Introduction to B2R Internship Co-Host Samantha Emanuel: Part 2
Samantha Emanuel spoke to B2R clinician, Sam Ogilvie about her approach to practice and the upcoming Create Your Alternative B2R Internship!
How do you approach introducing play and movement with patients?
It’s tricky to give you a direct answer as it’s a very nonlinear process. I don't go in with a set protocol of exercises as I know patients have often already experienced something along those lines during their physio sessions. My role is to give them something different, to ignite their curiosity, as a new way to approach their rehab.
The clinic in which I work took a risk in collaborating with me as we did not know how the patients would respond but the feedback we have heard from them and from their specialists, (surgeons/neurologists/doctors) is along the lines of, “we don't know what you're doing with Samantha, but keep doing it as long as you possibly can because it's working!”
This showed me we were on to something!
An example of a task Samantha might use with her patients
I rarely plan the class ahead of time as each session is dependent on the individual’s needs that day. As I have so many different places I can pull my material from, I'm able to improvise confidently and follow my intuition. My usual approach is to ask them how they're feeling that day and go from there. If, for example, they feel their lower back is a bit stiff, then maybe that day we'll start on the floor and explore there, rolling and moving in a safe way.
From there, depending on the person, their condition, and what the end goal is, we’ll start to work towards standing. I use progressions and regressions depending on where they’re at, how confident they are and how much I can push them without putting them off. Balance or eyes closed work can be intimidating to start with, so we progress towards that as their confidence builds.
While they’re moving I'm watching them and seeing how they're reacting to the task. If I feel we found a good path to follow, we add progressions. I have an idea in my mind where I want to get them to that day based on what we've been doing previously.
My goal is to give them autonomy, but the reality is many want to come for weekly sessions to keep face to face contact (especially since Covid has isolated so many people; for some, it is the only time they see another human being that week). It's always more joyful to move with others. We are, after all, social creatures.
A coordination task
I feel if clinicians have had a very linear, structured education, they may feel less confident in working this way, so I wanted to find a way to reach clinicians broadly, in order to share these ideas, change the system and help more clients and patients than I possibly could on my own. This is how the B2R Internship collaboration came about and through the 12 week programme, I will be sharing my approach towards play and movement in clinical settings in great depth for the first time.
“We don’t know what you’re doing with Samantha, but keep doing it as long as you possibly can because it’s working!”
How has your approach changed over the years of practice?
My approach is the same, in that I am still obsessively researching and learning as much as I can all the time, but also different in the way I understand healthy movement. I now look at dance as a way to help non-dancers out of pain and move confidently through everyday life rather than only as a means for creating work for dancers, for the stage, or teaching workshops.
I now also work with dancers who, like me, performed the same style for years and are suffering injuries because when practicing the same or similar movements over a long period, we are likely to end up with issues as there's not enough variation in our movement patterns.
I’ve evolved my practice to incorporate a wide array of movement approaches because we need to move in more dynamic, multidisciplinary/multi-directional ways to avoid injury and in order to recover well when injury does happen.
Moving together and in novel ways
What I have learned over the years is that it's all movement (regardless of style/branding etc) and that while we are complex beautiful systems we do not need to overcomplicate our approach to practice. Simply put: move joyfully in novel ways for optimal health.
