EDSed Episode 2: Dr. Lilian Holm on Physical Therapy & EDS

EDSed is our new series of full-length interviews with international EDS experts. These educational interview series with journalistic (news) quality is complementary to our webinar recordings and another free resource we provide for our community. All films are produced by journalist and We Are Visible filmmaker Karina Sturm and sponsored by Chronic Pain Partners.

You can find all our films here:

https://vimeo.com/ehlersdanlosawareness

EDSed Showcase here:

https://vimeo.com/showcase/9920907

In episode 2, we talked with Dr. Lilian Holm, PT, DPT, who provides individualized Physical Therapy services as well as Health and Wellness Coaching, drawing on over 27 years of experience in many prestigious Chicagoland clinics. She has had the honor of facilitating the journey of numerous people toward health, well-being and a higher quality of life. She is passionate about providing care of the highest quality, and decided to go into private practice when she realized that the traditional clinical model didn’t always allow the clinician to put patients and their needs first. Her unique approach incorporates physical therapy with a broader understanding of the human body and mind and lifestyle factors that are important and often necessary to achieve patient goals.

In this interview, Holm shares her decades of experience in treating people with the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders. She talks about what motivated her to become a physical therapist specializing in EDS, what approaches she uses to treat someone with the condition, and how people with EDS can reach their physical therapy goals. 

EDSed Episode 2: Dr. Lilian Holm on Physical Therapy with EDS:

Accessibility: 

Video Description: At the beginning, two black screens with white and pink text appear: Chronic Pain Partners presents EDSed with Dr. Lilian Holm on EDS & Physical Therapy. Dr. Lilian Holm, a woman with shoulder-long brown hair and bangs, is sitting in her office, which is a large room with a turquoise wall behind her and an open fireplace. She sits on a beige chair and wears a black shirt and a delicate golden necklace. In the background is a treatment bench in the foreground two red flowers. 

Dr. Holm answers the following questions: As a medical professional, what motivated you to learn about EDS? What are the benefits or disadvantages of having EDS yourself as a PT? Why is it so important to find a PT who is knowledgeable about EDS? Can you describe what approach you use when treating someone with EDS? What treatment methods can help improve joint stability? What is the next step once core stability is accomplished? Is it possible for a person with EDS to be able to do “regular” sports, too? Is manual therapy good or bad for people with EDS? What other treatments/activities should people with EDS avoid? What influence do comorbid conditions have on the treatment outcome? What about Chiari, CCI and Tethered Cord? How much pain is normal during/after exercising? How long does it take to see improvement? What would a typical exercise protocol look like? How do I best work with a PT who is not (yet) an expert on EDS? What should PTs understand about people with EDS? If you could give only one piece of advice to the EDS community, what would that be?