Physiotherapy spinal course

Spinal pain is bio-psychosocial problem. Understanding the relevance of each component of spinal pain leads to better outcomes for patients, resulting in less imaging, less surgical intervention and less disability.

The Manual Concepts’ course Comprehensive Management of the Spine (CMS) is designed to advance the clinical reasoning and competency of clinicians in the assessment and management of cervical, thoracic, lumbar spine and pelvis disorders.

This course will deepen your understanding of how biopsychosocial factors contribute persistent pain and disability, and guide you in selecting the most appropriate therapy for each individual case.

Manual Concepts offers this course exclusively in Australia and also partners with various professional education providers who host this course in countries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America and more.

By completing this highly practical course, you’ll enhance your clinical reasoning skills, confidence, and competency in assessing a variety of complex spinal pain disorders to achieve better patient outcomes relating to:

• Headache
• Whiplash
• Neck and back pain, and
• Spinal mediated neural tissue disorders.

Articular system

As part of the articular system assessment, you’ll learn a comprehensive range of articular testing procedures including active, combined movements, and pain provocation tests. These procedures are designed to identify the nociceptive source of patients’ symptoms and determine whether manual therapy should be incorporated into a multimodal treatment approach. When indicated, a variety manual therapy techniques will be employed to alleviate pain and promote faster recovery.

This section focuses on the latest evidence supporting the role of manual therapy in the management of musculoskeletal conditions and its mechanisms of action within the musculoskeletal system. A thorough understanding of these principles is critical for effective patient care.

Current clinical guidelines support the use of manual therapy, alongside education and exercise, as part of a multimodal approach to enhance patient recovery. The course will also cover how to integrate manual therapy within a patient-centred care model, emphasising the importance of individualised treatment plans based on patient needs, clinical findings, and the latest evidence-based practices.

Muscle system

In this section of the course, we emphasise a functional approach to the assessment of spinal motor control impairments. Determining which patients require motor control retraining will be based on clinical history and physical examination findings.

It is well-known that patients with persistent spinal pain often exhibit maladaptive movement impairments driven by various factors, such as fear (leading to avoidance or guarded movement behaviours), muscle weakness, excessive load, and deconditioning, among others.

Laird et al. (2019) identified four common movement patterns in persistent low back pain: standard, lumbar dominant, pelvic dominant, and guarded, which were more prevalent than in pain-free individuals. The 2023 RESTORE trial, led by Professor Peter O’Sullivan and published in The Lancet, demonstrated that Cognitive Functional Therapy (CFT) significantly improves pain and disability compared to usual care.

This program will enhance participants’ ability to identify motor control impairments and their contributing factors, enabling optimal management through strategies such as exposure, pacing, targeted movement, and exercise therapy.

Neural system

Neural pain disorders require thorough evaluation, as not all cases necessitate neural mobilisation. Sub-classifying patients based on clinical examination findings helps clinicians better determine whether symptoms are of neuropathic origin.

The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) classification system provides a framework to improve clinical confidence in assessing the likelihood of neuropathic pain. This course on evaluating the neural system delves into various classification systems and tests, offering clinicians deeper insights into differentiating neuropathic pain from somatic referred pain and centrally mediated pain, while understanding how these types may interact.

The course further updates and refines key practical skills for examining and managing neural health, focusing on skilled, safe, and appropriately timed handling techniques, which are thoroughly covered in the practical sessions.