You're listening to the PG Pinecast,
where smart people in healthcare come to
make noise.
Here's your host, Jimmy McKay.
Well, this is the first,
if you're watching the live stream,
haven't had outfits like this.
I'll describe,
but let me kick this thing off.
They've presented at state conferences in
costume,
championed the fastest growing support
America,
and now they're storming the national
stage with a session guaranteed to wake up
even the groggiest Friday morning crowd.
From clever titles to courtside wisdom,
they're bringing a paddle-powered
conversation to
to APTA's Combined Sections meeting.
We've got Kristen Walls and Diane Fleming.
Ladies, welcome aboard.
Thanks for having us.
So let me set the stage.
I've got to describe it for the podcast
listeners.
Both of you, well, Diane, you're wearing,
it looks like a ball made of pickle
is the costume.
Correct.
I love it.
Yeah, Z-Ball made a pickle.
And then, Kristen,
you look like you are the official mascot
for the sport of pickleball.
Just a large,
oversized Halloween costume with a pickle
holding a paddle and the word pickleball.
Pickleball club.
Love the fact that...
Love the fact, oh, you're the racket.
That's a racket.
That's your out.
Okay, so you're the pickleball.
Got it now.
I'm a podcast host.
I'm a little slow.
Got it.
That's a paddle.
Your costume is shaped like a paddle.
Okay,
so now that we got that out of
the way, you guys are giving a talk.
This all makes sense.
You guys just didn't decide to wear the
costumes.
It all comes back.
You guys have a session at CSM called
What's the Dill?
Uh-huh.
With pickleball.
Uh-huh.
Anybody?
I love puns.
Where's this start?
We got here.
This is close to the end.
Diane, where's this start?
What's the deal?
I think what is so great about this,
Kristen and I worked side-by-side for a
while in an outpatient facility.
I was geriatric.
Well,
I still have my board-certified geriatric
specialist.
She's board-certified in sports.
You know,
there was so much crossover between the
two and with Pickleball being on the rise,
it felt like the best time for a
crossover.
Yeah.
So many, you know, it's listen,
everybody loves an underdog.
Everybody loves the new thing.
And then the new thing becomes, oh, gosh,
I don't understand the hate to Pickleball.
I played it a few times.
It's not my complete jam.
I'm not playing it every other day,
but I totally get why people are into
it.
It's fun if you like those sort of
things and it's not a lot of equipment
required for setup.
I know my little town,
tiny little town pivoted and threw up like
four courts in what seemed like a month
and a half.
This thing turned around really quick.
Kristen,
why pickleball and why now for physical
therapists and healthcare professionals?
Some of the things I said,
catch the rising star, right?
I mean, jump on the thing that's rising,
right?
Right.
Right, definitely.
I think we saw a gap in literature
and in presentations on this.
There's actually not been a presentation
on this on the sports side or the
geriatric side.
But this year at CSM,
sports will actually be doing the same
topic.
And so will we.
And USA Pickleball is going to try to
collaborate and be upon sight.
So, yeah, I think now is the time.
We're seeing an increase in injuries.
from these athletes.
And so I think physical therapists need to
be ready to treat and care for these
athletes.
Yeah, agreed.
I've heard before.
Do you need to be a volleyball player
to treat volleyball players?
I'm not discounting sports-specific
knowledge.
I'm sure there's smarter people than me.
But listen,
if people are going to be walking into
your clinics with injuries from
pickleball... And listen,
it involves moving and pickles and
paddles.
I mean,
just the head injuries alone from someone
letting go one of those things...
you should at least understand the physics
of the sport, how it works,
what might be overused, what just,
just so you, you know,
almost like what to expect if you're
expecting a pickleball injury to walk into
your clinic.
Um, so Diane,
how have patients or communities responded
to pickleball as part of rehab or activity
promotion?
That's gotta be part of your conversation.
You know, I,
I wish that was more of the conversation,
but I feel like the,
how it got more into the field was
on the injury side because it got so
popular so fast people who hadn't been
active their whole lives are suddenly
active again and uh you know some had
never played sports some had been athletes
growing up but having you know those ones
that didn't have fundamentals were getting
not just like a little sprain here and
there they're getting achilles ruptures or
you know tearing rotator cuffs or getting
eye injuries there's a lot of
concussions, like you said, you know,
there's from falls there's, I think,
and with it being such an inclusive sport
regardless of age you know, it's very,
you know, you know,
young people and old people play together
and, you know, at different levels,
you know,
depending on your rating and your score
that, you know,
when you get in this like competitive
field that they're starting to get a
little more active and they're not,
some people aren't quite ready for it.
