With the plethora of continuing professional development workshops crowding the treatment profession, what makes a workshop worth attending and how do you know your dollars are being invested wisely?
One of the many things I have learnt in my 40 years of experience is what makes a workshop memorable, besides what they serve at lunch and who attends. A professional development workshop should challenge your existing perceptions of the functioning body. If the presenter is reinforcing what you already know, this is useful because it builds your confidence, but is not worth investing money in. What you should be looking for is a workshop that answers the difficult questions and addresses those challenging clients you often hope would go somewhere else.
Four things to consider when choosing ongoing professional education:
- Does the presenter ask for input into what you wish to get out of the workshop?
- Are they open to be challenged on their ideas?
- Do the ideas presented make logical sense?
- Do I need what they are offering?
If the answer is YES, the workshop is worth attending.
I have reflected on these points when designing my workshops and know from feedback that everyone who attends the workshop feels they have learnt something new and useful.
“More so than other courses, this provided me with a very functional way of analysing and correcting spinal, pelvis and limb disorders , as well as looking at the domino effect on other areas when one are fails. Although based on extensive experience and research evidence the course is very hands-on practical.”
SIGRID COOPER, Nowra, Australia
To increase the value to participants I have increased the course length by a day, thereby providing greater opportunity to master the practical aspects of the course. I believe practical skills are critical to a therapist success and it is for this reason I also ensure generous student to tutor ratios.
Recently I have been told that I had not adequately communicated the benefits of my courses, so I hope to answer a few of these questions below.
What is the Key Approach?
The Key Approach model is a functional clinical classification system to help you better assess and treat the whole person. It provides a simple map of the body to explain to the client what is causing their pain and how to treat them. It is based on function and dysfunction. It describes how habitual and inefficient altered movement patterns accompany most musculo-skeletal pains.
What does it offer you the therapist?
The Model helps you
- ‘read the body’ in front of you – to organise your knowledge and guide you in finding the source of your patient’s problems – and what to do about it.
- provide complementary manual and exercise therapy skills to address your patient’s underlying dysfunction.
- understand the functional relationship between the spine and the proximal limb girdles – and how pain often results from altered biomechanics.
What will you learn?
- Fundamental movement patterns of control which underpin all effective motor performance
- What disturbed movement control looks like
- How to classify your clients dysfunction and therefore how to treat it
- Exercises to redress movement dysfunction and pain
- Manual therapy skills to alter the client’s pain and dysfunction
- Novel ways to work with over-use’ syndromes and ‘sports injuries’ such as tendonopathies, ‘bursitis’, impingement syndromes etc. – as well as many of the ‘developmental’ hip, knee and foot pain presentations
- Insight into your own dysfunction and hopefully a number of personal aha moments
Once the principles underlying the model are understood, they can be applied to both preventative and rehabilitative exercise programmes towards optimising vitality, and musculoskeletal wellbeing – both on a one on one basis or for comprehensive, functional safe therapeutic exercise in a group setting such as the Key Moves® Programme of Therapeutic Exercise and Movement Classes.
I look forward to inspiring you in pursuit of optimal health for both you and your clients.
