The Road Ahead: Safe Driving and Community Mobility for All Abilities

Kathy Woods, OTR/L, CDRS, LDI

Pursuing, maintaining or regaining independence in transportation is a critical aspect of daily life and community participation. This session will explore three key areas: pursuing driving with a disability, returning to driving after a medical event, and alternative community mobility options for individuals who do not drive. Attendees will learn about the evaluation process for driving readiness, adaptive equipment and vehicle modifications, and strategies for safe return to driving following health changes. For those unable to drive, we will discuss options for accessing community resources. The presentation will emphasize collaboration between rehabilitation professionals, clients, and families to support informed decision-making and enhance quality of life. Whether you are a clinician, caregiver, or individual navigating these transitions, this session provides actionable insights and resources to promote independence and safety in transportation.

CKRI

Talking to People About Incontinence

Deborah Elings, RN, BSN, CCM, WCC, RAC-CT

Safe Sleeping Solutions: Unlocking the Secrets to Healthy and Secure Slumber through Safety Beds

Taylor Asher

In today's fast-paced world, quality sleep has become a precious
commodity. The Sleep Safety and Hygiene course is designed to provide participants with comprehensive knowledge and practical strategies to optimize their sleep experience. From understanding the importance of sleep to creating a safe and healthy sleep environment, this course offers invaluable insights for individuals seeking to enhance their overall well-being.

Throughout this course, participants will delve into the fascinating science behind sleep, exploring the various stages, sleep cycles, and their impact on mental and physical health. They will learn how sleep deprivation can lead to a range of issues, such as impaired cognitive function, weakened immune system, and increased risk of accidents.

Armed with this understanding, participants will uncover evidence-based techniques to establish healthy sleep habits that will improve their overall quality of life.

CUBBY BEDS

Artificial Intelligence in Brain Injury Rehabilitation in the Open Notes Era: Opportunities and Challenges

Natalie Covington, PhD, CCC-SLP

Since the 2021 Cures Act, many electronic medical record notes are open for patients to read. Emerging research suggests that open access to medical records improves patients’ engagement with their care but there are significant challenges in supporting patients’ understanding of notes that are primarily written for other providers and third-party payers. Artificial intelligence (AI) applications offer potential solutions to the tensions inherent in balancing open access to notes, multiple note audiences (patients/providers/payers), and provider workloads. We present survey results from allied health providers and patients with recent experience in rehabilitation on their perspectives and preferences related to the use of AI to improve patient-provider communication in the open notes era and discuss opportunities, challenges, and ethical considerations.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; ALLINA HEALTH COURAGE KENNY RESEARCH

National Multiple Sclerosis Society MS Navigator Services and Overview of MS

Sarah Danen & Heather Svenson

Learn the basics about multiple sclerosis and the latest around National MS Society MS Navigator support and program offerings.

Choosing the Right Sling at the Right Time

This session provides a practical, hands-on approach to mastering sling selection and safe lifting practices. Participants will learn the Five Step Process for Sling Selection, explore theoretical frameworks that guide decision-making, and review the functions, styles, and sizing of slings. The session also covers sling fabric research, care, and maintenance. Through interactive case studies and hands-on practice with lifts and slings, attendees will build confidence in choosing the right sling for diverse patient needs. 

Amber Slay, MBA, BSN, RN

Brain Injury: Beyond the Basics

Alec Wendelboe

This workshop delves into advanced topics on brain injury, focusing on its prevalence and impact across different community groups. Participants will gain an understanding of the functions of various neural regions and the role of neuroplasticity in forming neural circuits. The session will also cover conditions related to Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and offer supportive strategies to help minimize symptom severity. This workshop is tailored for professionals seeking a deeper understanding of brain injury and its broader effects.

MN BRAIN INJURY ALLIANCE

Custom Wheelchair Cushions: Advanced Strategies for Positioning the Pelvis and Spinal Alignment

Simeon Hughes, ATP, CEAC

This presentation is designed to empower clinicians and CRT suppliers with specialized knowledge to address diverse biomechanical needs. It focuses on understanding pelvic and hip muscle dynamics, identifying support requirements and applying advanced positioning techniques to achieve optimal pelvic and spinal posture. This approach enhances user stability, reduces the risk of pressure sores and promotes comfort and function. Aligned with WHO guidelines, it enables practitioners to tailor solutions to individual body types, improving independence and quality of life for wheelchair users.

SPEX SEATING

Assistance Dogs and You

Andy Johnson

Learn about the role Assistance Dogs serve in the community, and how you can help empower those living with PTSD or physical disabilities to live their best life. 

