By Gary Maguire, M.Sc., P.T.

PhysioSympath: The Path to Resilience ©

Welcome to Military Network’s new PTSD section.  Articles that appear in this section are aimed at reducing the stigma of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), strengthening resilience and providing new strategic solutions for PTSD treatment.

Emerging neurophysiology and physiotherapy medical devices are being developed to support mental healthcare professionals.

PhysioSympath: The Path to Resilience was founded to truly care for PTSD veterans and military personnel.  My father, James D. Maguire (Dec’d) was a Major in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict and suffered from PTSD. As a child I have experienced the upheaval and imprint PTSD causes on families and the impact it has on those afflicted with this complex disturbance.

The focus of this section of Military Network is to broaden the understanding of PTSD with new approaches.  My applied clinical care (19 years) in successfully treating chronic pain patients (14,000) is now being integrated into PhysioSympath endeavors. 

As a result, research is being conducted on developing PTSD therapeutic modalities, home programs and new VA provider care techniques that will emerge as adjuncts to current intervention (i.e. CBT, EMDR, Group Therapy and Pharmacotherapy).

PhysioSympath’s mission objectives are to:

• Create a PTSD discussion forum and reader action plan within Military Network.
• Facilitate funding of PhysioSympath/PTSD’s current research and integrate neurophysiologic treatment approaches within the Veteran Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) systems.
• To promote new scientific treatment techniques that will objectively increase the current evidence based PTSD programs overall 50% effectiveness rate.[i]
• Implement improved home therapy programs that can be more readily understood, increase engagement of PTSD patients and can be actively provided by family members.
• Utilize Frank Nightingale’s Defining Success as outlined in the Military Network Newsletter Articles section and apply these same principles to current PTSD treatment approaches.
• Integrate early intervention PTSD programs designed to reduce neurophysiologic dysfunctions so as to extinguish the onset of complex PTSD symptoms (i.e. hypervigilance).
• Advance the Real Warrior Campaign, an initiative launched by the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) to promote the processes of building resilience, facilitating recovery and supporting reintegration of returning service members, veterans and their families.[ii]

ATTENTION:

PhysioSympath provides new insight and systematic goals to integrate new PTSD therapeutic programs (applied by allied health professionals) within the VA system. 

These healthcare professionals will be able to utilize their clinical expertise adopting new treatment modalities that facilitate a warrior or veteran’s resilience by extinguishing neurophysiologic distortion.  This neural distortion is real; persists, and contributes to slowing our mental healthcare professionals’ current PTSD treatment programs. 

ENGAGEMENT:

PhysioSympath is the path to Real Warrior resilience. It is up to you to take action and help make the difference by alerting our military family members, the VA and DoD to a new era of combating this complex physiological problem. 

ASSIGNMENT:

Your assignment is to forward this newsletter to facilitate PhysioSympath’s mission objectives, provide constructive comments, and engage U.S. Congressman Robert Filner, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and Brig. Gen. Loree K. Sutton, M.D., Director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) to support and fund the development of PhysioSympath research, medical modalities and therapeutic intervention programs.

Future newsletters are aimed at reader feedback and how neurophysiology therapeutic treatment influences PTSD.

[i] http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2007/Treatment-of-PTSD-An-Assessment-of-The-Evidence.aspx

 [ii] http://www.realwarriors.net/

Gary Maguire, M.Sc., P.T.
President/Founder, PhysioSympath

 

About the Author

President/Founder. Gary Maguire, M.Sc., P.T.

PhysioSympath:  The Path to Resilience

Gary Maguire, M.Sc., P.T. is a physical therapist, founder and president of PhysioSympath located in Seattle, WA. 

Maguire has over 19 years of clinical expertise in physical therapy with a specialization in treating chronic pain, PTSD, complex regional pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, neuromuscular dysfunctions and complex soft tissue dysfunctions.  His clinical expertise and professional healthcare training has resulted in providing over 76,000 treatments to more than 14,000 patients resulting in successful functional outcomes.

Prior to founding PhysioSympath, Maguire was involved in patient care and, served as an expert witness, corporate speaker, and provided continuing education to family physicians, vocational rehabilitation counselors, claims managers and occupational safety and health officers. 

Maguire has provided numerous professional and public seminars (e.g. The Boeing Corporation, Microsoft employees, Johnson Controls, professional athletes, and chronic pain support groups) about chronic pain, soft tissue injuries, ergonomics, healthcare and prevention/management of injuries.

Maguire is developing therapeutic treatments and medical modalities to address posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for the most complex veterans.  His chronic pain expertise is aimed at delivering vital research and broadening the understanding of PTSD with new evidence based neurophysiology principles.  PhysioSympath aims to reduce the stigma associated with PTSD and to strengthen resilience of our military personnel.

He is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Physical Therapy Association, International Association for the Study of Pain, Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement/AMA, Microsoft-Health Users Group and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

Maguire completed his training in physical therapy at D’Youville College located in Buffalo, NY.  He holds a Master of Science degree and Bachelor of Science degree in physical therapy.  He also has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Washington State University.  

Copyright © 2010 Gary Maguire, M.Sc., P.T., PhysioSympath.  All rights reserved.

Related posts:

1. PTSD and Neurophysiology [Vol 1/Num 5]
2. PTSD and Neurophysiology [Vol 1/Num 4]
3. PTSD and Neurophysiology [Vol 1/Num 6]
4. PTSD and Neurophysiology [Vol 1/Num 3]
5. PTSD and Neurophysiology [Vol 1/Num 2]