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A Holistic Practice Based on Embodied Neuroscience, Introspective Learning, & Effective Action

Virtual Reality Bones

Integral Medicine

A Neuroscience & Evidence-Based Treatment Approach for Persistent Pain and Movement Dysfunction - using Augmented Reality

Introducing Virtual Reality Bones™

The Selling Point:
“Clinician Time is becoming Increasingly Short  - and - Patient Expectations are becoming Increasingly High!”

Here's how to exceed expectations - in as little as 15 minutes:

Suppose you could consistently implement a brief but effective manual therapy intervention treatment at the end of each initial evaluation appointment (where ‘first impression is crucial’), and simultaneously achieve symptom reduction, qualitative functional improvement, major shifts of body awareness and corresponding cognitions, and effective credible conversion of the most challenging of patients with chronic conditions for 90% of the time – and likely for 90% of your complex cases – and regardless of regional or structural diagnosis?

Then, rather than repeat a standard progression of low adherence home exercise programs for temporary symptom reduction; instead develop a sustainable unfolding of neuroplasticity-based resilience in both the ‘sensory acuity’ and ‘movement dexterity’ becoming generalizable to everyday life - such that a person’s uniquely acquired ‘background body schema’ becomes implicitly reorganized, and optimally synergistic toward rejuvenating standing posture, balance, and gait –and even preferred recreational and work pursuits – even spontaneously and automatically.
Beyond a Structural Reductionist Model: Neuroplasticity, Sensory-Motor Experience - and the Brain

In situations involving the chronic pain experience and sensitization or hyperalgesia, there is ample evidence from neuroimaging and correspondent clinical presentation for demonstrating compensatory and often widespread change in the internal processing of pain signaling as well as a corresponding distortion in the proportion and distribution of ‘body schema’ becoming embedded and essentially (if not also erroneously) re-mapped within the human brain.

The novel hypothesis is that chronic pain is a state of continuous learning and widespread compensatory adaptation – even if mal-adaptive – throughout whole person; including perceptual sensory acuity and motor control dexterity – and often in ways that are non-pathological with regard to bearing a significant correlation to actual physical structural / orthopedic integrity.

Yet, the aim and focus of many, if not most all, current musculoskeletal interventions remains externally concentrated upon the more physicalized mechanisms of measurable excess or deficit - emphasizing categories of isolated strength, ROM, and flexibility being applied toward regionally compartmentalized anatomical structures via the means of usual manual therapy and repeated specific therapeutic exercise…but quite commonly to no sustainable effect. 

So ultimately, “unless there is significant change within a person's internal model for the sensory representation of effective action, becoming expressed and confirmed through new attention to new movement, then there is really no change at all...we’re otherwise just going through the motions." 
 - Dr. Tim Sobie, Ph.D., PT, GCFP

Alliant Physical Therapy & Integral Medicine offers exemplary continuing professional education at the intersection of manual therapy, movement re-education. physiological psychology, and embodied cognition.

Reliable & Predictable Rx Outcomes > 90%+

Treatment of Background Body Schema?: Proposing A Novel & Original Approach to Mobility & Pain  

Through ‘Virtual Reality Bones™ Multi Modal Approach’ applications, you can more rapidly change a person’s internal model for sensory acuity and effective action for improved outcomes.

Modern neuroscience is now demonstrating that complex sensory stimulation and discriminative-associative learning are the biggest drivers of neuroplasticity-based change toward mapping upon a more constructive and accurate representation - of both constitutive body image and function - within and throughout the human brain.

Moreover, the more novel and interesting and cross-modal or multi-sensory that the embodied neurological integration of projected images can become; then the bigger and better, and faster the discriminative change can also thereby become - inclusive of the quality of informative experience that happens through qualitative movement.

Enter ‘Virtual Reality Bones’ Charter Trainings™ !
Clinical Observations and Applications from my Dissertation RCT Clinical Study:

RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED COMPARATIVE EFFICACY STUDY

Tim's classically controlled experimental study design has determined a new standard for clinical applications in the treatment of Chronic Low Back Pain problems by using a body schema and neuroplasticity-based model in lieu of usual and customary pathology-based and bio-medical treatments. 

A novel 8-week Feldenkrais Method® 'sensory acuity & movement dexterity'-based treatment approach had demonstrated greater effectiveness across all relevant outcome measures for decreasing pain, decreasing perceived disability, increasing function, increasing endurance, and optimizing performance ratios for sustained holding of torso positions - in comparison to - more commonly accepted, medically endorsed, and popular Rx protocols for 'Core Stabilization' isolated recruitment of 'core muscle groups' and the usual performance of 'Motor Control' fitness-based exercises for a population of patients diagnosed with persistently chronic Low Back Pain problems.

