Manual Therapy Neuroscience Made Easy

1 Video
3 Ceu's Package, Dr Heidi Haavik - PhD, PG Dip (Science), BSc (Chiro), BSc (Science)

1 hr 30 min.

New understanding is congruent with the latest research showing how important the spine health is for proper brain function. One particular part of the brain that we now know we impact when we mobilise/manipulate the spine is the prefrontal cortex.  This literally is the Manual Therapist Dream, because the prefrontal cortex is vital for one's intelligence, movement control, pain processing, mental health, immune system, endocrine system and inflammation (thus most chronic diseases)!

Dr. Haavik will explain all of this to you in an easy-to-understand language.  She will share with you a summary of where we are at today with the neurophysiological understanding of the impact of spinal function on brain function and will discuss what future implications this has for us as a profession.

4 Videos
3 Ceu's Package, Dr Heidi Haavik - PhD, PG Dip (Science), BSc (Chiro), BSc (Science)

1 hr.

These 4 videos covers the latest basic science research evidence that been done over the past two decades that has looked at what a vertebral dysfunction is. It also looks at what evidence we have for one of the old theories about the manual therapy joint lesion or the squashed nerve theory.  And it covers how the latest science can easily be communicated with the public.  

1 Video
3 Ceu's Package, Dr Heidi Haavik - PhD, PG Dip (Science), BSc (Chiro), BSc (Science)

1 hr 20 min.

This video will cover the science about how stress and traumatic experiences negatively impacts our brain function and our health by causing most of the common chronic diseases of today.  It also covers the science that is showing us that spinal dysfunction negatively impacts brain function, and that manual therapy techniques  can reverse this. That fact that science is showing that manual therapy i.e. mobs/manips impact processing in the prefrontal cortex, this has major implications for how we may be impacting our patient's health.

This research literally is the Manual Therapists Dream, because the prefrontal cortex is vital for one's intelligence, movement control, pain processing, mental health, immune system and inflammation (thus most chronic diseases).

2 Videos
3 Ceu's Package, Dr Heidi Haavik - PhD, PG Dip (Science), BSc (Chiro), BSc (Science)

4 hrs.

These videos will cover the latest scientific understanding about pain, and how the feeling of pain is always created in the brain, due to either tissue damage, or even just the potential for tissue damage. The latest science tells us that pain is created in the brain to warn us about danger. However, this system can go wrong due to maladaptive neural plasticity and cause chronic pain. Dr Heidi will also discuss how pain can change and adapt over time depending on the persons experiences.

We now know that for a lot of chronic pain there may no longer be much tissue damage present at all it can become a learnt problem within the brain itself. Physiological and psychological stress also plays a major role in this maladaptive process, and Dr Heidi will cover this as well. She will also cover the latest scientific understanding about the function of the spine and its impact on brain function. The way the brain controls spinal movement is altered by spinal injury, and this changes over time. Such spinal movement patterns are known to play a vital role in how spinal pain becomes a chronic problem.

Dr Heidi will also, focus on the mechanisms of manual therapist, based on the latest relevant scientific research studies, and how this is likely altering the way a person's brain is feeling pain, and how the brain controls spinal movement patterns. The new basic science research tells a story that is similar to the old historic theories about the joint lesion and mechanism of  manual therapist care, but with a subtle and very important twist to it.

We use to think we were fixing problems locally in the spine, when it now turns out we are more likely to be fixing problems at the level of the brain, and here turning down or switching off the sensation of pain directly in the brain, in addition to improving the way the brain controls spinal movement patterns (improving spinal function).

Dr Heidi Haavik will also discuss what has been shown clearly in the literature to work when it comes to retraining the brain out of pain and give practical tips and advice on how best to train the pain out of the brain. Dr Heidi Haavik will clarify what we as manual therapists can and cannot claim to help you thrive in an evidence informed world.

1 Video
3 Ceu's Package, Dr Heidi Haavik - PhD, PG Dip (Science), BSc (Chiro), BSc (Science)

1 hr 40 min.

This video covers what is known regarding interactions between the central nervous system (CNS) and the immune system, and it covers the way stress impacts the immune system according to the latest research evidence. It also covers all the known scientific evidence about the link between manual therapist care and the immune system.  It finishes off by going over what you can and cannot claim based on this research evidence.

It's every physiotherapist's worst nightmare: something going horribly wrong during examination and treatment of a patient.

This article examines the issue of neurovascular complications such as vertebrobasilar arterial dissection following Cervical Manipulative Therapy and evaluates whether or how physiotherapists can avoid or prevent the nightmare.