As health practitioners continuing to improve and learn is imperative to be able to deliver best practice to all our patients and to grow the depth of knowledge and experience with a wider spectrum of injuries and conditions.
Within the Allied Health community a common term is “You don’t know what you don’t know” which refers to only being able to assess and treat conditions or injuries that you are aware of in ways that are more likely to be effective. Continuous learning in a variety of areas, research and implementing changes based on this is the way we stay current and aware of different or more severe signs and symptoms patients bring into the clinic.
Other than building clinic experience in the field and self-directed learning, the governing bodies being the Physiotherapy Board of Australia, which we as physiotherapists are registered with require Continuing professional development (CPD) which is structured learning in topics of our own choosing.
Health practitioners who are actively practicing are required to participate regularly in a minimum of 20 hours of CPD that is relevant to their scope of practice. For therapists at Richmond Rehab we aim to complete personal development within the area of musculoskeletal physiotherapy, Myotherapy and remedial massage. This generally refers to injuries & conditions of the muscles, joints and their cartilage, ligaments, tendons, bones & even how they effect the nerves running around them. This is important as there is many aspects to physiotherapy such as cardiorespiratory, working with disorders such as asthma or COPD, Neurological, working with disorders such as strokes & Parkinson’s and even aged aged care or paediatrics specialising in disorders and both ends of the age spectrum.
Knowing what our therapists find interesting enough to pursue further education in is important, it for one allows the patient to know their therapist is pursuing current up to date research as well as a deeper knowledge than just the basics. In more recent years Jesse has undergone training in the assessment and management of acute to chronic workload ratio when running and the assessment of the unstable shoulder.
In December our Physiotherapist Ahmed has undergone an Australian Physiotherapy Association endorsed event on Running assessment where the focus was on assessing in person and video footage of running technique to identify issues that can be amended by physiotherapy to avoid injury.
Earlier in the 2023 Myotherapist Julius attended a seminar on the Myofascial pain as well as a course on Myofascial Functional Cupping where the traditional long period of static cupping is substituted for a shorter period of cupping with movement.
Nathan our Remedial Massage therapist has special interest in Running where he is currently providing remedial and recovery massage services to the Old Scotch Run Club as well as treating neck pain in clinic, recently completing a cervical specific anatomy course to better understand the muscle attachments.
Both Jesse and Luke’s most recent CPD included further training to gain Australian Strength & Conditioning level 1 coaching where we learnt from professional Strength & Conditioning coach in the prescription of strength resistance training as well as conditioning for the bodies energy systems for sprinting & endurance activity. Previously Luke has completed courses in the GLA:D program, which is a global initiative to treat Knee and Hip arthritis as well as the McKenzie approach to assessing and treating lumbar back pain.