
Cost: $160.00 NZD
Access: 60 days
Study time: 10 hours approx.
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This course is designed for physiotherapists who have graduated recently or are starting to learn management of back pain patients. Here you will learn practical hands-on assessment and management that goes beyond international guideline principles. The use of lectures and actual patient video, plus easy to use fillable forms for clinical notes, makes you ready to see patients presenting with a primary symptom of back pain. You also get a complimentary 60 day access to Quick Q&A online questionnaire service so you can identify patients with red flags and those with a high risk of experiencing persistent pain. You can then identify which patients you can manage yourself with good quality basic care and identify those patients who need more advanced knowledge/experience or referral for specialist advice or intervention.
Chapter 1: The Clinical History.
Two lessons, Fillable forms for clinical notes, and video case study of the history taking. You will need to use a form to complete as you watch the patient assessment video. This can be an online form from Quick Q&A (preferred and complimentary), a fillable Adobe form (downloaded from the course website), hard copy (Not recommended). You can use these forms when seeing your own patients in your own clinical environment. These forms are independent of practice management systems and may be printed and added to your practice clinical notes system. There is a quiz at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 2. The Physical examination.
Two lessons, video of assessment procedures: observation, a standard orthopaedic neurologic screening examination. Here you will learn to classify patients into meaningful flexion or extension protocol treatment categories: The red flag and StartBacK screening tool are used to narrow clearly identify the subset of patients the treatment protocols are suitable for and those patients for whom you should seek support for your management. Patients needing more advanced skills or specialist advice are identified early so you can refer them for further, more appropriate care and diagnostic workup. There is a Quiz at the end of the Chapter.
Chapter 3. Treatment.
Four lessons. Those patients with mild or moderate pain and with low or medium risk of persistent pain have been identified. Do the simple things well: an extension protocol, a flexion protocol, When to select which protocol. Learn the specifics of what advice to give, what exercises and posture instruction to recommend, what self-treatment works for most of these patients. Learn how to follow up, progress and discharge patients. Learn basic reporting for back pain patients
Learning outcomes:
- Knowledge of prevalence and impact of back pain on the individual and society
- Able to carry out an evidence based clinical histor
- Able to select appropriate questionnaires to identify red flags
- Use the StartBacK screening tool to assess psychosocial distress and risk of persistent pain.
- Identify cases with possible radicular pain and/or radiculopathy
- Able to identify that subgroup of patients suitable for basic level guideline care, and those patients who require more advanced or specialist level care
- Able to do a standard physical examination that includes observation, differentiating between normal asymmetry and relevant deformity, neurologic screening for nerve root compression.
- Able to select patients suitable for an extension protocol of exercise, posture adaption
- Able to select patients suitable for a flexion protocol of exercise, posture adaption
- Lean to follow up in a timely and appropriate manner.
- Able to discharge patients in a timely and appropriate manner
- Able to adequately document baseline, initial and follow up assessment/treatment findings in clinical notes.
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