Modern MSK – Cervical Thoracic Management Course

This two-part course is designed for novice physiotherapists who are interested in learning advanced spinal assessment and spinal manipulations.

Following the on-line course, participants will attend a weekend intensive course to gain the skills of assessment and manipulation of the Cervical and Thoracic spine. This course will focus on the clinical reasoning and motor learning required to effectively integrate manual physical therapy examination and intervention techniques into the clinical management of these individuals. Safety and screening for appropriate candidates to discuss manipulation as an option are reviewed in detail. The evidence-based assessment of the cervical/thoracic region will be illustrated and practiced by participants to help classify patients into a treatment based category. The five categories include Mobility, Directional Preference, Exercise/Endurance, Pain Control and Headaches. The focus of the course will be on effective and safe assessment of patients to identify those patients who would most likely benefit from manipulation. Participants will have the opportunity to practice Cervical/Thoracic area manipulations including supine, side-lying and seated techniques. The techniques covered include but are not restricted to the manipulations listed above. Once students have been guided in the refinement of the motor strategies for manipulation, they will be asked to demonstrate competency for each manipulation covered in the course prior to having their skills checklist marked as competent. Audio-visual, demonstration, instructor guided application, peer-review feed-back and case studies will be employed to promote learning prior to assessment of competency. This course will provide 14 hours of direct contact teaching related to the skill acquisition of manipulation.

Instructor credentials or affiliation

Darcy Doyle PT., M.Sc.PT., D.P.T, F.C.A.M.P.T., B.Kin., CAFCI
Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Manipulative Physiotherapy (F.C.A.M.P.T.)
Cert. Gunn IMS and Acupuncture

Rob Werstine PT, BSc, BA, MSc, DPT, Sport Dip., FCAMPT
Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Manipulative Physiotherapy (F.C.A.M.P.T.)

Jack Miller PT., B.Sc.PT., M.ClSc., D.P.T, F.C.A.M.P.T.,
Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Manipulative Physiotherapy
(F.C.A.M.P.T.)

This course contains content that addresses the requirements (theory, practice and final (summative) evaluation) that enable participants to SEEK authorization for the spinal manipulation roster in Alberta.