I picked up InMotion today and only got in 6 pages before I saw red.  Some of you have been asking what has happened with the APA and AAP Education. I was thinking that myself. Back in Feb, I was asked to participate in a phone link up with James and Cris to 'sort out some issues' in regards to the provision of PD and 'external ' providers. Firstly I explained that I thought the APA was going in the wrong direction in regards to PD , by limiting those parties that wanted to provide PD offerings to physios. Physiotherapy is diverse and physios love diversity. 'Let the market decide what it wants to support', is my opinion. This in clinical terms is equal to 'feedback or post-treatment as...

Just completed an awesome course in Perth with a great group of physiotherapists . Really appreciated their insight and some great questions in regards to dry needling and acupuncture. One of the aside discussions that took place centered around employment and employment conditions . One of the features of these courses is the chance for the sharing of ideas around both clinical and non clinical topics. From this discussion and other recent ones, it would seem that many physios are being still being employed under the old system of a % fee for service arrangement. In association with this %, they receive no employee entitlements like holi day pay (or leave loading) or sick pay. Some are even being told this...

Hi Just returned from Perth and attending Jeremy Lewis's course, The Shoulder: Theory & Practice. The course reminded me of playing with LEGO as a kid . Block by block, I would construct the next Taj Mahal. In the same way Jeremy has put together this course, using blocks of research over a period of time. An evolving work, it provides clinicians with a structured protocol, going from assessment to treatment, backed by research, at a time when there is greater awareness of the lack of sensitivity or specificity of orthopaedic tests and inappropriateness of early surgical intervention. The first LEGO block looked at the epidemiology of shoulder pain . In the field of MSK pain the frequency of shoulder pain...

Hi You may have noticed (or may not), that in the August edition of InMotion there is on page 8 a heading "How well would your patient records stand up in court?" A fair question in today's environment. It is not enough to be aiming to do the right thing for your clients, but you must also be able to demonstrate this to an inquiring external body. One area highlighted in the article relates to your exercise programs. Often a key part of our treatment is the identification of strength, flexibility or motor performance deficits in relation to a client's problem. Once you identified these key factors and determined the best exercise(s) to address the problems, how do you ensure that...

Hi - Introductory Dry Needling Boy did we have some fun! Just an awesome group of practitioners came together for the May/June Introductory Dry Needling Course. Some courses just flow and this was one. Here are a couple of pics of the happy tribe hard at work.  Feed back from this course was very positive ; How interesting was this course? Interesting 18% Very Interesting: 82% As a physiotherapist how relevant was this course to your work? Interesting 18% Very Interesting: 82% The education level of the information presented was: Interesting 12% Very Interesting: 88% Would you recommend this course to other therapists? Yes 100% Physio and Pharming Reason for getting to this post a bit later than usual, is that...

Hi Do you enjoy a treasure hunt? I recently found this 'treasure map' and had quite a bit of fun looking up family and friends names, to see how much money was sitting in a bank waiting for them to claim. Finding Unpaid Monies – Little Pots of Gold Did you know there maybe stashes of cash, that for one reason or another , you don’t know about and are waiting for you to claim? There are different government organisations that hold this information. At a federal level it is organised by ASIC (Australian Securities and Investment Commission) and it seems at a state level it is organised by the relevant Treasury department (State or Territory). At a federal level, go...

My first rant I have been using PC Tools Internet software for many years on all computers and been really happy. It turns out that recently it was 'purchased/morphed' by Symantec (the dark lord :<). Somewhere in the transition Symantec has decided to roll Nortons and PC Tools into one and cancelled my subscription with PC Tools so now it doesn't work. I contact PC Tools by live chat and they say I need to deactivate my license with Nortons before they can activate the PC Tools one again (even though I have never paid Nortons money nor subscribed to any of their programs). I phoned Nortons and after being transferred and then waiting 25 mins I hung up and start...

Infection Control Report Version 2.0 Following the recent release of the 2013 Immunisation Handbook Guidelines and the new AHPRA Chinese Medicine Board guidelines I have updated my "Infection Control in Dry Needling and Acupuncture Report" to include this latest information. Expanded to 20 pages, it contains new sections on managing needle stick injuries, necessity or not of swabbing and correct swab disposal. New members will receive the full report when first joining - see here Existing Bronze Members can download it from Member > Resources > Resources Gateway > Documents > AAP Education documents >2103 Infection Control in Dry Needling & Acupuncture Report_LR. Remember to log in first! If you have any questions regarding the content, please let me know. All...

   In researching information for my presentation Masqueraders (see All Has Not Been Quiet On The Western Shore!) at this years APA Conference in Melbourne, I noticed the exceptionally poor prognosis when diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.   Sure more people die from lung cancer, but if you are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer , your 5 year survival rate is basically less than 5% and this figure has hardly changed in the past 30 years. The poor survival rate relates back to the method of diagnosis that is poorly specific, expensive and only detects cancer late in the disease process - too late really for effective therapy.   That may all be about to change as the result of some ingenuity and...

I have just completed a list of my favorite 5 (tough gig)  iPhone apps that I use on a regular basis in clinical situations and sent out to all our Clinical Kit members. This list of my "Fab 5" came about from others asking what I use in such-in-such a situation, so I thought I would share with you also. Once the idea was out there, it started to grow wings and become a bit of a game with a few friends.    Hence this becoming an FAVORITES APP BLOG for THERAPISTS. So after you have had a look at my Fab 5 list, please add comments to the blog if you have an app that you also are keen about....

