Anything in life is possible, if you make it happen. Jack LaLanne
By Rich Dubin, Publisher
It is hard to believe that we are celebrating 13 years…that’s right, Lower Extremity Review turns 13 this month and I am so grateful for everyone who has participated in our success. This publication was born out of a belief that this market deserves a unique voice, one that speaks to all corners of it – from podiatrists to sports medicine specialists, from physical therapists to orthotists, from prosthetists to biomechanists, from wound care experts to athletic trainers. And we strive everyday to collaborate with authors and content creators from every corner because we really do believe that collaborative care leads to better outcomes.
When I see how far we have come, and what all lies ahead, I am very excited and deeply appreciative of all those who have generously shared anecdotes, criticisms (mostly constructive), stories, and ‘advice,’ and have referred us to authors and new partners. We believe in continuous improvement here and we need your input to keep the innovations coming.
We also believe in making things happen. Despite the pandemic, heck maybe because the pandemic, we were able to launch lerEXPO, our online events platform where we host the most fun educational events on the planet! It’s true, read our reviews! I’d been working with this idea on and off for more than 5 years and was this close – then BAM! – the pandemic strikes and I figured, leap of faith, go for it. And launch we did – in June 2020. Since then, we’ve been promoting and hosting a progressively larger number of monthly educational events on a range of topics with a range of experts. Visit lerEXPO.com to sign up for upcoming events and to have access to past events as well. Everything is recorded so if you can’t make the main event, you can at least hear it later. Get CEs in your own home, on your own screen, in your own time – and you get to set the dress code! We’ve had great response, with over 7000 attendees online for all our events averaging over 400 for a single event – that’s the size of an in-person meeting plenary session; so, you get to meet new people, address professional requirements while learning something new, and all with no travel expenses.
Hosting and moderating the sessions on lerEXPO has been a real growth experience for me, but one I am enjoying embracing. Caring for the lower extremity requires a village and I never ceased to be amazed how when I’m dealing with one expert on a topic, they generously tell me who else’s opinion I should seek out and why. Every lerEXPO session proves that relationships matter. And I am grateful to acknowledge all those who have participated in lerEXPO events and hope we get to work with you again. It’s been a blast on my end, and from the reviews, we’re pretty certain that the audience is thrilled with the educational platform as well.
And then we were able to launch lerMARKETPLACE, an online trade show like no other because there truly isn’t anything like it out there that we are aware of. It’s an opportunity for online-users to get information about a product straight from the manufacturer via an online interface – it’s more than a webpage, it’s your personal channel for getting answers to critical product-related questions in a timely manner.
For the long-term, we’re developing lerEDUCATE which will continue to provide online CEs in a learning management system and lerAUDIO which will be the next level of digital conversation with authors and product specialists. I say this to show you how committed we are to helping you grow.
lerEXPERT continues to help practice owners hone their business and marketing game to stay relevant in the today’s fast-paced market.
All of this growth is made possible by the continued support from readers and advertisers of our flagship magazine, Lower Extremity Review. As you’ll read in the Editorial Observations piece (page 13) by our editor, Janice Radak, we will be adding a 5th pillar to our editorial coverage, ‘Movement is essential.’ As our understanding of the role of physical activity and movement in general grows, the need to encourage your clients to move physically gets more real every day. LER’s goal will be to provide the most recent evidence supporting that guidance so you can feel confident in the recommendations that you make. Janice works with authors from around the world and is happy to talk to you if have a story idea – reach out to her at ja****@*********ne.com for a chat.
If this was a birthday party, now would be time for the big wish and blowing out the candles on the cake. But I’ll just take this moment to thank all of the authors who have provided content, all of the manufacturers who have provided support and sponsorships, and all of the readers and online users who have shown support of this little magazine for all these years.
I am truly humbled and forever grateful to be surrounded by such great people who all share the same goal: to make things happen to keep the lower extremity functional and safe.
Happy birthday to us!
