Physiotherapy Articles

Pain is multidimensional and influenced by a number of factors besides tissue damage.  This section overlaps with the Key Messages and starts to give the reader more information about potential contributors to pain.  You can also view it a little like a myth debunker.  We have information on posture, strength, movement habits, sitting, mechanical deformities, depression, fear and exercise. Again, each page can be used as an infographic.?

You can print parts of this section or have your patient read the whole thing.

Infantile colic is a term used by many to describe a consistently unsettled baby. But in truth, it is so much more than that.

Discover what is a classical clinical presentation, how to diagnosis it and what many causes may be. From protein and carbohydrate intolerance to gastroesophageal reflux and intussusception, you will learn how to identify it, when to refer out.

Strength and power diagnosis can provide valuable insights into the different capacities of athletes. The strength and power tests chosen should be reliable and valid and take into account the requirements of the sport and what is a meaningful change in performance. 

The results of these tests need to be reported in a clear, meaningful, and timely manner for coaches if they are to have maximal impact on training programs.  The practitioner can use this evidence-based information in conjunction with the art of coaching to maximise training program effectiveness.

A clinical prediction rule (CPR) is a guideline in which the best combination of medical signs, symptoms, and other clinical findings in predicting the probability of a specific disease or outcome are determined. These CPRs aide in selecting appropriate interventions and diagnosing certain pathological conditions.

This article contains a list of CPRs that should help in the physiotherapist clinical decision making process.

This online course focuses on Dry Needling therapy and Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) of muscles in the medial thigh.

Illustration and needling instructions of Dry Needling techniques and AIS for the following medial thigh muscles are provided:

• Adductor longus

• Adductor brevis

• Adductor magnus

• Pectineus

• Gracilis

Their anatomy, function, innervation and contra-indications for Dry Needling are also included.

A patient comes to you complaining of a painful joint.

Before treatment can commence, you need to determine the cause of the pain through clinical examination. But where to start?

You know that a healthy structure functions painlessly; a faulty structure does not.  But the pain could arise from any number of tissues.

This course will show you how to devise a system based on applied anatomy and a process known as selective tension that will help you to detect abnormalities and relate any defect to a specific tissue.

This on-line course discusses the successes and failures of a respiratory rehabilitation programme designed for an overweight, sedentary 61-year-old woman who has been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Are common treatments for low back pain - more MRIs, strong pain medication, injection therapy and surgery working? And if they are, why has the number of LBP sufferers remained stagnant? Is it because LBP care is becoming progressively discordant with clinical guidelines? Is there more to LBP than meets the eye?

This course will critically reassess LBP and consider other factors that could be influencing your patients LBP and give you tools to approach LBP differently.

Ethics relates to far more than a simple understanding of that which is legally permissible in society.  A nuanced understanding of ethical issues adds depth and meaning to what it takes to live as a mature human in an increasingly complex world.  As healthcare practitioners we owe it to ourselves and our patients to act ethically and responsibly so as to benefit all those who seek our help.

This course provides the perfect introduction to the ethical challenges we face in our practices.

METs - a class of soft tissue osteopathic manual techniques that incorporate precisely directed and controlled, patient initiated, isometrical or isotonic contractions encompass, proven, valuable modalities that every manual clinician should have in his or his or her toolbox.

MET is effective for both acute patients or those with chronic conditions and actively involves empowering patients to take charge of their own recovery (osteopenia) and loss of muscle mass (sarcopenia) that occur with age are also discussed in depth.