This course will provide the knowledge base and practical skills for use of casting materials to manage common impairments in pediatric and neurologic patient populations through therapeutic casts and splints.

Participants will learn to identify appropriate candidates for casting, problem-solve appropriate materials and techniques for various clinical presentations and evaluate progress. The course will be split up between two sessions: Upper and lower extremity. The lower extremity portion of the course will be taught over the first three days with an optional additional day for upper extremity instruction.

Therapeutic Casting for the Lower Extremity

The course will emphasize the current evidence related to casting and foot/ankle intervention, the importance of differential diagnosis and the use of the therapist’s manual intervention before and during casting to maximize therapeutic effects of casts. Attendees will learn to align casts for therapeutic gait and standing and to problem-solve orthotic selection after casting is complete. This is a hands-on lab course, and participants receive a detailed casting manual as a reference tool. 22 contact hours.

Recommended prerequisite: Ambulation, activity, and AFOs

Therapeutic Casting and Splinting for the Upper Extremity

The course will emphasize the importance of the use of the therapist’s manual intervention before and during casting to maximize therapeutic effects. Therapeutic (serial) casts, wrist-hand orthoses (WHOs) and splints for constraint-based therapies will be covered. The course includes multiple opportunities to learn and apply hands-on practical skills that can be carried over to the clinical setting after course completion. 7.5 contact hours.

Amanda Hall, PT, MPT, PCS

Class will be led by physical therapist Amanda Hall, who is known as an engaging speaker and experienced therapist who developed a framework for pediatric and neuro ankle intervention.

Amanda Hall received her MPT from the University of Washington in 2001, received her Board-Certification as a Pediatric Clinical Specialist in 2010 and re-certified in 2020. Amanda began teaching clinical education with serial therapeutic casting courses, and has since developed additional coursework based on an integrative approach to treatment for patients with pediatric and neurological health conditions.

Her clinical practice is at the HSC Pediatric Center in Washington, DC, where she specializes in treating “outliers” and patients with complex presentations. Her framework is grounded in PNF principles, therapeutic alliance, neuroplasticity, manual therapy, therapeutic gait, and developmental kinesioplasticity. Her framework has a strong focus in patient-centered treatment and adaptive design.  As a result, she has received mainstream media attention as the “Madcaster”, including features in MTV, UsWeekly, and ABC. Amanda has presented internationally; notable audiences include Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association, the APTA Pediatrics Annual Conference, and the National Institutes of Health.