HELPING PAWS

CKRI Adaptive Sports: Cardio Drumming

Supported Standing Across the Contracture Continuum

Britta Schwartzhoff, PT, DPT, ATP/SMS

Lower extremity contractures can significantly affect mobility, function, comfort, and long-term health outcomes across a wide range of diagnoses. From early-onset conditions to injuries acquired in adulthood, contractures often develop in the presence of impaired mobility and prolonged positioning. This course explores supported standing as one component of a comprehensive approach for the prevention and management of lower extremity contractures. Participants will develop an understanding of clinical decision-making and strategic use of standing interventions, with consideration of all domains of the ICF framework to support overall health and participation.

ALTIMATE MEDICAL

Compassion Fatigue in Helpers

Professionals or family members who help others in their work experience unique mental health challenges, particularly around compassion fatigue. This training defines compassion fatigue, distinguishes it from burnout, and covers its symptoms, risk factors, and impact on people helping those with diverse abilities and complex needs. It also explores interventions and strategies for prevention.

Keeri Tramm

Lymphedema Unwrapped: Causes, Compression, and Coverage

Erin Sokalsky, ATC, PTA, CLT - LANA, WCC

As lymphedema management and compression therapy continue to take center stage for DMEs, understanding the disease process, compression options, and the latest LTA billing updates is essential. This one‑hour course provides a clear, practical overview designed to support better compression choices and more confident reimbursement navigation.

Accessibility in the Outdoors

Anne Strootman

Finding ways to experience the outdoors can be challenging for some people with disabilities. This could include a lack of access to adaptive equipment, finding accessible hiking trails, needing people to support your needs, or figuring out the logistics around outdoor travel.

 Throughout this session, you will learn ways to successfully plan for your time in the outdoors. We’ll demonstrate various adaptive gear, share ways to adjust an itinerary to meet your specific needs, and regale stories from the trail about unique problem-solving in the wilderness.

Equipment Showcase “Reframing participation in recreation through usage of adaptive Equipment”

A variety of specific adaptive equipment, or adaptations to existing equipment can support user access to sports, recreation, and leisure. Join us for an in-depth look at how this equipment works, who it supports, and how small adaptations can make a big impact.

Room: CKRI Activity Zone

Adaptive Sports

Jobst Custom Measurement Training

Join us for a half-day class!
Pre-Registration is encouraged, as class size is limited. 

Agenda:

Review disease states that require compression

Compression vs containment

Review different textiles in compression garments

Landmark measuring for LE garments

Landmark measuring for UE garments

Power & Push Experience: The Ultimate Wheelchair Obstacle Challenge

Ashley Detterbeck DPT, ATP/SMS

Get ready to roll, pivot, and push your skills to the next level! Power & Push Experience is a high-energy, hands-on obstacle course designed to highlight the unique strengths of different power wheelchair drive configurations and manual wheelchair setups. You’ll weave through tight turns, conquer tricky surfaces, tackle precision parking zones, and test your maneuvering in real-world-inspired challenges. Along the way, we’ll compare how front-, mid-, and rear-wheel drive power chairs perform, and explore how manual chair setup (think camber, wheel placement, and configuration) can make or break performance. Expect friendly competition, lots of laughter, and practical takeaways you can use immediately to optimize mobility, confidence, and independence.

PERMOBIL

The Lifestyle Questions You May Not Have Considered When Ordering Wheelchair Seating

Traci Acton

Selecting wheelchair seating is often treated as a technical decision, but lifestyle factors are just as critical to long-term comfort, skin health, and overall outcomes. This interactive Experience Lab challenges attendees to rethink traditional seating evaluations by centering the everyday lives of wheelchair users.

Through real-world scenarios and guided discussion, participants will explore key questions often overlooked during the ordering process: Will the individual use their seating system across multiple wheelchairs? What daily activities such as work, school, travel, sports, or social events do they regularly engage in? How frequently do transfers occur, and is there a caregiver at home to assist with setup, positioning, or maintenance?

The session will also walk through how to order Orbiter Med with lifestyle considerations in mind. Attendees will learn how factors such as time spent seated, transportation needs, independence goals, caregiver involvement, and the need for multi-chair use can influence configuration, accessories, and clinical justification. Emphasis will be placed on aligning Orbiter Med’s features with real-world routines to support consistency, compliance, and long-term success.

Designed for clinicians and industry professionals, this Experience Lab provides practical tools, conversation starters, and a more holistic framework for ordering wheelchair seating, ensuring technology adapts to the person, not the other way around.

