on the role of spasticity in equinus deformity development.

👉 Foot and ankle functional anatomy, biomechanics, development, and pathomechanics in relation to body weight orientation over the base of support and to designing orthotic modifications to optimize foot development and function.

👉 Muscle and soft-tissue adaptation to chronic use of compensatory postural control mechanisms.

👉 A review of conservative strategies for contracture reduction and management.

Earn Them

CEUs

Contact the Touro University course sponsor for information about CEUs.

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Student Reviews

This course was everything I hoped for - it exceeded my clinical expectations and I truly felt I gained new skills and information. Thank you for all you did to make this happen!

Progressive GaitWays Founder and Cusick Center for Learning Instructor Billi (Beverly) Cusick

Meet Your Instructor

Billi Cusick

Billi Cusick, PT, MS, NDT, COF/BOC, is an internationally known pediatric physical therapist whose specialty is the orthopedic development and orthotic management of children with cerebral palsy and other neuromotor deficits.

She has been teaching these and related topics since 1978, including presentations by invitation for the APTA, AACPDM, AOPA, and AAOP and more than 460 full programs and workshops worldwide.

Billi received her BS in PT from Bouve College at Northeastern University in Boston, MA in 1972, and her MS in Clinical and College Teaching for Allied Health Professionals from the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 1988. She is an Associate Professor for the Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions – Pediatrics Program – Provo, Utah (2006-present) and is NDT basic- and baby-trained.