Pharmacology: The Ups & Downs of Medications and Their Effect on Rehabilitation Performance

Course Description

General principles of pharmacology such as drug administration, absorption, distribution, and elimination will be expounded upon in the form of tables and charts.  Unlike in specialty medicine where a cardiothoracic or orthopedic surgeon may need to know just the medication that they prescribe for their patient, physical and occupational therapists as well as athletic trainers and coaches see patients and clients across the wide spectrum of all medical specialty areas.  For that aforementioned reason, case scenarios will be created and discussed to optimize “clinical learning”.  How do medications for CNS disorders affect motor planning and learning?  How do medications such as muscle relaxants and opioids affect skeletal muscle and its ability to generate power, force, and hypertrophy?  How can cardiovascular medications affecting the physiology either improve or degrade the “training effect” which seeks to increase stamina, endurance, and overall sustained ADL functional abilities?  And lastly, what are Performance-Enhancing Drugs?  Do they really enhance performance?   This course will take a deep dive into how medications impact the patient-clinician experience.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Summarize the basic principles of pharmacology
• Differentiate between pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics
• Recognize drugs by their pharmacologic class
• Recognize common OTC drugs e.g. Glucosamine, Gingko biloba, etc.
• Define Performance-Enhancing Drugs (PED’s) and their role
• Analyze case scenarios that illustrate and highlight typical and atypical medication side effects and some safe “work-arounds”.

• Prerequisites

  None

• Educational Level

  Intermediate

• Other

  Satisfactory completion of this course will require the participant to respond to polling questions asked throughout the webinar.