…Through empirical research of our original applications, we had discovered that just by clarifying a patient’s visual-tactile mental representation (body schemata) for improving accuracy or "pin pointing" the exact and central location of the articular joint surfaces representing the mis-located verbal schemata for actual anatomical articulations, that qualitative movement improvements also occurred for:
  • A-P pelvic tilts/pelvic rocks becoming more accessible and automatically symmetrical;
  • Pelvis Floor Kegel’s Exercises demonstrating more immediate and effective calibration of control for various magnitudes of contraction gradient with greater precision, dexterity, and reversibility;
  • Markedly reduced para-spinal muscle guarding/unnecessary parasitic/dysponetic muscle tone during rest in both supine lying and in upright sitting/standing positions;
  • Spontaneously maintained improvements in frontal and sagittal plane postural symmetries in standing alignment for head, neck, shoulders, and inferior costal margin landmarks, as well for lower quadrant landmarks at pelvis iliac crest, trochanters of hips, and fibular heads at both knees bilaterally;
  • Improved extensibility of active/passive motions for deep lateral hip rotators (i.e., piriformis) to permit legs/feet to cross midline upon internal rotation as well as to re-extend laterally; and
  • Improvements in walking revealed through spontaneous and un-prompted demonstrations of more harmonious, deviation-diminished qualities of gait, concurrent with more efficient and sustained ground reaction support becoming more evenly reciprocated by a corresponding smoothness of contralateral swing phase. This quality became more pronounced while having patients co-conduct their own enhanced sensory referencing from the new perspective of their new hip socket as a new anatomical reference via their own application of visual-haptic self-touch techniques while walking.

CONCEPTUAL ROOTS:

What meaning does the wording VIRTUAL REALITY BONES™ and VRB3 carry with regard to physical therapy applications?:

Virtual Reality Bones™ and its corresponding acronym (VRB3)™ happens to afford an added, but unexpected visual literacy symbolic component in that "VRB" phonetically reads as "VERB," as an implication for action and movement; and then, culminating into the three-part final acronym “(VRB3)” to integrate, consolidate, and summarize the systematic and broad-based conceptual ideas inherent to Phase I of the experimental intervention of my 2016 dissertation research / clinical study, outlining them into three basic simpler ideas:

1. (VRB1) = Virtual Reality Bones:
This aggregate term component indicates the primary use of "true to scale" anatomical models superimposed & immersed as both augmented sensation and sense of ownership - so as to enhance visual, tactile-haptic, and proprioceptive acuity in the perceptual entrainment or improvement of optimal motor control and movement dexterity.

2. (VRB2) = Vital Relationships Between:
This concept permits the delineation of inherent "skeletal transmission" features (of seeing and sensing for trabeculae density; occurring mostly through longitudinal shafts of bones), and the "skeletal transition" features (structural convergences and expansions of trabeculae occurring between deep articular joint surfaces throughout the body - and further revealed through corresponding motion trajectories required for proportionate dissipation and re-distribution of biomechanical stresses during functional activities ( I.e. Skeletal Density Imagery as a Rx - and better enlistment of movement quality becoming proportioned through areas of highest bone density – as a deeper-denser ‘core’ function).

It is again important to reiterate that the cognitive embodied internalization of these concepts is again accomplished through modeling the entire skeleton. Again, using the complete and articulated full-scale (5-foot tall vertical stand vs. mini version) anatomical model and/or kinesthetic images from both radiology and motion capture kinematic software to convey areas of highest bone density (areas of inner strength, lowest structural variation, and hence, highest predictability); and by more specifically identifying the “Proportionality of Thirds” guideline for efficient movement; scaled as a measurable relationship between “pelvis-hips (2/3-larger - as initiator of movement) opposite the head (1/3-smaller - as fine-motor control/modulator of movement)," as these features are both congruently operationalized and internally consistent with basic Feldenkrais Method® movement principles

3. (VRB3) = Vestibular Representation of Body in Brain:
As a major regulatory system for sensory-motor integration and control of movement, the vestibular -visual system ( the area of highest bone density) reveals itself - and its influences throughout the entire body; namely, through visual-ocular reflexes (VOR), vestibulocollicular reflexes (VCR), asymmetrical tonic neck reflexes (ATNs) and other developmental reflexes for posture control, and the co-regulation of spinal muscle tone as a background pre-requisite for everyday functional movement. This concept is again both experienced and operationalized by implementing the "proportionality of thirds" demonstration on the skeletal model, and during actual performance of Feldenkrais® movements throughout all phases of the entire experimental intervention. As a corollary, an added display arrangement of images depicting fractal geometry, inspired self-similarity features in distant anatomical structures relevant to the current study can also be demonstrated throughout the design of the skeleton; namely, through structures of the pelvis-hips opposite head, yet all made congruent through a three-dimensional vestibular representation.
Instructor’s Personal Goal and Inspired Aspiration to Teach Newer Discoveries to a Broader Spectrum of Cohorts and Fellow Clinicians - within Out-Patient Therapy Practice Settings – and Beyond!