KALOGON

Discover Wheelchair Tennis

Discover wheelchair tennis first-hand! Get in a sports wheelchair and start a rally or observe how playing seated equalizes the playing field for a wide variety of players.

Room: CKRI Activity Zone

Caring for Persons with Incontinence

This session reviews a practical three-step approach to maintaining skin health for individuals with incontinence. Participants will learn how proper product selection and sizing support individualized care, along with the four key drivers that influence effective toileting and containment practices. 

Robyn Wilder RN, WCC

Thinking Critically About Mobility Base Selection and the Impact of Function

Karla Sonderland, MS, OTR/L, ATP

This course will provide information pertaining to mobility base selection and the impact on function. Dependent, manual, and power mobility bases will be
reviewed. As part of this course, we will discuss the application of mobility equipment to support the needs of the client regarding posture, functional
independence, and participation in iADLS/mRADLs. Additionally, the course will review specific challenges related to the assessment and prescription of
mobility bases, current evidence, and client-specific factors to consider in the decision-making process.

SUNRISE 

Facing Forward - What’s Up with Head and Neck Support?

Stephanie Tanguay OT/L, ATP

Many consumers who utilize wheeled mobility require a head support as part of their seating system. A headrest may be utilized as a support for periods of rest or in alternative positions such as when the consumer is tilted or reclined. A headrest may also be an integral part of a power wheelchair with aspects of the drive controls embedded in or attached to the head support. In some instances, a headrest may be used as a component of safety during transportation in a motorized vehicle. 

This course will review the geometry of the human skull and its range of movement and the influence of seated posture on head orientation. A review of reflexive and tonal postures will be included. The impact of these factors on head support will be presented along with an overview of various products.

INVACARE

Homeward Confidence: Setting the Ostomy Patient Up for Success

Janet Field, CWOCN

A thorough review of the ostomy patient discharge from acute care from a RN perspective as well as from a person living with an ostomy. This will be a joint presentation from both sides of the ostomy story.

COLOPLAST

CKRI Adaptive Sports:
R.I.S.E. for Parkinson's 

Miranda Buchner

Power & Push Experience: The Ultimate Wheelchair Obstacle Challenge

Ashley Detterbeck DPT, ATP/SMS

Get ready to roll, pivot, and push your skills to the next level! Power & Push Experience is a high-energy, hands-on obstacle course designed to highlight the unique strengths of different power wheelchair drive configurations and manual wheelchair setups. You’ll weave through tight turns, conquer tricky surfaces, tackle precision parking zones, and test your maneuvering in real-world-inspired challenges. Along the way, we’ll compare how front-, mid-, and rear-wheel drive power chairs perform, and explore how manual chair setup (think camber, wheel placement, and configuration) can make or break performance. Expect friendly competition, lots of laughter, and practical takeaways you can use immediately to optimize mobility, confidence, and independence.

PERMOBIL

Welcome & Morning Panel

Handi Medical Supply

Room: TBD

A Needs-Based Perspective on the Impact of Obesity in the Aging Population

Amber Slay

This presentation explores the growing impact of obesity among older adults through a needs-based lens, emphasizing the importance of personalized, equitable, and stigma-free care. It highlights key challenges in care and offers practical strategies to improve outcomes for aging individuals living with obesity. We discuss Sec 504 and Age-friendly reimbursement. 

SAVARIA PATIENT CARE

Fall & Stroke Prevention

Alec Wendelboe

This workshop reviews the relationship between older adults and an increased risk of experiencing falls and strokes. Participants will be able to describe the factors that lead to an increased risk of falls and strokes within these communities, and will be to implement strategies for reducing this risk for the individuals they serve.

MN BRAIN INJURY ALLIANCE

Room: TBD

Prescribing Mobility Beyond the Clinic: Matching Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles to Real-World Patient Needs

Tony Harris

For many patients, mobility doesn’t end at the clinic door, it begins when they need to safely and independently travel through daily life. Wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) are often one of the most impactful mobility devices clinicians encounter.

This session is designed specifically for physical therapists and medical professionals involved in evaluating mobility equipment and functional independence. Rollx Vans will provide a practical overview of wheelchair accessible vehicle options and the adaptive equipment available to support a wide range of patient needs.

Attendees will learn how different vehicle configurations - side-entry vs. rear-entry, caregiver-driven vs. independent driving, manual vs. power wheelchair use - align with functional goals, safety considerations, and long-term outcomes. We’ll also explore adaptive solutions such as seating modifications, securement systems, hand controls, transfer supports, and caregiver-focused features that reduce physical strain and improve quality of care.

