AIMS AND CONTENT

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Manual therapy is a branch of physiotherapy that uses specific manual techniques for the evaluation and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. It is based on the biopsychosocial model, clinical reasoning and available scientific evidence. The therapeutic approach in manual therapy in addition to an initial evaluation provides for a constant re-evaluation of the patient to guide the clinical reasoning in the therapeutic choices from time to time more suitable.

The course aims to:

- Provide the student with the fundamentals of manual therapy

- To present the methodological tools of clinical reasoning in musculoskeletal disorders

- Present the concepts of health and individual functioning evaluation on the basis of the ICF in an applicative way

- Discuss a series of clinical cases as an exercise in clinical reasoning in manual therapy

At the end of the course the student must demonstrate that:

- Know the main theoretical (biomechanical, pathophysiological and clinical phenomenology) and methodological assumptions underlying the manual therapy intervention.

- Know the main differential diagnostic evaluation procedures.

- Knowing how to recognize the indications and contraindications to manual therapy in specific clinical conditions.

- Knowing how to apply the principles of clinical reasoning to different pathological contexts

TEACHING METHODS

The course consists of lectures for a total of 10 hours, including moments of discussion and interaction on clinical cases prepared by the student.

Students with certified LSD, disability or other special educational needs are encouraged to contact lecturers at the beginning of the course to agree on teaching methods that, while respecting the teaching objectives, take into account individual learning patterns and provide suitable compensatory tools

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

General aspects

• Definition of Manual Therapy
• Field of action and purposes of the TM
• Mobilization and manipulation
• Training and professional associations in Italy and in the world

Methodological and practical application in Manual Therapy:

• The biopsychosocial view of health according to the International Classification for Functioning and its implementation in the clinical procedures of the physiotherapist
• The methodology of "clinical practice based on efficacy" as a guide to the choice of the best evaluation and therapeutic practice in physiotherapy
• The integrative model of load-load capacity as a tool for assessing the individual's ability to adapt and planning the therapeutic intervention
• The concept of local and general reactivity as a guide to the posology of the mobilization, manipulative technique and therapeutic exercise.
• The prognostic profile of health as a tool for clinical synthesis and communication between operators

Conducting the physical examination

• Anamnesis collection: status preasens, recent and remote medical history, identification of relevant symptoms, possible causes, aggravating and alleviating factors, temporal evolution;
• Observation: inspection of the patient in the various static and dynamic positions;
• Physical examination: evaluation of active, passive movements, against isometric resistance; special tests, additional tests, evaluation of indications and contraindications to treatment.

The treatment

• Planning by objectives and strategies
• Classification and choice of techniques

The choice of the outcome measure

• From the prognostic profile of health to the choice of the criterion and the measuring instrument

Discussion of clinical cases in Manual Therapy and Physiotherapy of Musculoskeletal Disorders

• Clinical cases on different districts prepared in small groups by the students

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Slides of the presentation of the lessons;

Scientific articles:

- Enhance placebo, avoid nocebo: How contextual factors affect physiotherapy outcomes. M. Testa, G. Rossettini 2016.

- A tool for clinical reasonign and reflection using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Healt. Framework and patient managemente model. Heater et al. 2011

- A new clinical model for facilitating the development of pattern recognition skills in clinical pain assessment. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice. David M. Walton, James M. Elliott 2018

- Any other scientific article indicated during the lessons

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

I semester of the academic year

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam with open-ended questions and reasoning on specific clinical cases

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral exam will verify the learning of knowledge and will also assess the correct use of the specialized language and the quality of the presentation. The ability to apply clinical reasoning in specific clinical cases will also be evaluated

Students with LSD or other regularly certified special educational needs will be able to agree with the professor on the written or oral mode of the examination, by contacting professors at least 10 days before the exam. They will also be able to take advantage of 30 % additional time 

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

When a student is a certified LSD, it is required to contact the Referring Teacher of the DISABILITY and DSA Commission for DINOGMI: Prof. N. Girtler (nicolagirtler@unige.it ) and evaluated the single case, he will send to the teachers the necessary directions both for  lessons development  and for modality of examination