Full Course Description

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Cannabinoid Science: Research and Therapeutic Applications for Pain, Sleep and Mental Health

The landscape of our understanding of cannabinoid science and its role in our overall health is changing everyday. In this course, research and therapeutic applications for cannabinoid medicine will be presented objectively in the areas of pain, sleep, anxiety and depression. You will be challenged to think outside the box on your current beliefs about physical and mental health; and how patient preference, clinical evidence and scientific research all play a key role in patient centered care.

Program Information

Objectives

1. Assess hemp plant medicine as a factor to improve our approach to physical, mental and sleep healthcare.
2. Evaluate the history of cannabis and it’s cultural, industrial and medicinal uses throughout time.
3. Inspect the differences in terminology used when discussing the cannabis/hemp plant and its chemical compounds.
4. Evaluate the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and it’s importance in regulating many biological systems.
5. Investigate cannabinoid research and therapeutic applications of cannabis in treating pain, sleep and mental health disorders.
6. Investigate the process of cultivation, extracting and processing the cannabis plant into cannabinoid products and the importance of testing at each stage.
7. Appraise our current understanding of how cannabinoid products are digested and metabolized and the advancements in cannabinoid science to improve their bioavailability.
8. Formulate the steps for understanding CBD label claims and consider the factors that affect CBD consuming guidelines.
9. Inspect the role cannabis/hemp plant medicine has in the future of healthcare.

Outline

Plant Based Science: The Cannabis Plant

• Cannabis vs hemp
• Minor vs major cannabinoids
• Sources: endo, phyto, synthetic 
• ECS Receptors

Cannabinoid Research + Therapeutic Applications

• Pain, sleep and mental health
• Cannabinoid based medications 
• Mechanisms of action: receptors, enzymes, transcription
• Opioid sparing effect
• Potential negative impacts of heavy recreational use: Cannabis use disorder

Safety Considerations

• Implications for dosage 
• Dependence, withdrawal and adverse events
• Drug interactions: THC, CBD, Cannabis
• FDA “unknowns”

From Seed to Shelf

• Current testing protocols
  • Microbial contamination
  • Heavy metal testing
  • Pesticide screening
• Critical importance of residual solvent analysis
• Trace THC testing
• Product terminology differences between full spectrum, broad spectrum, distilate, and isolate
• Potency
• How to determine quality of product
• Does “certified organic farming” actually mean anything?

Cannabinoid Metabolism & Navigating the Labels

• Routes of administration and their absorption
• Water soluble products 
• Consumption guidelines
• Future direction and implications

Target Audience

• Physical Therapists
• Physical Therapy Assistants
• Occupational Therapists
• Occupational Therapy Assistants

Copyright : 03/01/2021

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Whole Person Health: Connecting our Physical and Mental Health to the World Around Us

Helping our patients and clients with their pain, sleep and mental health issues continues to be one of the biggest opportunities for health professionals today.  Our current healthcare system is struggling to address the very essence of what it means to be human; we are unique. Personalized care is a struggle to provide in a system full of reference ranges and ‘normals’.  

This course will take you on a journey to understand how we have arrived at our current definition of ‘health’ and how history has shaped how we view what it means to be ‘healthy’. You will be challenged to think outside the box on your current beliefs about physical and mental ‘health’ and how they define our ‘internal world’.  You will explore the implications our ‘external world’ (our environment, relationships and beliefs) can have on our ability to heal. 

An ecosystem approach to health will be presented as a framework for understanding how our body, mind, space and beliefs shape our ‘health’. You will be left with a new found hope in how you help your patients and clients achieve more harmony in their lives; and you just may find more in yours. 

