#17 - Mental Health & Communication in Sports Rehab (ft. David Meyer)

In this episode, I speak with Dr. David Meyer PT, DPT. Author of “Injured to Elite: A Guide to Empowering Yourself to Transform Your Life After Injury”, which he wrote to empower the world with a newfound mental approach to physical rehab. As a Sports Performance Physical Therapist, he graduated with his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from NYU and completed an advanced sports residency training program. David served as the Medical and Rehabilitation Coordinator for the St. Louis Cardinals for three years from 2015 through the 2017 season. This was a dream of his that came to fruition after playing baseball throughout his entire life into the collegiate level. During his time working for the Cardinals, he discovered a new appreciation for the psychological implications of sports rehabilitation after seeing the profound impact it had on players and began developing a comprehensive approach to integrating mental skills and strategies into the physical rehabilitation process. I have to say, of all of my talks thus far with this podcast, this might have been one of the most natural discussions I've had. Those who have followed me for some time now know how fascinated I am with mental component to rehabilitative care, so natural David was the perfect guest. David and I seamlessly discuss topics such as:

• 4 Major mental states (Identity Crisis) that occur after injuries in patients.
• Practical advice to use with your patients to improve compliance, and communication.
• Direction of Physical Therapy; where we're headed in the coming years.
• Pros & Cons to the Clinic/Telehealth models: how do these apply to sports rehab?
• 3 Mental Exercises that you can begin using TODAY as a clinician to reduce fear, and anxiety in not only your patients, but yourself.
• and much more.