ConnectTherapy™ & the Foot-Ankle Complex
A whole-person approach to optimizing the foot/ankle complex & its connections to the thorax.
Looking for a simple yet powerful way to assess and treat the foot and ankle — one that finally changes feet you’d been taught were “structural” and unchangeable? Come learn a whole-person, clinical-reasoning framework to find the Driver, know exactly who will respond to foot/ankle treatment, and make your current techniques more effective and efficient.
Full Bundle Tuition
Early Bird price · +5% GST · ends September 25, 2026
- 10+ hours of self-paced virtual content
- 2.5 days hands-on in North Vancouver
- 12-month practical resource library
Questions? Email the registrar.
Why do some feet never change — no matter how good the protocol?
A subgroup of patients with recurrent tendinopathies, stress fractures, and other load-related problems keep struggling despite following all the latest research-based protocols. And foot/ankle dysfunction can be a significant contributor to pelvic floor problems — the reason your specific pelvic floor interventions aren’t fully effective. The missing piece usually isn’t a better technique. It’s a framework that tells you where to treat.
Local foot, local treatment
The foot is treated as the site of the problem — orthotics, wobble boards, and therabands applied to every presentation, with “structural” feet written off as unchangeable. But pain and structure alone don’t tell you whether the foot/ankle is actually the source of your patient’s problem.
Find the Driver, treat the whole person
ConnectTherapy™ gives you a predictive algorithm — the Drivers Diagnostic Chart™ — to identify when the foot/ankle complex is the Primary Driver, whether it’s symptomatic or not. You’ll know who responds immediately to foot/ankle treatment, and who needs treatment elsewhere to optimise loads through the foot.
- Recurrent tendinopathies — Achilles, tibialis posterior, and peroneal problems that don’t settle despite best-practice loading.
- Stress fractures & load-related injuries — that keep recurring no matter the protocol.
- “Structural,” unchangeable feet — pes planus, pes cavus, and forefoot presentations considered fixed.
- Plantar heel pain & plantar fasciopathy — that plateaus and keeps coming back.
- Pelvic floor symptoms — where the foot/ankle is the missing Driver behind incontinence, prolapse, and pelvic pain.
- Recurrent ankle sprains & chronic instability — that outlast the usual balance work.
- Balance & agility deficits — that don’t improve with the obvious interventions.
- Footwear, support & orthotic decisions — knowing with confidence when and what to prescribe.
A whole-body, whole-person framework
This course is part of LJ’s ConnectTherapy™ model. It goes far beyond releasing a stiff joint or prescribing an orthotic — it opens up a new framework that makes your current techniques more effective and efficient, and changes what your treatment can do for the foot and ankle.
Is the foot/ankle the Primary Driver?
Use the ConnectTherapy Drivers Diagnostic Chart™ predictive algorithm to rule the foot/ankle in or out as the Primary Driver — symptomatic or not — and know with confidence who will respond immediately to treatment there.
The foot/ankle & the thorax
Learn how the thorax and foot/ankle are related and connected through a variety of mechanisms — and how optimizing one changes loads and function through the other.
Change what was “structural”
Release and train Foot/Ankle Drivers to make changes previously considered impossible, then make clear decisions about footwear, support, and orthotics to hold those gains.
One course, three components
LJ has restructured the ConnectTherapy Series into shorter, more flexible courses. This course brings together content from what was previously “Part 2” and “Part 3” of the Series — giving you time to review the lecture content online at your own pace, then join LJ for the practical skills in person, with a video library to carry it all back into your clinic.
10+ hours, self-paced
Lectures and demonstrations you watch at your own pace. Complete them before the in-person weekend so you arrive ready for hands-on practice.
2.5 days in North Vancouver
Hands-on assessment and treatment skills with LJ and the assisting team. A high instructor-to-participant ratio means real feedback on every technique.
Practical video library
A library of videos illustrating the practical techniques and concepts — so you can keep refining your application long after the weekend ends.
What you’ll learn & practise
By the end of this course you’ll have new tools to assess the foot and ankle, enhanced perceptive abilities to see where and how the foot is non-optimal, and new treatment techniques to release and train Foot/Ankle Drivers for better function across multiple activities.
New tools to assess the foot/ankle
Learn a new way of looking at integrated foot/ankle function that considers influences from the rest of the body above, in a structured, clinical-reasoning format.
- Innovative assessment: new assessment techniques created by Dr. LJ Lee for the foot/ankle complex.
- Perceptive skills: enhanced hands-on and visual perception to see where and how the foot is non-optimal during functional tasks.
- Function first: cut through the maze of conflicting terminology in the foot/ankle literature with a patient-centred, research-grounded lens.
Identify the Foot/Ankle Driver
Use the diagnostic process to rule the foot/ankle in — or out — as the Primary Driver of your patient’s problem.
- The Drivers Diagnostic Chart™ Algorithm: work through the ConnectTherapy™ predictive algorithm to determine a Primary Foot/Ankle Driver or Co-Driver.
- Symptomatic or not: identify when the foot/ankle is the Driver whether or not it is the site of symptoms.