So that's,
I think that's how it got a little
more introduced into like the PT realm.
Listen, this thing went from like funny,
goofy backyard sport to ESPN holding
championships on TV in like, you know,
the time it took to make a ham
sandwich with a little bit of a dill
spear on the side.
This was quick and it exploded.
It's not hard to understand the rules,
right?
They're simple relatively, right?
A couple extra rules different than
tennis, but a little more access.
And the funny part was people were
resisting, which I thought was humorous.
We're always saying, hey,
do more and be active.
And here was a bunch of people who
were like,
let's go whack this little big wiffle ball
around.
And people were like, oh, my God,
they were up in arms.
But that's just what happens.
People hate the popular thing,
and they can hate the popular thing all
they want.
You guys are still going to do this.
So you guys have...
correct me if I'm wrong,
you've dressed up in costume and presented
before.
What did that moment say about how we
should teach or present in PT?
I mean,
obviously you're going to walk out there.
We're going to get some giggles,
but like coming from my world,
doing something in a novel way is step
one.
You have to win attention before you get
attention.
So what does that sort of say about
how we present?
Do we all need to be wearing shirt
and ties or should we be just up
like a giant pickleball paddle more often?
You know,
I think one of our big points.
Yeah, I don't know.
Can you hear me?
You're good.
One of our friends and we just really
wanted to bring the fun back.
So conferencing can be kind of dry and
dull and boring.
We wanted people to laugh doing squat
tests in their chair,
almost blowing their pants out.
We wanted to make it fun.
Not only do we make it fun for
our patients,
we need to make it fun for ourselves.
Agreed.
Listen,
Kirsten just set the bar and she set
it high.
If someone doesn't leave that presentation
with a blowout in their pants,
then I think you guys have missed the
mark.
So no pressure.
You are setting a high bar.
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All right.
So what do you hope people will feel
besides maybe a blowout in the seams of
their pants during your CSM session?
What the deal?
Diane,
what's what do you want people to walk
away with?
What's the what's the exit goal?
My hope is that when people hear the
word geriatric, they don't think hospital,
they don't think dying.
They don't think their best years are past
them.
I want people to think like, you know,
we want, we want physical,
we want life across the lifespan.
And that's what I'm hoping to convey with
this, that, you know,
that there's physical therapy is so fun on
all stages and that, you know,
Your soul,
just because your body is eight years old,
your soul never changes.
There is so much to still, gosh,
the competitiveness of some of the older
athletes that you see.
It's very inspiring.
It gives you hope.
It gives you what you can really look
forward to with aging.
I love that.
How will you know success, Kristen?
What does success look like to you or
feel like to you?
I think to see across settings come in,
not just geriatrics,
but sports and neuro and students and
everyone in between to come in and engage
in this hot topic.
I think the other fun part with this
is we will actually see this probably be
an Olympic sport soon.
So I think in like twenty thirty perhaps.
You just can't believe it, can you, Jimmy?
Yeah, it's good to be there.
There's no way it's not going to be
there.
I mean, the Olympics are smart.
The Olympics understand what game they're
in.
They're in the attention game as well.
It didn't have to ferment.
It did not have to percolate.
This thing went from,
is this kind of fun,
to literally everybody and their mom are
doing it,
which is sort of something that PT wants
to glom onto.
Let's take a different pivot.
We'll go with Diane first and then
Kristen.
Same question.
Let's say a physical therapist listening
wants to pitch a non-traditional topic
like you did
at a future conference,
what advice would you give them?
What were the things that you maybe did
right to get this goofy, silly thing,
and I'm using air quotes,
to maybe pass some of the people who
are a little more traditional?
We need, in my opinion,
we need more people dressed like giant
pickleballs, right?
But how do we make sure that the
person gatekeeping in a good way,
you getting on that stage,
can see what the outcome is?
So what advice would you give for someone
who's like, I got a crazy idea,
but I don't know how to get it
on stage, Diane?
I think, you know,
your passion for your project is
important.
If you, especially if you have the idea,
what was great about like having like
Kristen by my side was like this sports
and geriatric and all put together.
So I feel like having, you know,
it was not something that was just
isolated to one group, but lean into it.
I think if you go for, you know,
what you're really aiming, like, yeah,
I think if you can target your audience,
know who your audience is and go for
it.
Yeah,
that's a communications and marketing
angle, but it's a PT angle as well,
right?
Right.
I think Chris has got a little snow,
so we'll stay with you, Diane.
I think the paddle just hit the microphone
a little too hard.
We're going to play a quick game called
Pickle or Pass.
