Sowing SEEDS to Raise Migraine Threshold Course

This 2-hour course offers healthcare providers a tool to help patients with migraine manage their symptoms by teaching them about behavioral prevention strategies, using SEEDS, and helping them to implement these strategies into their life. There are lifestyle behaviors that have been found to help reduce and prevent migraine. These lifestyle behaviors have been organized into an acronym to make up the word SEEDS:

Sleep
Exercise
Eat
Drink
Stress reduction

The acronym was originally coined by Larry Newman, MD (NYU Langone Medical Center). With the collaboration of Dr. Newman and other colleagues, Dr. Farrell has expanded on this concept as a treatment guideline for her patients and to help providers implement it in their practice.

For successful migraine management, all healthcare providers who care for patients with migraine need to provide this type of patient education. Teaching this information can be daunting for the provider due to time limitations and overwhelming for patients due to the potential number of behaviors that may need to be addressed. Based on incorporating the literature with this topic, Dr. Farrell uses her experiences with this patient population to help healthcare providers successfully educate patients about behavioral prevention strategies.

Course Objectives:

After completion of this course, participants will be able to:

List the migraine intervention options to understand the scope of education needed for patients with migraine.
Explain behavioral prevention strategies using SEEDS, to encourage patients to implement behaviors that will raise their migraine threshold and reduce their migraine symptoms.
Recognize some barriers that prevent patient education for the migraine population and determine a plan to overcome these barriers.
Prepare a plan of care to promote behaviors that help prevent migraine.
Determine the need for referral to a specialist.

About Dr. Lisa Farrell

Dr. Lisa Farrell is a licensed physical therapist, certified athletic trainer, and certified meditation instructor. For over 20 years of her 30+ year physical therapy career, she has focused on treating adults with vestibular and balance problems. She earned her Ph.D. in Physical Therapy from the University of Miami. At Nova Southeastern University, she is a regular guest lecturer in the Audiology Department and for the interdisciplinary medical team within the Sports Medicine clinic. She has been adjunct faculty in Nova’s Physical Therapy Department for many years. She has also been a faculty member for the APTA’s Vestibular Rehabilitation: A Competency-Based Course for over 20 years and served as a co-director of this program from 2013-2022.

In 2017, Dr. Farrell founded Symmetry Alliance, LLC, a consulting firm that provides program development and continuing education for rehabilitation professionals so that she can contribute to helping communities improve their medical care for patients with vestibular pathology. Dr. Farrell has expanded her knowledge to provide qualified training in meditation and mindfulness. She became a certified instructor through the McLean Meditation Institute© in 2020 after observing how her daily meditation practice, as well as the lessons she provided her patients, provides numerous benefits. Dr. Farrell’s professional goal is always to learn and grow to provide the highest standard of teaching and care possible and, to the greatest extent possible, pass on her knowledge to the next generation.