Once again, 2024 was a fantastic year for taking advantage of all our synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities including Hand Therapy Review Course, Hands-on Orthotics, webinars, Upper Extremity Institute and Pediatric Case Studies. Our Education Division members volunteer a significant amount of time to develop and manage high-quality content to be able to offer it at a reasonable cost to our members. I would love to take this opportunity to personally thank the many Education Division members for their dedication and endless hours of commitment. If it were not for these volunteers, ASHT educational offerings would not be possible.
Brocha Stern, 2024 Annual Meeting Chair eloquently described this year’s conference theme, “Integrating Perspectives: Learning, Collaborating and Innovating, which highlights and celebrates the richness of what we can learn from each other within our specialty, as well as from perspectives and disciplines outside our specialty.” In looking forward to 2025, we will be offering new courses, learning from those who have pioneered hand and upper extremity therapy treatment to where we are today. ASHT's Education Division is thrilled to offer a Casting Motion to Mobilize Stiffness with content graciously donated by Judy Colditz. This content was highlighted in a well-attended, four-hour Pre-Conference Institute at ASHT 2024 in St Louis. To expand upon this knowledge, we will offer the flexibility to host one-day and two-day offerings with ample “hands-on” opportunities to practice this treatment intervention.
As always, the Hand Therapy Review Course is slated to be held at our usual locations of Atlanta, GA and Baltimore MD, as well as returning site, Pomona, CA. We are excited to announce a fourth course in the Dallas, TX-area! The Virtual HTRC is still available, but we are currently working on redesigning this already extensive program to include a structured study plan and interactive experience to support preparing for the Hand Therapy Certification Exam.
This past year was explosive for our Hands-on Orthotics workshop, with many requests and our first time offering a regional course that was hosted by ASHT in Kansas City, MO. This was very successful, and we are now looking to host these larger courses in a few locations across the country. If you are unable to attend a regional course, remember you can host an orthotics course at your own site where a skilled instructor will customize the course to your needs in a one-day or two-day format.
For those of you that may have trouble traveling to a destination for an in-person experience, remember, we have many virtual offerings to fit your needs. New live webinars continue to be added to our schedule monthly and our library of recorded webinars continue grow.
Want to discuss specific diagnosis-related case studies? Think about attending monthly meetings of the Upper Extremity Institute or the Pediatric Case Review series. The 2025-2026 UE Institute is in development and we look forward to that being released late next year. Pediatric Case Reviews are held by experienced pediatric clinicians who target this growing specialty area of pediatric hand care.
Are you still traveling all over the country to expand your upper extremity therapy knowledge? Consider hosting a course in your area with our in-person learning opportunities or register for one of the courses from our library of virtual offerings. Also, our 2025 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT, promises to provide and exciting line-up with a wide variety of content!