Tell us a bit about the course. Who would most benefit from attending ‘The art and science of lower limb rehabilitation’?

The course provides an introduction to, and reinforcement of, the latest evidence about common lower limb pathology with an emphasis on the knee and on interventions that work within the clinical environment.

Physiotherapists must be able to design and implement effective home-based exercise programs to enable clients to rehabilitate from their injuries.

Often clinicians and clients don’t have access to gyms due to time, money or accessibility so an effective, efficient exercise program is paramount.

Physiotherapists of all levels of experience will gain valuable practical skills to improve their assessment and interventions for clients with lower limb pathology.

When assessing lower limb pathology or dysfunction, what are the main factors to consider?

A comprehensive multi-joint approach to lower limb assessment enables practitioners of any experience to confidently and accurately assess a client using a logical clinical reasoning process.

Sports and exercise physiotherapist Michael Vadiveloo's course provides strategies for treatment and rehabilitation after lower limb injury.

Participants will learn to assess dysfunction in joint movement and functional activities to determine the pathology, mechanism and underlying deficits contributing to the client presentation.

The course will clarify the main areas of dysfunction contributing to common lower limb presentations, eg, dynamic knee valgus on a squat, so that participants can identify the deficits and construct an intervention and rehabilitation protocol that will specifically target them.

What kinds of exercise interventions are most effective for strengthening lower limbs?

Exercise prescription is the mainstay of physiotherapist intervention.

Exercises that are targeted, individualised and effective and produce the desired muscle response for each individual client is our goal.

This is not always the case and recipe-type exercise prescription has unfortunately dominated our profession.

Exercise intervention for the lower limb will be demonstrated and participants will experience how subtle changes in common exercises and movements can achieve completely different muscle activation and improve our clients’ outcomes.

This course will challenge the way exercises are prescribed, including, for example, the lunge, squat and calf/heel raise.

Practical demonstrations of effective and targeted activation of gluteal muscles, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves will enable clinicians to improve patient outcomes.

We will also discuss and develop strategies to overcome the gap between in-clinic exercise and return to sport/activity.

What skills and knowledge are participants likely to take away with them?

The course will enable participants to:

• identify deficits in the lower limb kinetic chain that may cause or contribute to the pathology/dysfunction
• isolate the contributing pathological/anatomical contributors so that a targeted intervention can be initiated
• address the tight/stiff structures that cause symptoms or prevent activation of the dysfunctional muscles
• activate the weak/deactivated muscles specifically to improve the function of the muscle and alter the pathology that is affected by this dysfunction
• strengthen the dysfunctional muscles for both symptomatic relief and long-term prevention
• coordinate and stress the movement patterns for return to activity/ sport at the level required by your clients.

‘The art and science of lower limb rehabilitation’ will run from 9 am until 5 pm on 10 September in Eight Mile Plains, Queensland; on 15 October in Camberwell, Victoria; and on 12 November in North Ryde, New South Wales. Click here, here and here for more information and to register.

>> Michael Vadiveloo FACP is a Specialist Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist (as awarded by the
Australian College of Physiotherapists in 2009) and an APA Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist with a special interest in the knee. A clinician for over 30 years, he has vast experience in the treatment and rehabilitation of athletes, from the recreational to the elite. He was a physiotherapist at St Kilda Football Club for 14 years and continues to treat athletes of all levels in his clinics in Melbourne. He has presented his course both internationally and nationally.