Program Information

Objectives

1. Investigate what it means to be “healthy” and discuss the current ways our healthcare system looks at a patient’s ‘health’.
2. Assess the significance of pain, sleep and mental health disorders in America and the potential crisis we face if we continue to treat them in an isolated fashion.
3. Assess how the history of healthcare in America has shaped how we view ‘health’ today.
4. Develop an ecosystem approach to health to include a person’s body, mind, relationships, environment and beliefs.
5. Evaluate the Endocannabinoid system (ECS) and discuss its role as our body’s homeostatic regulator amongst multiple biological systems.
6. Investigate the task positive network (TPN) and default mode network (DMN) and discuss its role in anxiety, stress, and depression.
7. Demonstrate how relationships, environment and community impact health and how essential they are to our overall well-being.
8. Investigate the science of belief, awe and faith and its impact on healing.
9. Formulate common sense approaches to improving the health of a person’s ecosystem by redefining ‘what is medicine’.

Outline

Our Health and How That is Defined

• How to know if ourselves or our patients are healthy?
• Overview of typical methods of ‘health’ analysis
• Importance of assessing patients during everyday life
• Discuss the term ‘fringe’ as it applies to healthcare professionals
• Addressing chronic pain and opioid crisis
• Sleep disorders in America and the long term risks associated with them
• Mental illness crisis and natural and safe solutions for treatment

Reframing our Problems: Pain is a Tool for Learning

• Chronic or ‘unchecked’ inflammation 
• How an impaired allostatic response affects our physiology
• Circadian rhythms and healthy sleep cycles
• Identify the impact of the Flexner Report on modern medicine
• Seyle’s General Adaptation Syndrome 
• Biopsychosocial Model
• Complex systems theory and more ‘whole person’ approach to healthcare

Health Ecosystem: Body & Mind

• Inner (body and mind) & outer world (relationships, environment and beliefs)
• Endocannabinoid system (ECS)
  • ECS receptors, their locations and their functions in our body
  • The body’s own endocannabinoids and their functions
  • Effect on inflammation, circadian rhythms, and allostasis
  • Effects on the limbic system, HPA axis, and the hormonal system
• Explore the effects of impaired allostasis on our overall health 
• Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency
• Impact of emotions on learning, attention, focus, and memories
• Dopamine and its effect on happiness
• Hedonia vs. eudaimonia
• Task positive network (TPN) and default mode network (DMN) 
  • Their roles in anxiety, stress, and depression
• Impact of the mind on pain, stress, and sleep

Health Ecosystem: Space 

• Social baseline theory
• Oxytocin - the social molecule
• Importance of movement and exercise in group settings
• Family, marriage, and communities impact on health and how essential community is to our overall well-being
• Explore nature’s positive impact on health vs. negative impacts from modern culture
• Subconscious stimulus response pathway
• Western vs. Eastern medicine
• Loneliness and its effect on cancer, heart disease, and respiratory problems
• Scientific literature review on relationships/environment and health

Health Ecosystem: Belief 

• Consciousness as mankind's greatest achievement
• Explore ‘awe’ as a concept of straddling science and uncertainty
• Impact of religion/belief on mortality
• Explore faith and its impact on healing
• Scientific literature review on belief and health

Ecosystem in Real Life: Working Together to Understand and Personalize Care 

• Explore the Ecosystem as a model for understanding the pillars of our health - Body, mind, space, and belief
• Proprioception vs. interoception
• Ways to boost emotional intelligence
• Mindfulness and its positive effect on immune health, cortisol levels, inflammation, and blood pressure
• Common sense medicine for improving our overall health
  • Breathing
  • Movement
  • Touch
  • Plants 
  • Sleep
  • Laughter
  • Community

Target Audience

• Doctor of Chiropractic
• Doctor of Physical Therapy
• Physical Therapist
• Physical Therapy Assistant
• Occupational Therapist
• Occupational Therapy Assistant
• Massage Therapist
• Athletic Trainer
• Licensed Acupuncturist
• Medical Doctor
• Osteopathic Doctor
• Physician Assistants
• Naturopathic Doctor
• Registered Nurse
• Nurse Practitioner
• Clinical Nurse Specialists
• Registered Dietician 
• Registered Dietician Nutritionist
• Other Health Professionals

Copyright : 03/02/2021

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