On the weekend of the 17 & 18 August Mark Oliver presented his popular TMJ Course.   One course attendee said"I thought the TMJ course was really good! There was a big range of physios there, including those who specialise in TMJ. Mark is a great presenter and very engaging, he even bought us all coffees on Sunday morning which was a bonus :] I definitely want to learn more about TMJ and considering the volume covered over the course I think I'll need a month or so to digest and review the course work. ". Big thanks to Phoebe for her photographs   Doug Cary FACP APAM Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist email doug@aapeducation.com.au ph/fx 08 90715055 You are free to use...

Introductory/Refresher Course The Introductory Course in this teaching block has had a real international flavour. In addition to physiotherapists from Australia, we had physios from England, Canada, Singapore and some that had practiced in Germany. As well as sharing different treatment options, it was very enlightening to hear how the different physios practice in each jurisdiction, particularly in the areas of independence (primary contact practitioners status) and accountability. In general, it seemed with greater responsibility comes greater advancement of the profession and subsequent satisfaction of the practitioners. We were indeed lucky to have had such foresighted Australian physiotherapists that paved the way for our profession. Here are a couple of pics as they busily go about practing their palpation and needling...

New YouTube Video Following lots of your requests I sat down on my return from Brisbane for several hours, and put together a comprehensive video on how to use VideoXs. This will provide both an overview for those wanting to better understand how this program will improve their clinical services; be you in a clinic, in a gym or with your local sporting club. In all these situations, you will be able to quickly and accurately, provide a home program that clearly details what your client needs to do when following your program. YouTube link. It will also be a 'how to' learning tool for those already with VideoXs wanting to maximise their usage. As new features are added, new learning...

I am coming across in early June 2013 to present an Anatomy Wet Lab Workshop, Introductory and Advanced Upper Quadrant Dry Needling Course and a student Pizza & PD night at UQ. Understand that these may not be areas applicable to students, as our attending demographic is mainly those qualified practitioners in private practice with a strong manual therapy & sports background, however the free Pizza & PD student evening is tailor made for you. Dr. Phil Gabel, Dr. Shaun O'Leary and myself will be presenting a brisk evening with plenty of time for questions. All details here http://www.aapeducation.com.au/courses/courses/free-session.html#.UXkCiYJJORQ. If you have any questions that you think I could help with please shoot an email - doug@aapeducation.com.au Be great to see...

Hi In addition to providing a range of course for your to feast you PD lips on, we continually look to develop partnerships with companies that can provide you with additional useful clinical resources and value. This email will outline some of the benefits you can access being an AAP Education member. These benefits are only available to you. AAP Education doesn't receive any payment or reward. Advise Rehab Possibly the only clinical prediction software in the world, Advise Rehab was developed by Australian researcher and clinician Dr. Phil Gabel . Now backed by numerous research papers, Advise Rehab software provides a charting aspect to outcome measures that can be used as a motivational tool for clients and objective data for...

In English, collective nouns referring to groups of animals are often colorful and unusual; for example, a school of whales, hover of trout, murder of crows, or my favorite, a parliament of owls.

Happy New Year! Being born on the 13th, and having my 18th and 21st birthdays on black Fridays, I have been looking forward to this year for a while. Upcoming Course For those clinicians wanting that professional development kick start to 2013, we only have 4-5 positions still available for each of our January, Anatomical Acupuncture Program courses. Full course details can be found here for the; Introductory/Refresher Advanced Upper Quadrant Advanced Lower Quadrant New changes for 2013 We have completely revised our Clinical Resources section greatly expanding the Outcome Measures section and Screening Tools. These will provide you with all the questionnaires that you require to use with clients to gain objective data on injury stage and other influencing factors....

 Have just completed a YouTube video showing how to build your profile and that of your clinic through free advertising on AAP Education MyProfile website.

Have just completed a YouTube video showing how to access the variety of great clinical free Resources that you have available as a Bronze Member.

Have you ever felt constrained by your drawing skills or the proforma program available in your clinic when prescribing a home exercises program?

Have you had clients come back, demonstrating 'one of your exercises', but you had never taught it!

Stud Needles - Little Beauties The stud needle has been around for many years, but recently Seirin has upscaled their build & presentation , making them much easier to apply and they stay insitu for longer. We use ones that are 0.9 and 0.12 mm long. Details can be found on our website under Shop > Clinic Supplies> Acupuncture Supplies>Pyonex A couple of examples that I have found them great for include; Treating children. I would prefer not to 'frighten' children by using needles, but sticker plasters are a quite acceptable in kids eyes. And these ones are pretty cool with the distinctive bump. Prolonged stimulation. Often with longer term presentations like MTSS, neck inducted headaches, low back pain, and supraspinatus...

Real-time US and Musculoskeletal US Course - October 27-28

Following space constraints in the last newsletter, I omitted the upcoming Real-time and Musculoskeletal Ultrasound course with Mr Peter Esslebach. There are a few US courses available, but we specifically asked Peter to come across west, as he is unique for a couple of reasons;

Following requests and a recent customised course for 2 Hands Therapy, we have designed specific courses for Occupational Therapists and Podiatrists. These courses herald an all new format

The first Anatomy Wet Lab workshop was held on Saturday. I found it an invaluable opportunity to look again at cadavers and put clinical information onto anatomical models and ask myself "what is actually under my fingers when palpating that spot".