** This is an in-person training in Montreal, Canada**

Target Audience: Physical Therapists

Introduction:

Surface EMG Biofeedback is an excellent tool in neurorehabilitation for teaching patients selective muscle control. For children and adults with cerebral palsy, this intervention allows many to experience selective muscle control for the first time resulting in powerful “aha-moments”! Once the patient has experienced selective control, it is usually easy for them to transfer this new knowledge to functional tasks. sEMG Biofeedback can be used in children as young as 3 years, who understand “cause/effect”. For clinicians, this intervention can also be used solely for diagnostic information about how and when muscles are recruited and used during functional tasks.

Participants will learn about the basic science behind sEMG Biofeedback for neurorehabilitation including interpretation of results from sessions with patients of various presentations of cerebral palsy. Participants will learn about up-training and down-training of muscles particularly in the presence of abnormal muscle tone. Once the course participants understand how to interpret results of sEMG Biofeedback sessions, we will link this knowledge to assessment and treatment using case studies of children and adults. In the lab portion of this course, participants will learn to set up and use sEMG Biofeedback for assessment and treatment for a variety of clinically scenarios. They will be asked to create a training program using sEMG Biofeedback based on a case. In the second part of the day, participants will work with children with cerebral palsy using sEMG Biofeedback for assessment and treatment of functional problems.

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will understand the basic science of sEMB Biofeedback as an assessment and intervention tool 
2. Participants will be able to interpret simple sEMG Biofeedback data
3. Participants will be able to use sEMG Biofeedback data for treatment planning
4. Based on sEMG Biofeedback data, participants will demonstrate how to select and prioritize which muscles to treat in order to improve functional tasks in clients with CP
5. Participants will demonstrate correct electrode placements for optimal use of sEMG Biofeedback
6. Participants will demonstrate knowledge about how to effectively combine sEMG Biofeedback, EMG Triggered NMES and FES for treatment of CP