This session provides clinicians with a practical framework and common language to understand vehicle mobility options, support informed patient discussions, and collaborate effectively with specialized mobility providers.

ROLLX VANS

Why Won't This Wound Heal?

Renee Gleitz APRN CNP CWOCN

Case study approach to contributory factors that limit wound healing. Lower extremity wounds will be highlighted in both discussion and photographs. Discussion will focus on types of wounds (venous, arterial, neuropathic, pressure), basic concepts for wound healing, and underlying pathology that hinders wound healing.

MAYO CLINIC HEALTH SYSTEM

Maintaining Independence: Progressive Diagnoses and Mobility Considerations

Andrea Lewis, OTR/L, ATP 

This course will look at common progressive degenerative presentations related to those living with muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. The focus will be on the population that is further along in diagnosis that are seen for complex seating and mobility needs along the rehabilitation process. We will discuss a brief overview of each diagnoses presentation and functional impacts that may happen to their motor, cognitive, and musculoskeletal system that could impact positioning. A brief discussion will be had on unique considerations for positioning components based on this population’s needs and what options exist to meet those needs.

This course will look at the mobility algorithm for appropriately selecting a mobility device that helps a client to be as independent, safe, and timely in order to perform MRADLs while focusing on the literature. We will review unique considerations when it comes to concerns of falls and maintaining mobility independence that align with the literature, which can help assess and train individuals with degenerative conditions. When looking at power mobility, this class will outline unique, literature-based recommendations for those new to power mobility to achieve optimal success. We will also describe the options available for drive controls, along with consideration of programming features for optimal safety. This class will look at common barriers, including transportation and understanding the purpose of power seat functions as a means to optimize physiological and functional outcomes when appropriate.

QUANTUM REHAB

Planning for Transition After School

Keeri Tramm

Transition Planning After School is a primer class designed to help students with disabilities and the people who support them navigate life after high school or transition school. Participants will leave the class with a transition checklist as well as a broad overview of the services and support available to help them avoid the “transition cliff,” ensuring a smooth and successful transition into adulthood.

LIFEWORKS SERVICES

CKRI Adaptive Sports: Cardio Drumming

Considerations for Bariatric Power Mobility

Brad Peterson

Successful outcomes for bariatric power mobility are the result of more than simply providing a power wheelchair that supports the patient’s weight. Each individual’s shape, weight distribution, environment, diagnoses and existing secondary complications can greatly affect the performance and capability of the prescribed power mobility system. Furthermore, successful provision not only addresses current needs but also changes that may occur during the funding cycle of the full system. This presentation will use a case study format, supplemented by engineering balance and performance data to help identify best practices for long term success of complete power positioning systems for patients of all shapes and sizes.

AMYLIOR

Novel neurosurgical interventions for movement disorders and stroke: MRI guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) for tremor and vagal nerve stimulation for ischemic stroke

Patrick O'Brien, MD

The proposed session would be an update on new neurosurgical offerings available through Allina Health in the movement disorders and stroke domains. Specifically we would cover the non-invasive MRI guided focused ultrasound therapy used to treat medically refractory essential tremor or tremor predominant Parkinson's disease for patients that are not candidates for deep brain stimulation, and the rehabilitation paired with vagal nerve stimulation with the Vivistim device for possible improvement of arm function after ischemic stroke.

ALLINA HEALTH

Assistance Dogs and You

Andy Johnson

Learn about the role Assistance Dogs serve in the community, and how you can help empower those living with PTSD or physical disabilities to live their best life.

HELPING PAWS

A Twist on Power Assist for the Manual Wheelchair Rider

Brooke Jerome

It is well documented that there is a high rate of upper extremity repetitive strain injury (RSI) among manual wheelchair riders. In addition to the risk of RSI, physical ability and the environment of use can pose further challenges to mobility. These factors can affect accessibility, speed, distance, and duration of travel, potentially limiting an individual’s social participation. Even the act of propulsion itself can hinder tasks that require the use of one or both hands during movement. Power assist technology has provided a solution to these challenges for many wheelchair riders.

While power assist technology has been available for some time, its popularity is increasing as more professionals and users recognize the advantages it can provide. To assist users in making informed prescriptive decisions, professionals must understand this evolving technology and be aware of the increasing diversity of product choices available. This presentation will discuss the mobility and health-related challenges that come with propelling a manual wheelchair. We will consider alternatives to address these challenges and review the various types of power assist devices currently available.

KI MOBILITY BY ETAC

Adaptive Sports