For some reason this year I have participated in an extraordinary number of conferences. At last count the number was 15. Which, yes, if one does the math, means more than one a month! I know that my husband is keenly aware of the number, and I must admit I am bit weary of the travel but quite exhilarated by all the intellectual stimulation. So why do I burden you with the details of my schedule? I guess it is because I have a few observations to share.
Each conference has its own culture. Individuals are distinct in terms of their dress, language, and values. They also approach the form and function of their meetings a bit differently. Although in the end whether the emphasis is on practice or research or integration of the two, conferences can be quite similar. The reality is that I observed a bit of a silo mentality where themes identified in one conference that could have been linked to another conference remained isolated. I observed as well that physical therapists (PTs) were at all of the conferences, even if it was just one or two.
By far, the Posture and Gait Conference held in Burlington, Vermont was my favorite. Who can argue with a group of scientists who offer morning yoga sessions and have a break in the program to allow folks to go biking and boating. Not to mention that they organized a moonlight kayaking event and had a great party! What a concept-to allow for some leisure while you are doing good science. Of course, the science was good. The posters were excellent and I enjoyed the plenary sessions that were organized to debate controversies. It is a small organization and attendance was not overwhelming, so it was easy to meet and talk with folks. It was especially nice to encounter so many neurologic PTs. In fact, I had a chance to converse with them in a way that was quite different from our encounters at PT meetings. We were, of course, immersed in the content of the conference and not distracted by other issues.
It was the identification of PTs across all the different conferences that I attended that resonated with me. We are a group of professionals who are embedded in so many areas of study. Our participation in these different areas informs the development of our own profession. The key is to have a mechanism for transferring the information from all these different worlds into a common communication. Naturally this made me think about JNPT. We do of course have the opportunity to use the journal as such a mechanism. Articles that could appear in a physiology journal (such as the one authored by Fry and colleagues), in a movement disorders or posture and gait journal (such as the one authored by Earhardt and colleagues), or the in a virtual reality publication (such as the case report by Flynn and colleagues) are in this issue of JNPT.
My final thought is that we all need to go to conferences outside of our field. This will enrich us individually but also advance our own profession. It will also make JNPT a better journal. Perhaps we will get some good ideas to insert leisure activities into our PT conferences.