Course information

This course prepares occupational therapy practitioners to deliver high intensity neurorehabilitation that supports occupational performance for stroke survivors. Participants will learn how to use therapeutic use of self as a clinical instrument, apply the principles of neuroplasticity to intervention planning, and target the four pillars of occupational mobility that limit participation in daily life. The course covers clinical safety parameters, including risk classification, blood pressure thresholds, heart rate calculations, and rate of perceived exertion, so therapists can push intensity without compromising client safety. Participants will learn to administer six standardized assessments that measure progress in functional mobility, endurance, balance, and quality of life. Clinicians attend a two day, in-person training to learn functional mobility handling techniques and refine their application of the core principles. The course concludes with supervised practice implementing these skills, handling techniques and assessment administration, directly with neurologic survivors.

Objectives

• Identify the four pillars of occupational mobility and their role in a stroke survivor's participation in meaningful occupations
• Explain the principles of neuroplasticity that drive lasting change during high intensity neurorehabilitation, including dosage, task specificity, salience, and error-based learning.
• Demonstrate proper handling techniques for functional mobility and the application of core high intensity training principles during supervised practice with stroke survivors.
• Calculate target heart rate zones, blood pressure thresholds, and rate of perceived exertion values to determine whether a client is safe to train at high intensity.
• Administer the six standardized assessments used in the course to measure a client's capacity for occupational performance.

Instructor Bio

Dr. Philip Lamoreaux, OTD, OTR/L is an occupational therapist, educator, and nationally recognized leader in the application of High-Intensity Training (HIT) within neurologic occupational therapy. He was among the first occupational therapists to receive formal High-Intensity Training instruction from Dr. T. George Hornby, one of the leading researchers responsible for advancing HIT within neurologic rehabilitation, and has since dedicated much of his clinical and educational career to translating this evidence into occupational therapy practice. With more than a decade of clinical experience, Dr. Lamoreaux has worked across the rehabilitation continuum, including acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing, home health, and community-based practice, helping individuals with stroke, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury improve both physical capacity and meaningful performance in everyday life. His clinical work combines the principles of intensity, task specificity, motor learning, and occupation to challenge traditional rehabilitation approaches and expand what therapists and patients believe is possible during neurologic recovery. Through RISE – Reclaim Your Life, he provides intensive HIT interventions to individuals with stroke, TBI, and incomplete spinal cord injury across the country, bringing high-level rehabilitation directly into the environments where people need to perform. His work in HIT has included professional education, national and state conference presentations, published scholarship, interdisciplinary implementation initiatives, and an accepted three-hour workshop at AOTA Inspire 2027 focused specifically on High-Intensity Training in neurologic occupational therapy. As both a practicing clinician and university professor, Dr. Lamoreaux has developed a reputation for taking complex rehabilitation science and turning it into practical strategies therapists can immediately implement with their patients. Clinicians learning from Dr. Lamoreaux are not simply learning the theory behind HIT—they are learning from an occupational therapist who was involved in its early translation into OT practice and has since implemented it, taught it, studied it, and built his career around demonstrating how appropriately challenging patients can unlock greater possibilities for recovery, independence, and participation.

What clinicians are saying about training with Phil

-Occupational therapist of 2 years

There are many things that changed for me after bootcamp. Many experiences and situations have happened because of the bootcamp training. It gave me guidance to try new things. I now monitor the heart rate with a continuous heart rate monitor. Utilizing this monitor, I am able to explain that even though they’re tired, the heart can handle more. I am so much more confident and willing to push patients past what I was before. I am willing to train patients’ balance in a way that I wouldn’t have even thought about prior to bootcamp. There have been times that management personnel have commented on how they’ve notice a patient’s balance getting better, which has really helped boost the confidence that patients have in me and the work they are putting in. The bootcamp has given me many but two valuable takeaways in particular. Firstly, the knowledge and importance of knowing what the heart is actually doing allow us to push and challenge the patient. Secondly, if I want to see better therapy treatments and outcomes, then I need to be willing to challenge patients in ways that are actually challenging and demand a change from the mind and body. I can’t just hope that the “cookie cutter” therapy is going to be enough to produce the outcomes that we want to see.

-Rachel, COTA

The Boot Camp helped me to refine my reasoning on a lot of things, but these are the 3 that stand out 1. My dosage with intensity, variability, and resistance, 2.  breaking down the components of balance and gait, 3. taking the bubble wrap out of my treatments. Mistakes are an important part of motor learning and life. Educating my patients that therapy is a place for finding the boundaries of what we can do independently and what we can do with assistance. And with both of them it’s more than we usually think. Some stand out moments since then. Using the concepts from limb resistance while training tub transfers, with a hemi leg and within session with an 8 lb ankle weight, patient went from 50% assist for advancing his limb over the tub to supervision. The patient’s reaction was nothing short of astonished after we removed the weight and he cleared it “oh my god my leg is alive. There’s a chance for me yet" Using the same principles on for upper extremities NMRE. Triggering stim on ant deltoids for forward flexion. Alternating reaching with resistance band and without. At start of session pt only had 30 degree shoulder flexion AROM AG. At end of session he made it to 80! Walking sideways with my coma patient for masses reps and variability with my recently emerged patient who was 2 person assist. Something I NEVER would have considered before but helped so much during transfers.  

-occupational therapist of 2 years

One of my biggest takeaways was learning the difference between maintaining patient safety and being overly cautious to the point where we may actually be limiting a patient's potential. Seeing firsthand how much we could appropriately challenge patients was honestly eye-opening. I remember when watching a survivor, approximately two years post-stroke, go from being unable to perform a sit-to-stand independently to completing one without using their hands. It completely changed my perspective on the commonly discussed six-month "plateau." This experience was so meaningful & it wasn't just witnessing the physical improvements, but seeing the patients' confidence grow as they accomplished things they didn't even think they could do again. I genuinely feel like I walked away a different clinician. Beyond the techniques and clinical knowledge, the greatest value was gaining confidence in my own abilities while expanding my understanding of what patients are capable of achieving. It reinforced my passion for neurological rehabilitation and reminded me to never shy away from learning more.

-Occupational therapist