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This course is designed to advance participant's clinical reasoning and competency in the advanced assessment, differential diagnosis and management of the lumbar spine and pelvis.

Presented by Australian Specialist Physiotherapy Education by clinical specialists in the area of musculoskeletal and women's, men's and pelvic health. Our four presenters have the highest clinical, teaching and research expertise with appointments at Sydney, Macquarie and Curtin Universities. They are involved in the creation and translation of evidence, ensuring participants benefit from integrating cutting edge research into clinical practise, from a truly national perspective.

Course content encompasses a complete and comprehensive review of assessment and management paradigms. Advanced clinical reasoning will be used to determine assessment, differential diagnosis, sub classification and management of complex lumbar spine and pelvic disorders, including pelvic pain in pregnancy. Participants will build on previous knowledge and advance their manual therapy skills, improve assessment of articular, muscular, pain and biopsychosocial contributions to lumbopelvic pain disorders.

Course format: Learning focuses on interactive advanced clinical reasoning using complex cases, role playing, live patient demonstrations and highly practical components. These will be used to ensure targeted management and ensure consolidated learning.

This course has been designed to provide an opportunity for physiotherapists to develop their practical skills and clinical reasoning associated with content taught in the online Level 1 Women's Pelvic Health Course.

This practical course will be structured around a ‘clinical case studies' format. Physiotherapists will be guided through a number of case studies requiring interpretation of completed Australian Pelvic Floor Questionnaires, bladder and bowel diaries, as well as results of Trans-Abdominal Real Time Ultrasound (RTUS), to develop an introductory management plan involving pelvic floor muscle training (where indicated) and lifestyle advice for each case.

In particular, physiotherapists will have the opportunity to perform Trans-Abdominal RTUS to assess pelvic floor function and bladder volumes, as well as learn the necessary procedures required to perform a visual assessment of anal sphincter contraction.

Note: even though there is no internal examinations are performed at Level 1, this course involves learners modelling in order to fulfil the learning objectives. If you know in advance that you will not consent to be a model for peer learning (visual assessment -external observation- of anal sphincter contraction), please communicate this as early as possible so that we can ensure a quality learning experience can be maintained for all participants.

This course will be presented by the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) in combination with Women's Health Training Associates (WHTA).

For more information about the Women's Level 1 courses please click here

This course aims to help physiotherapists augment and consolidate their competence across the key areas of differential diagnosis and evidence-informed management of people with low back pain. This aligns with 'Deliberate Practice' - the process of embracing opportunity to grow in professional skill and knowledge. Clinical Reasoning is underpinned by Clinical Anatomy and, together with selected Clinical Examination tests, is used by physiotherapists in clinical decision-making about treatment or management strategies for low back pain.

Neurological Examination of patients can be challenging due to wide variability in clinical presentation, therefore this aspect of Clinical Examination receives focused attention in this course. Accuracy around neurological findings is imperative to identify deficits to which treatment can be directed, to differentiate neuropathic, nociceptive or nociplastic pain, for reports to doctors and to step up care to meet the Australian Clinical Care Standards for low back pain. Therapeutic exercise is a key tool in the challenge to help patients embrace self-efficacy strategies that can reduce their pain and improve their quality of life, therefore this course includes an Exercise Workshop session informed by research and clinical reasoning.

To facilitate contextual learning a detailed case presentation is used in the final session. This allows for integration of the day's learning and to comprehensively pull together evidence-informed aspects of patient management. This includes: diagnosis, appraisal of evidence, radiology, pain science education, strategic sign- and symptom-based treatment, self-management strategies, selecting and teaching exercises, habit stacking, documenting change and reporting to healthcare colleagues.

This face-to-face course has been designed to provide an opportunity for physiotherapists to develop their practical skills and clinical reasoning associated with content taught in the online Level 1 Women's Health Through the Life Stages Course.

The course will include practical skill development in musculoskeletal assessments across the childbearing year (including SIJ provocation tests), provision of education classes across the childbearing year, early postnatal assessment and advice, and group exercise prescription across the female lifespan (female adolescence, pregnancy, early postpartum and post-menopausal bone health).

In addition, the course will provide an opportunity to explore clinical case studies to enhance clinical reasoning across all topics.

Presented by the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) and Women's Health Training Associates (WHTA).

Vestibular rehabilitation has evolved as a specialist area of clinical practice in rehabilitation as our understanding and awareness of the debilitating sequelae of dizziness and vestibular impairments increases.

This course aims to provide an overview of vestibular anatomy and introduce clinicians to the assessment and treatment of individuals with vestibular dysfunction resulting in activity limitations and participation restrictions.