Virtual Reality Bones™ (VRB3)™ as originated through in my doctoral dissertation clinical research is thereby now expanded for the continued development of future health care provider CEU’s (continuing education units) and future tracks are even being developed for prospective ‘VRB3 certification’ as well; inclusive of tangible skeletal models, demonstrative educational tools, software development, and Virtual Reality projection systems' designs, as well as for involving other professional CME programs and training certifications - both conceptually online and in lab courses – and throughout the world.
The First VRB3 Workshop Charter Cohort begins January 26-28, 2018 !
Location: The Alliant Building, Alliant Physical Therapy & Integral Medicine, PLLC
201 N. ‘I’ Street, Tacoma, WA, 98303
Registration: (Phone) 253-572-4611 (E-mail) tim@alliantcare.com
Times: Friday Evening 6-9 PM, Saturday & Sunday 10 AM – 5 PM
(Workshop is uniformly limited to 12 persons)
Full Tuition & ‘Ready to Implement’ Supplies: $750
Includes Virtual Reality Bones™ Box Set:
Scaled assortment of Anatomical Skeletal Models
Full Short Form Skeleton Model
Foam Rollers + Interactive Sensory Platforms + Visual Software Tools

Instructor Biography

Timothy J. Sobie, PT, Ph.D.

Clinical Director, Physical Therapist in Private Practice

Guild Certified Feldenkrais Method® Practitioner (CM)


Having helped thousands of persons with complex pain syndromes, debilitating mobility problems, or everyday discomforts, Dr. Tim Sobie, Ph.D. is the founder and clinical director of Alliant Continuum Care, Physical Therapy and Integral Medicine, PLLC. Tim has over 30 years’ experience as a physical therapist and over 20 years’ experience as a Feldenkrais Method® practitioner with 5+ years as a clinical applications principal investigator and scientific researcher.


Arising from his successful RCT Clinical Research Dissertation Study becoming completed in 2016, the advent of ‘Virtual Reality Bones / Multi-Modal Approach’ (VRB3) has most recently evolved as a highly practical and doable clinical applications workshop for readily implementing a proven system of integration for helping a variety of patients commonly presenting with chronic persistent musculoskeletal pain with movement dysfunction – especially low back pain. 


A native of Michigan, he earned his physical therapy degree from the OUHSC Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, subsequently traveling to small and mid-sized cities nationwide to direct various hospital-based physical therapy departments—including the Champus partnership at Madigan Army Medical Center.


Selecting the Pacific Northwest as the place to settle, he completed the Oregon Feldenkrais Method® Professional Training Program through the Movement Studies Institute of Berkeley, California, and earned a Masters of Science degree in Behavioral Medicine from the Behavioral Physiology Institutes of Bainbridge Island while co-attending Whole Systems Design studies through Antioch University, Seattle. In addition, Tim has completed interdisciplinary mind-body medicine and bodywork training through the Center for Mind Body Medicine in Washington D.C., and has most recently completed his clinical research dissertation at Saybrook University to earn a Ph.D. degree in Psychology with a sub-specialization in Psycho-physiology for the study of neurologically mediated and brain-based chronic pain mechanisms-and for developing innovative applications in their novel treatment. 


Tim is a licensed and preferred provider for most major health insurance plans under the classification Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. He also works with acute trauma, injuries, or accidents. His expansive scope of practice draws from multiple areas and fields with proven track records, and is thereby quite likely to make a more definitive and sustainable difference in the quality and expression of your own or another person’s individual situation – however it has been previously treated or classified, or whatever it may be.


Seek through yourself to see how multi-modal and embodiment-based models being enhanced through  ‘brain-based perceptual neuroplasticity and sensory-motor learning - using Virtual Reality Bones™ - can make a real and sustainable difference for up to at least 90% of your caseload!

The Secret Formula – Also Intrinsically Derived via VRB3 as “Effectiveness through T-I-M”

The Magic Formula: Σ = t1 + i 2 + m3  

Visit our Free-Standing Clinical Education Center at http://alliantcare.com/virtual-reality-bones (253) 572-4611

 Hand-Crafted in The Pacific Northwest by Tim Sobie, PT, Ph.D., Certified Feldenkrais Method® Practitioner - since 1996
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