Are you ready for this?
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So here's the game, Diane.
It's multiple choice.
I'm going to toss you some topics.
You tell me whether you're all in, pickle,
or if you'll skip it, pass.
We'll bring Kristen back in.
Kristen, can you hear us now?
Yes.
All right, personal.
We're playing a game called Pickle or
Pass.
I'm going to toss you some topics.
You tell me if you're all in, pick,
and just scream out, pickle,
or if you skip it, pass.
And then feel free to explain maybe why.
Number one, hosting a seven a.m.
session at CSM, pickle or pass?
She's passing.
She jumped out of the live stream.
Passed.
Yeah, seven a.m.
is early.
Good thing you're coming from Columbus and
we're going to L.A.
It's going to be later in your brain,
so we're going to be okay.
Let's see.
PT's treating patients on the pickleball
court.
Pickle or pass?
Pickle.
Heck yeah.
Why?
I mean,
where else are you going to really test
their skill?
I mean, gosh.
I had a patient shot putter,
a sixty-eight-year-old shot putter for the
Senior Olympics.
I went and met up with her at
a local high school one afternoon and we
just went through together.
But, I mean, why not?
You're going to see the best mechanics
there.
I mean,
if you can't set it up in your
gym, yeah, go for it.
Love it.
Playing pickleball in running shoes.
Are there special shoes for pickleball?
I am not aware.
So, because the court is smaller,
the shoes are supposed to fight.
inversion a little bit so they're a little
bit more built up but I think it's
fine to wear tennis shoes pass on the
special shoes save yourself I always tell
people listen if you want to start a
podcast wait till episode twenty before
you buy anything fancy I'd say wait till
you know fifty matches in pickleball
before you go buy any specific pickleball
clothing or shoes or you can get like
a four hundred dollar racket yeah
uh let we got two uh we got
two more serving underhand in life pickle
or pass i don't even know what that
means i'm gonna say pass okay smart and
what is the deal is because you have
to serve a certain way and pick a
ball it's not like a regular tennis thing
overhand the ball has to bounce before you
hit it and it has to like bounce
on their side but um i mean i
mean
I feel like when you serve overhand,
right, that's more power,
that's more intentional.
Got it.
All right, last question.
Wearing costumes to present research,
pickle or pass?
Wearing costumes to present research.
Dil Gherkin.
Yeah, I would go all over that.
There was a research competition by,
I can't remember,
like NIH or something like that,
where they had a competition.
You had to dance your research.
You had to do a dance video.
And I remember a physical therapist,
we had her on the show,
Margaret Danilovich, won a huge prize.
I think it was NIH.
It was something legit.
And she had to dance her research.
And she got real...
This is years ago before we all made
goofy videos every ten minutes.
She put a lot of time and effort
into that.
All right.
Last thing we do on the show.
Kristen knows this,
even if she's dressed like a pickleball
paddle is the parting shot.
This is the parting shot.
One last mic drop moment.
No pressure.
Just your legacy on the line.
Shop brought to you by our friends at
U.S.
Physical Therapy,
a national network of clinics focused on
developing clinicians,
not burning them out, leadership tracks,
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If you want a place that supports how
you want to practice, that is USPH.
Find them online at USPH.com.
Kristen, while we got you, parting shop,
what is your thing you want to leave
with the audience?
I don't know if she can hear us.
Diane, you're up.
Parting shot.
What do you got?
We're going to pivot.
I think what I want for people to
come to this because it has a little
something for everybody.
It's got sports.
It's got geriatrics.
It's got kinematics.
It's got risk factors.
It's got interventions.
There's everything you would want to learn
about in the pickleball room.
And two women dressed.
And ready to play.
Perfect.
All right.
We're having some audio video issues with
Kristen.
So we lost her right there.
But listen,
make sure people understand when they can
visit too.
When is the session?
Yeah, our session is Friday morning,
eight a.m.
We'll see you bright and early.
Listen, if you're going to be at CSM,
it's like Vegas.
It's a twenty four hour clock.
Diane,
thanks for doing this and making it fun.
You've already lowered the resistance bar
for getting people the barrier to entry.
You're you're you're keeping it down low.
That's right.
Keep it fun.
Always less than one for Diane and
Kristen.
Thanks for coming out.
That's it for this one,
but we're just getting warmed up.
Smash follow, send it to a friend,
or crank up the next episode.
Want to go deeper?
Hit us at pgpinecast.com.
Or find us on YouTube and socials at
pgpinecast.
And legally, none of this was advice.
It's for entertainment purposes only.
Bullshit!
See, Keith?
We read the script.
Happy now?