- Who responds: know with confidence who will respond immediately and positively to foot/ankle treatment, and who requires treatment elsewhere to optimise loads through the foot.
Release & train Foot/Ankle Drivers
Practise the specific treatment techniques LJ developed to change function in the foot and ankle.
- Innovative techniques: release and train Foot/Ankle Drivers with hands-on treatment techniques developed by LJ.
- Change the “unchangeable”: make changes to feet previously considered structural and fixed.
- Thorax connections: use the connections between the thorax and foot/ankle to make your treatment more effective and efficient across multiple activities.
Footwear, orthotics & exercise progression
Make confident decisions about support, and progress exercise in a way that goes beyond the usual foot/ankle programs.
- Footwear decisions: understand the role of footwear and how to make decisions about support and orthotics.
- Beyond theraband & wobble boards: a logical exercise progression with fresh ideas that go further than the usual foot/ankle programs.
- Into the clinic: new tools that transfer directly into better outcomes for all your patients with foot/ankle problems.
Dr. Linda-Joy Lee
PhD, BScPT, FCAMPT
Dr. LJ Lee
LJ is known internationally for her whole-person, whole-body approach to physiotherapy. For more than two decades, her clinical practice and research have focused on how one region of the body drives function and dysfunction in another — the biomechanics, the motor control, the pain science, and the connections between areas as far apart as the thorax and the foot. That work produced ConnectTherapy™ and the Thoracic Ring Approach™: models built to answer the questions that kept coming up in her own clinic, and in the clinics of the physiotherapists she teaches.
A physiotherapy graduate and Wesbrook Scholar from the University of British Columbia, LJ became a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Manipulative Physiotherapy (FCAMPT) in 1999 and completed her PhD at the University of Queensland in 2013. Her assessment framework, Meaningful Task Analysis, became a core feature of both the Integrated Systems Model and ConnectTherapy™ — allowing clinicians to determine when a pain-free but dysfunctional region is the actual cause of pain or load-related problems elsewhere.
An active researcher and educator, LJ is an Associate Editor for the British Journal of Sports Medicine and holds academic roles with McMaster University and the University of Melbourne. She loves creating supportive learning environments where clinicians can challenge their reasoning and see movement in a more connected way.
Learn from LJ and the Team
Our high instructor-to-participant ratio is what makes the in-person weekend work. You’ll get hands-on feedback throughout, so every technique transfers into your clinic.
Dr. Linda-Joy Lee
Course Instructor
Felicity Klimstra
Lead Assistant
Rachel Wong
Assistant
Everything you need to plan your weekend
Venue & parking
Dr. Linda-Joy Lee International | Institute for Physiotherapy & Movement
203 – 267 West Esplanade Avenue, North Vancouver, BC V7M 1A5 · 604.986.2777
Just a 5-minute walk from the Seabus (Lonsdale Quay). Pay parking is available at the outdoor WestPark lot next to our building (look for the green and yellow sign); limited free parking is available on the residential streets 4–5 blocks away.
Dates, duration & cost
5-Day Course: 2 self-paced virtual days (complete before the weekend) plus 2.5 in-person days, November 20–22, 2026. Registration opens 11:45am Friday.
Tuition: $1,825 CAD + 5% GST.
Early Bird: $1,675 CAD + 5% GST until September 25, 2026.
Daily schedule
There is a 1-hour lunch break each day.
What to bring
- A good anatomy book (Netter) or app (Visible Body), and a foot bone model if you have one.
- Lab clothing: shorts or pants that allow examination of the whole body. Please wear a normal bra or bikini top — not a sports bra or a t-back / racer-back that covers the thoracic spine. An open-back one-piece can also work well.
Food & refreshments
Lunch and snacks aren’t provided, but there’s a 1-hour lunch break and plenty within a 5-minute walk — including the Lonsdale Quay Public Market (coffee, snacks, fresh foods) and Tao Organics for vegan, raw, organic food.
We’ll have coffee, tea, and water on hand — please bring your own travel mug and water bottle.
Reserve Your Place
Virtual + In-Person · North Vancouver, BC · November 20–22, 2026
How to enrol
Register and pay online, then start your virtual content right away — complete the 10+ hours before joining LJ in North Vancouver.
Enrol & pay online
Secure your spot through the registration form — Early Bird pricing applies until September 25.
Start the virtual content
Get access to the 10+ hours of online lectures and demonstrations, ready to watch at your own pace.
Join LJ in North Vancouver
Arrive ready for 2.5 days of hands-on practice with LJ and the team.
Questions? Email the registrar.
Prerequisite for this course
Completion of both the Virtual and In-Person components of the ConnectTherapy™ & the Thorax course is required before taking ConnectTherapy™ & the Foot-Ankle Complex.
ConnectTherapy™ alumni discounts
Graduates of the ConnectTherapy™ Series receive 15% off; ConnectTherapy™ Certified Practitioners receive 20% off. Discounts cannot be combined with other offers. Email the registrar for details.
Already completed the Virtual component?
If you’ve previously completed the 10-hour Virtual component of ConnectTherapy™ & the Foot/Ankle Complex, you only need to register and pay for the In-Person component (which comes with Resource Library access). Email us for a registration form.